Life is Too Short

My most recent discovery is less a discovery and more of a realization. A discovery of the most complex kind fueled by self reflection and in-depth thought. This new concept is in fact not new at all, but an old cliché that is embedded in our minds through the use of insightful wall art you find at home stores or on graphic tees you wish your grandmother never gave you. The overall theme of these 'quotes' can be summed up in four words, Life is too short.

Although this idea seems basic and lacking in a need of any thoughtful understanding it's simplicity is what makes this idea so complex. We know life is short, but we never internalize this concept and incorporate it into our everyday lives and why is that? Is life too short to spend thinking about life itself?

No, life is too short to stress about a paper that needs to be written. Life is too short to put all your effort into a job you don't love. Life is too short to argue with the people you care about. Life is too short not to be happy.

Now I'm not saying all of those things aren't important. That paper needs to be written and ya it's probably a lot of work. You might not love your job, but the pay is good and you have bills to pay and not arguing with the people we care about? Ya right, but there is something that needs to also be considered. It's one of the most important things a person can have, an invaluable tool that will help you in every situation and that's perspective.

Yes, no matter how bad things are they can always be worse. No matter how bad things are for you, someone has it worse. We know about starving children in Africa, we know about oppressed women in the Middle East. We know that Genocide occurs in other parts of the world. We read stories about girls being killed in China or women being murdered by their own family members because they have been dishonored. We all know about the people in Egypt, Bahrain and Libya fighting for rights we consider innate. We know all of these things and yet we separate them from our everyday life because we can't stop them from happening. We lose perspective.

The easiest way to gain perspective is to look at the overall picture of your life. Unless you believe in reincarnation you only have one shot at this, one chance to get everything right. Don’t ever forget that life is too short and it moves too fast. The rest of the world is not going to wait for us to become the people we want to be in the future. Start being that person right now.

Don’t take life too seriously. Helen Keller said, “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing”. When you’re in school just remember you are there because you chose to be, it is a chance to learn and gain understanding. When you’re at work, working so hard you can’t remember when the last time you stopped to breathe. Relax. Gain perspective and figure out how to make yourself happy, otherwise what is the point?

In the end a lifetime of unhappiness doesn’t get you anything but regret. Happiness is everything and can be achieved by such simple means. People who have love want money; people who have money want more love. People who have both will most certainly find something else to want, but what if we were happy just to be alive, happy to see a bunny hopping along a river, or to see the snow fall, happy to see a baby smile or happy to watch a flower bloom. Life is too short not to be happy.

So, Next time you see that wooden sign, meant to hang on the back of your door stop and read it, take a minute and really think about the words and your life. Maybe, just maybe you will walk away smiling.

Christmas Traditions

The smell of cinnamon rolls and coffee swirls past my nose and draws me out of sleep, I snuggle out of bed wearing new Christmas pajamas I opened the night before as we watched for Santa’s Sleigh. Careful not to peak I walk past the hallway into my little brother’s room to see if he is awake. We wait for our other sister to join us so we can all walk out to greet the tree and an array of beautifully wrapped presents and stockings stuffed so full they had to be taken of their hooks and placed beneath the fireplace. We all look at our Dad who has been up since dark waiting with his camera in hand to take the first of many snapshots of surprised faces. My mom meets us on the carpet as we sit in front of the fireplace and start to open our stockings. Her face lights up with anticipation, months of preparation finally about to come to an end. Her smile is full of love, but tinted with the shadow of fatigue from staying up all night wrapping presents. I take a deep breath to take it all in, Christmas Morning.

Some things never change. Our family has many traditions. I know we will always have homemade cinnamon rolls. I know we will always get pajamas on Christmas Eve. I know my Mom will always be tired Christmas morning because she waits til the night before Christmas to wrap most of her presents and I know my Dad will always be taking ridiculously ugly picture of us that he likes to call candid as we open our presents in the morning.

This year many things will change for us though. This year for the first time when my Mom says don’t expect a lot from Santa this year I believe her. This year I will not need to go into my brother’s room so I can walk out with him to see the expression on his face when he sees what Santa brought or how many presents there are because he isn’t getting anything big. This year instead of opening presents until 2:00pm we will probably be done in the morning. These things I know will change.

