Second quarter
Well, whaddya know? Everyone's posting here again all of a sudden. I'm sure it won't last, but I'll join the fun for a day. Another "quarter" has just come to an end, so I guess it's time for my check-in anyway, even though I don't really feel like writing right now.
To be honest, 2Q2013 did not live up to my expectations. It was more stressful and sad and malaise-ful, and less productive and edifying, than I had hoped. This doesn't mean it was bad, just that I didn't feel that everything was "clicking" in my world as much as it did in 1Q2013. I wasn't as happy with myself or with my surroundings. A lot of little things happened, but not very many big things. I had two (work) trips to Hanoi, and one (motorbike) trip to Ho Tram, a beach north of Vung Tau, on the long holiday. I turned 41, which is kind of a "who cares?" birthday. I'm experimenting with the New York Times 7-Minute Workout. I'm working my way through every episode of Seinfeld (most of them for the first time). My fantasy baseball team's in a rut.
Yeah, kind of boring.
Random snippets:
* The landlord took away my stove (in-counter with two gas burners) today and replaced it with an electric tea kettle. He said something about the gas being "dangerous," which is probably true. They also installed a smoke detector last week, along with something that is either an emergency light or a hidden camera, at the behest of the local police. I am a little disappointed that my kitchen has become de-kitchenified, but to be honest the electric water boiler fulfills about 75% of my kitchen needs anyway. Mostly I just used the stove to boil water for coffee and to make noodles. The new device should be quicker and easier for coffee, and I can still make noodles the pour-boiling-water-and-let-it-sit way - but how am I going to add the frozen dumplings and fish balls? Maybe I can convince the landlord to give me a microwave. Or an electric stove.
* I got my annual raise in my June paycheck. Another +13%. Pretty good! Although I should note that I am still making significantly less per year than I did 13 years ago working for Excite@Home. Of course, I am also spending half as much. I hardly spend any money at all.
* One costly thing that I did just get pressured into buying is a pair of Air Jordan basketball shoes. The soles on my current shoes have been worn nearly flat by the cement court I usually play on, and that's not a good thing. It can even be dangerous. I considered buying shoes here, but they're hard to find, especially in my size. I mentioned this to one of my new basketball buddies (he's Vietnamese but is taller than me and has even bigger feet than I do) on Saturday afternoon, and on Sunday morning he called me to say that his sister would be coming back from Australia next weekend and she was at the outlet shoe store in Melbourne RIGHT NOW buying shoes for him and did I want her to bring me anything? Then we had a very 2010s (what are we calling this decade?) exchange where his sister took pictures and videos at the store with her iPhone, sent them to his iPhone, and he sent them to my laptop. All this nearly in real-time. And after he went to all this work, I couldn't really say, "Well, I don't think I want any shoes," so I agreed to get a pair that look exactly like this. Some of you probably know that I haven't owned a pair of non-black basketball shoes in more than 20 years, and my modus operandi when shopping for basketball shoes is to buy the cheapest name-brand (Nike, Adidas, Reebok, Converse) black shoes I can find, with no regard to style. And now I'm getting a pair of gray shoes that cost more than $100 (though he stressed that they would cost $50 more if I bought them in Vietnam). I feel so totally-in-your-face and proactive, and unlike me. Maybe it will improve my game, which is definitely not getting better with age.
* I had to proofread a trademark appeal at work last Friday. (What is an appeal? A company tries to register a trademark in Vietnam, the Vietnam authority rejects it for not being distinctive enough, and the company appeals the decision by trying to prove that their trademark is, indeed, distinctive.) One of the arguments prepared by our lawyer for the trademark, for a line of apparel, was that the trademark had become well-known to consumers through advertising in "world-famous fashion magazines like the Wall Street Journal, LA Times, and Magazine." Even more ridiculous was the next argument, that the trademark was well-known because of its appearances at "many famous fashion shows around the world such as Undated catwalk and Undated photo shoot." Um, yeah. Someone had some reading comprehension problems.
* Movies seen in the theater: Iron Man 3, Fast & Furious 6 (don't ask!), Star Trek Into Darkness, World War Z. Movies seen on DVD/TV: Argo, Iron Man 2: Iron Mannier, Winter's Bone, Source Code, Brave, Your Highness, Wreck-it Ralph, American Reunion
* Books read: Gulp, the only book I've finished in the past three months is The Glory of Their Times, a celebrated book about old-time baseball players. I need to start reading again! I've actually just started re-reading The Great Gatsby, which seriously underwhelmed me the first time I read it (in my mid-20s).
Well, I didn't feel like writing, and yet there's a whole lot of words (maybe I wouldn't call it "writing") up there on the page. See you again in three months.
* Oh, almost forgot to mention - I'm coming home to the U.S. in August. I'll arrive in Grand Rapids on Saturday night, August 3, and will stay through Friday, when I will fly to California for the Huynh Family Reunion and a brief in-state family trip. If you need anything brought back, let me know now.
