Cow’s Life - Thinking Outside Of The Barn

I was chatting with a girl one day when I was attending my best friends’ wedding in Charlotte, NC. She kept on complaining about how boring her life was in this not-so-exciting town.
“So, what are you doing for fun?” I asked her.
“Eh, just watch some TV… “
“You like doing anything?”
“Like what?”
“Well.. hmm. maybe you want to try something new?”
She said she wanted to attend arts school and learn how to make arts and crafts. But she never got a chance to do that.

I am going to put on the Psychology hat again. Researches show that those people who are in the process of learning new things and trying something adventuroues tend to feel more positive and exciting about their lives. They have something to look forward to each day. But many people find excuses not to give their dreams a try. They go back to their groundhog days.

I have first hand experiences in terms of the relationship between hobby and hapiness. I was a boring girl for a long time. But somehow things turned around and I started picking up new hobbies that I have never given myself a chance to.

Here is a summary of my hobby lists broken down by year
2003
1. video games
2. making video games
3. Personal financing

2004
1. Decorating homes
2. video games
3. Personal Financing

2005
1. Rock Climbing
2. Snowboarding
3. Hiking
4. Camping
5. Blogging

2006
1. Rock Climbing
2. Snowboarding
3. Personal Financing Blogging
4. eBaying
5. Golfing

I was a miserable bitch before 2003. Now, I feel happier and more confident than ever. I think that has something to do with my ever-growing new activities. The best part of having hobbies is that these activities brought me a lot of great friends. It’s so important to have a group of supportive friends. And my hobbies have given me the precious friendships and happiness.

Ok, one of these dumb and dumber moments again…

Dumb
A single guy lived in this townhouse for 8 years in Ogden, Utah. They thought he was the best renter because he never called for complains and was never late on a payment. These pictures don’t even come close to what it really looked like. Century 21 had already moved some of the cans out and had caved in thunnels that he had made to get to the bedroom, bathroom and kitchen.

All this, yet, you still don’t see any dust or scattered clothes or any dirty dishes anywhere.

Other than having a minor drinking problem, he was basically a very
clean, organized person. Add to this he was concerned about his
health, proved by the fact that he drank a “Light” beer.

More Photos

Thanks to Paco for the link

Dumber
BEIJING (Reuters) - Two hapless Chinese thieves gassed themselves to death with cyanide along with five intended victims while trying to rob a gambling den in the city of Ruichang, the Xinhua news agency reported Saturday.
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A court in nearby Jiujiang Thursday sentenced their three surviving accomplices to death for the robbery, carried out last June.

One of the three passed out for several hours from the effects of the gas — but still remembered to rob the dead of 15,950 yuan ($1,990), five mobile phones and a gold necklace when he came around, Xinhua said.

Original article on Yahoo News!

One genuine laugh a day is all you need to lighten up about life. I think it is not that hard to look for at least one thing worth laughing a day for every one of us. Whether it is reading a comic book, some stupid jokes on the Internet like what I just posted (Dumb and Dumber) or chat with friends… There are too many things that can make us laugh. However, finding humor in a difficult situation is much harder to do for most of us. But this is one thing you can do for yourself to push forward even when things look grim.

According to the scientists, Laughter also triggers a spike in feel-good hormones like serotonin, while levels of the stress hormone cortisol drop. So keep on laughing!

Although I am hoping Congress will find a way to legalize majority of the 12 million illegal aliens who are already here instead of pursuing a massive deportation, my “not-so-generous” side was pretty grumpy about offering those law breakers an easy way out. Simply because I went through hell and long 8 years to obtain my US citizenship.

A Personal Financing Blogger “How to be poor” wrote a post about his opinion and the post pretty much said what I had to say:

As a newcomer to this country, I had to follow a set of rules established by the people of this country. I had to cut through miles of red tape on my own. I had to drive out of state to complete physicals, fingerprinting, and interviews. My wife and friends had to write countless letters of support. We had to prove beyond all doubt that we are married for real, and not for the Green Card. Our lives were scritinized and documented right in front of us. Did I mention thousands of dollars in fees we had to shell out?

The side effects of being an alien are even more significant. I had to pay double everything in college - my tuition instead of being a couple-three grand per semester was always hovering around six. I could be deported for any misdemeanor normally punishable by a slap on the wrist if I were a citizen.

I believe the process was put into place to single out those motivated enough to complete the naturalization. The process is not perfect, but jumping the fence (breaking the law) and using the excuse “Oh, sorry, I’m just looking for a better life” is bullshit. Just because the U.S. borders Mexico does not enable citizens of Mexico enter the U.S. whenever they please. Citizens of any other country have to become parts of the process, so why should it be different for those enjoying the proximity?

I do agree with the President for once - the illegal immigrants already here must be given the chance to apply for work visas. Given the chance, not given the visas.

Nobody gave me a break when I was naturalizing. I believe I am here because I was more persistent than the countless thousands who apply, get rejected, and quit.

I have to agree with every word “How to be Poor” said in this post. Although I didn’t have to pay extra tuition because I went to a private college, I did have to pay about $60000 international college tuition for my ex while a local student only needed to spend about $25000 for a 4 year education.

Since my citizenship application got lost by the New York office when I moved from New York to Tennessee, my parents and I had to wait for days outside of congressman’s office looking for support to re-file. Not to mention the FBI hassles that left me feeling like a criminal for years.

Being said, I am still supporting a less harsh resolution (i.e. a worker visa) when dealing with the illegal inside of the border, however, I think anyone who wants to be naturalized has to follow the existing rules and being a Mexican shouldn’t be an excuse to bypass the process.

I was looking all over the place for my car key this morning. Well, finally I found it in my car ignition. GREAT! This was the second time I have done a stupid thing like that… Last time, I let my rental running all night in a hotel parking lot in Texas. The security guard found it in the morning, shut the engine off and returned my key to the front desk.

I have lost and refound so many stuff that if I put them together, it may take a whole closet space. A credit card was refound in my washier after I canceled it; $10, $5, and countless $1 bills in all sorts of pockets and mugs; a lost sweater that had been sitting in my trunck for the whole winter… Hmm.. I wonder if I ever have a dog, what’s gonna happen… ?

Thanks to Paco for the picture..

Oh, did I mention that I lost my beloved video iPod on an airplane? It really hurts after just owning it for a couple of months. No, I didn’t misplaced it like that dog owner. I am still hoping that one day I would get a phone call from the Dallas Airport’s Lost and Found after I left them with dozen messages…. Bummer…..

A proposal submitted a while ago from the porn industry to request for a designated .xxx domain name which could be free of use by any adult sites got rejected yesterday.

According to the Wired News:

Faced with opposition from conservative groups and some pornography websites, the internet’s key oversight agency voted Wednesday to reject a proposal to create a red-light district on the internet….The decision from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers reverses its preliminary approval last June to create a “.xxx” domain name for voluntary use by the adult entertainment industry.

I am actually not too happy about this decision. If they want to keep those porn sites under control, the best way to do it is to house them together… So instead of me writing filtering rules to ban sites containing words like “hot babe” “toys 4 you” and other thousands of babe toy combo words , I can simply write one line of code and ban everything with .xxx domain. How easy is that!

However, if 2 out of 5 web surfers visit adult sites, it doesn’t really matter what they call it. whether it’s .com, .xxx, .orgs or .multiorgs, one way or another, they will be surfed.