Presents are not the important part of Christmas though and so despite the fact that this year there are going to be many changes, our traditions are not going to change. Our traditions are what make Christmas so special and personal. As long as those don’t change, I don’t need anything else. So, my Christmas wish is not for me. My Christmas wish is not for more presents under the tree. My wish is for my Mom. I want her to know it’s OK that Christmas will look different this year because as long as the 5 of us are together it won’t feel any different and that’s what is important.

Mom, we don’t need new presents and more things. You provide enough for us all year round and now it is time to celebrate our family and the love we have for each other. We are still going to wake up to the smell of your cinnamon rolls. We are still going to stay in our pajamas until we are forced to change because we are having company for Christmas dinner. Christmas will still be the same in our hearts.

I have this wish for all Moms, not just my own. Don’t worry about the presents, focus on the traditions. Traditions are where the memories come from. Good memories come from love not a pocket book and good memories are the best gift you could give your child.

I love you Mom.

Status Quo Thanksgiving

Spending Thanksgiving with my family this year made me feel more connected to my roots than ever. I guess you could say my family is the typical, “traditional” American family. My grandparents are the type of people who founded this country. You know what I’m talking about. The white, wealthy, stuck in their way, hard working, and republican type. As a student I often hear about inequalities in society and there seems to be a lot of animosity towards this type of person, but it is hard for me to join in the banter because I know this type very well, they are my family. My family dates back to the Mayflower. I am related to John Irish, one of the people aboard the Mayflower. Despite everything, this is something I am proud of.

When I say despite everything I’m talking about despite the fact that thanksgiving didn’t occur exactly how I was taught as a kid and despite the fact that the white people coming to America was probably the worst thing that happened to the Native Americans. In fact in school today kids aren’t celebrating the pilgrims anymore, now it is politically correct to celebrate the just Native Americans.

I will never forget the pilgrims though, and when I visit my family I will never forget how much we as a nation have changed and progressed.

I spent thanksgiving in Carmel Valley where my Mom’s parents have a house. My Dad’s dad also came with his girlfriend. My Mom’s aunt and uncle were also there, and my now very pregnant aunt came too. The black sheep’s of the group were my grandma’s friend’s daughter and husband who live in San Francisco. They were obviously liberal and lived there life the exact opposite way my grandparents believe in. The next morning when they were gone I was shocked to hear that everyone over the age of 60 thought that this couple was just ranting the whole night. I didn’t hear any ranting, but it just shows how different the generations are.

Celebrating thanksgiving for me is supposed to be about family and really appreciating the family you have and being thankful for everything, but this year it felt like just another meal, but with more people and food. This year I was more afraid of keeping my dog away from my grandpa so he wouldn’t bother him, more than I was focused on family. No one waited for everyone to get to the table to start eating; no one gave a speech or a nice toast. Everything was status quo just the way they like it.

My real thanksgiving happened two days before the actual event. My sister, her boyfriend and I drove to Fremont from Sacramento to go home for the holiday. My sister had work black Friday at 3:30am so she wasn’t going to be able to go to Carmel for thanksgiving. She didn’t even know if she was going to be able to go home at all, so it was a last minute trip. As we were about to leave Sacramento I text my Mom and told her we were on our way home. Two hours later when we arrived at the house there was a turkey in one oven, a pumpkin pie in the other, and a fruit salad in the fridge. My Mom wanted my sister to have a thanksgiving with the family. This is what thanksgiving is about to me love, and despite everything I love my white, wealthy, stuck in their way, hard working, republican type grandparents. And although they are stuck in their ways they make me remember where I came from, which is another thing important to me on thanksgiving.

Gossip Girl

Gossip Girl is like watching a modern younger version of Friends only the characters drink illegally, participate in drug deals and commit adultery. This series is based in New York. Most of the characters attend NYU. This is one of those soap opera-esk shows.