To be honest, 2Q2013 did not live up to my expectations. It was more stressful and sad and malaise-ful, and less productive and edifying, than I had hoped. This doesn't mean it was bad, just that I didn't feel that everything was "clicking" in my world as much as it did in 1Q2013. I wasn't as happy with myself or with my surroundings. A lot of little things happened, but not very many big things. I had two (work) trips to Hanoi, and one (motorbike) trip to Ho Tram, a beach north of Vung Tau, on the long holiday. I turned 41, which is kind of a "who cares?" birthday. I'm experimenting with the New York Times 7-Minute Workout. I'm working my way through every episode of Seinfeld (most of them for the first time). My fantasy baseball team's in a rut.
Yeah, kind of boring.
Random snippets:
* The landlord took away my stove (in-counter with two gas burners) today and replaced it with an electric tea kettle. He said something about the gas being "dangerous," which is probably true. They also installed a smoke detector last week, along with something that is either an emergency light or a hidden camera, at the behest of the local police. I am a little disappointed that my kitchen has become de-kitchenified, but to be honest the electric water boiler fulfills about 75% of my kitchen needs anyway. Mostly I just used the stove to boil water for coffee and to make noodles. The new device should be quicker and easier for coffee, and I can still make noodles the pour-boiling-water-and-let-it-sit way - but how am I going to add the frozen dumplings and fish balls? Maybe I can convince the landlord to give me a microwave. Or an electric stove.
* I got my annual raise in my June paycheck. Another +13%. Pretty good! Although I should note that I am still making significantly less per year than I did 13 years ago working for Excite@Home. Of course, I am also spending half as much. I hardly spend any money at all.
* One costly thing that I did just get pressured into buying is a pair of Air Jordan basketball shoes. The soles on my current shoes have been worn nearly flat by the cement court I usually play on, and that's not a good thing. It can even be dangerous. I considered buying shoes here, but they're hard to find, especially in my size. I mentioned this to one of my new basketball buddies (he's Vietnamese but is taller than me and has even bigger feet than I do) on Saturday afternoon, and on Sunday morning he called me to say that his sister would be coming back from Australia next weekend and she was at the outlet shoe store in Melbourne RIGHT NOW buying shoes for him and did I want her to bring me anything? Then we had a very 2010s (what are we calling this decade?) exchange where his sister took pictures and videos at the store with her iPhone, sent them to his iPhone, and he sent them to my laptop. All this nearly in real-time. And after he went to all this work, I couldn't really say, "Well, I don't think I want any shoes," so I agreed to get a pair that look exactly like this. Some of you probably know that I haven't owned a pair of non-black basketball shoes in more than 20 years, and my modus operandi when shopping for basketball shoes is to buy the cheapest name-brand (Nike, Adidas, Reebok, Converse) black shoes I can find, with no regard to style. And now I'm getting a pair of gray shoes that cost more than $100 (though he stressed that they would cost $50 more if I bought them in Vietnam). I feel so totally-in-your-face and proactive, and unlike me. Maybe it will improve my game, which is definitely not getting better with age.
* I had to proofread a trademark appeal at work last Friday. (What is an appeal? A company tries to register a trademark in Vietnam, the Vietnam authority rejects it for not being distinctive enough, and the company appeals the decision by trying to prove that their trademark is, indeed, distinctive.) One of the arguments prepared by our lawyer for the trademark, for a line of apparel, was that the trademark had become well-known to consumers through advertising in "world-famous fashion magazines like the Wall Street Journal, LA Times, and Magazine." Even more ridiculous was the next argument, that the trademark was well-known because of its appearances at "many famous fashion shows around the world such as Undated catwalk and Undated photo shoot." Um, yeah. Someone had some reading comprehension problems.
* Movies seen in the theater: Iron Man 3, Fast & Furious 6 (don't ask!), Star Trek Into Darkness, World War Z. Movies seen on DVD/TV: Argo, Iron Man 2: Iron Mannier, Winter's Bone, Source Code, Brave, Your Highness, Wreck-it Ralph, American Reunion
* Books read: Gulp, the only book I've finished in the past three months is The Glory of Their Times, a celebrated book about old-time baseball players. I need to start reading again! I've actually just started re-reading The Great Gatsby, which seriously underwhelmed me the first time I read it (in my mid-20s).
Well, I didn't feel like writing, and yet there's a whole lot of words (maybe I wouldn't call it "writing") up there on the page. See you again in three months.
* Oh, almost forgot to mention - I'm coming home to the U.S. in August. I'll arrive in Grand Rapids on Saturday night, August 3, and will stay through Friday, when I will fly to California for the Huynh Family Reunion and a brief in-state family trip. If you need anything brought back, let me know now.