A little background information: Dan and Jenny live Brooklyn, there Dad is a washed up band member of Ethan Hawk. Dan and Jenny attend a private school in the upper east side of Manhattan. Dan falls in love with Serena Vander Woodson who is best friends’ with Blair Waldorf both of which are socialites. Blair dated Nate Archibald member of one of the wealthiest families in Manhattan. Blair later comes to the conclusion that her deceitful and manipulative way is better suited for Chuck Bass and equally manipulative and powerful entrepreneur whose father is killed, but not before marrying Lilly Vander Woodson Serena’s mother who eventually remarries again, but this time to childhood sweetheart Rufus, Dan and Jenny’s father.

Sound confusing? Well it is. To the average viewer just looking for a good show to watch periodically this is not it. Gossip Girl is the type where you miss an episode you are completely lost. Only the more dedicated viewer who plans to watch the show religiously should attempt this series, and after a couple episodes this won’t be a task too difficult.

The most recent episode was rather controversial with its college age characters having a three-some. This episode did however have a moral hidden beneath the subtext, but in this case it wasn’t be careful about who your friends are or don’t drink and drive as you’d expect from a teenage sitcom, the lesson seemed to be when you have a three-some, given that all college students apparently have three-somes, the third person is always someone that you don’t know. In this one episode other than the promiscuity, the viewer also witnessed the downfall of a high school student into the drug world and marital lines being crossed with a politician just elected to office.

Another helpful lesson learned in this episode was you can manipulate people and get what you want. If you persevere and use blackmail, lie and pull some strings you’ll win. What are we teaching our kids?!

This episode was almost pulled before it was aired because of the bad message it might be sending to its young viewers, but why this sudden moral boundary, that line was crossed a long time ago.
The acting in the series is great. None of the actors had major roles before this series but some have started to branch off because of it. Many guest stars appear fairly often. Hilary Duff guest starred for a few episodes and last episode Lady Ga Ga performed.

This show is a great way to get to know New York on a personal level. The scenes take place all around the city really depicting its true beauty.

This show is an inside look at Manhattan’s elite, and it really makes you wonder, do people really act like this?

This was an entertaining show, but I would defiantly say is at least PG-13, there was no message at the beginning of the show warning about adult content. Maybe that’s because it airs at 9pm? Do kids really go to bed that early? Parents, Beware!

I Love the Smell of Coffee

I love the smell of coffee, but at 3 am? Staying up until 3 in the morning to finish that paper that has been on the syllabus since the beginning of the semester, or studying for that really difficult test that requires an A in order to make up for some of the slack you let loose in the beginning of the semester can only mean one thing, the semester is ending and you are in frantic mode.

Every semester is the same story. In the beginning you get the syllabus telling you what assignments, deadlines and tests you have. If projects are not on the syllabus your professor gives you a lot of time in advance to prepare. So why is everyone always struggling with school work? Well I think we call it “Life”.

Unlike High School, college students don’t just have school work. Unlike professionals, they don’t just have to wake up, grab a newspaper, fill your to go coffee mug and head to work every morning. In today’s economical crises, most students get the pleasure of multi-tasking. In 2003 the number of working students reached 78 percent. And I am not just talking two hours a day or 20 hours a week. Many of them work and go to school full time.

When I was at my freshman orientation at Sac State a professor talked to the group of incoming freshman. This whole experience was more traumatizing then helpful. I barely remember anything of this seminar as important. What I do remember is how difficult my next four years were going to be. She told us studying, reading and working on assignments is the same as having a full time job. In order for us to be successful we were told we would have to work 10 hours a day, 2 hours for each class we took. As I enter into my senior year, I know understand the validity of what was being said four years ago.

Not only does work get in the way of school, but student procrastination is one of the biggest obstacles to overcome to reach a stress-free environment.

November seems to make life even worse. Students always have a lot more work to do at the end of the semester and these long hours cause students to become stressed, overworked and eventually sick. Lack of sleep can cause your body to become weak and more susceptible to illness. Swine flu is such a big concern especially for students as they are more likely to get infected because of their age. The doctor recommendation is for students to be take it easy. Yeah right. Not in this lifetime.

I haven’t gotten sick yet this semester, but all my work is mounting. I have a 10 page research paper due in a little over a week and a debate after Thanksgiving both on the same subject: raising income taxes on the wealthy. Boring! I have another presentation plus 3 more big tests before the semester is over. All of these things have been in the back of my mind since the beginning of the semester, but they were still in the future. Now the future is about to arrive. Yikes!

I have also been working more this semester as a nanny which has forced me to manage my time better. I fortunately do not have to work full time. Looking at how much time school work demands, I have developed respect for people who have to work to put themselves through college and take a full class load.

Even though this part of the semester is extremely stressful and causes many students to lose sleep and get sick, I know there is an upside to all this character building work. I will graduate, taking all my skills of staying up late, meeting deadlines and cramming for tests into the world of another unknown.

Just a Couple of Misfits

Sometimes it's hard to sleep through the night because of Taz. When he can't sleep neither can I. When Taz wakes up he lets me know it's time for me to get up too. Sometimes he lets me sleep, but even if he sees me open an eyelid that's his que to start jumping all over me. He lets me know when he is hungry, which is always and he has to go to the bathroom at least every hour. He has so much energy and is always moving. He gets mad at me when I'm not playing with him and his main goal in life, besides seeing how much he can cost me in food each month is to keep me from graduating and getting a real job. That's the only explanation I can come up with for him walking all over my notes, covering my face when I try to type on the computer (yes he is doing it right now) and barking at me non-stop when I try to read a book.

Yes, Taz is my dog. My 18 month old, inquisitive (this is just a nice way for dog owners to say there dog barks at everything), 13 pound, overweight Min Pin.

Meeting him for the first time people usually get a little freaked out. Even though he is rather small he can jump pretty high. He has decided this is the best way to greet people he is excited about. Usually after the first 10 jumps people come to the conclusion he is a bad dog. If you are meeting him for the first time, unless he is completely exhausted, he will bark at you. I tell people not to take it personally, but I think people get the wrong impression about him.

Taz is actually the best dog in the whole world and I'm not biased at all. I think he does this all on purpose. He is seemingly annoying and disobedient so know one else will want him but me. This is probably my fault, I told him a story about how my aunt's min pin, that was totally adorable, was kidnapped and held for ransom. Now he saves his adorable moments for non threatening family members only. Oddly enough since then he has seemed to calm down around people who have nice houses and lots of treats.

He is the best cuddler, When he gets scared at the dog park he jumps in my lap, he likes to be held when he gets tired and when he gets wet he dries himself off by rubbing his body all over the carpet. When he gets tired he will try to stay awake, but if he's not careful he will fall asleep standing up because when he is having fun he doesn't want to nap and miss something.

One of the great things about Taz is that his best friend is a pit bull. My sister’s boyfriend has a pit bull. This dog is the exact opposite of Taz. His name is Jack and he is big. He is about 5 times bigger than Taz, and yet he is 5 times sweeter. Jack never barks, he never gets angry, and he has never snapped at Taz despite Taz’s many attempts to draw blood.

Jack’s favorite thing to do is sleep and given the chance he would sleep 24 hours a day. He is always hungry, but never begs and is happy with what he is given.

He is definitely the nicer of the two dogs and without a doubt less aggressive.

Any big dog that I feel safe enough to let my dog play with, full force is a good dog to me. Taz will play as rough as he can and Jack knows just how much force he should use to play back, but he wouldn’t ever hurt Taz. In fact he gets protective when Taz is around other dogs.

They are both just a couple of misfits, the sweet pitbul and the unstable but adorable, King of the Toys, Min Pin.

A Remodeled Man

Humor is something that is hard to create in writing. It has to be clever without trying too hard. This is how Bruce Cameron a syndicated columnist writes. He is a hilarious writer who makes fun of himself and his own life.

Cameron dreamt of being a writer while growing up in Michigan. At 16 years old he even sold his first short story, which was the first short story he had ever written. He says this is the worst thing that could have happened to him because it tricked him into thinking writing for money was going to be easy. Eight novels later he decided he was never going to be published.

He went to Westminster College and claimed to have majored in beer. After college he became a freelance writer, but needed to get a day job to support his writing. He has had many jobs ranging from selling insurance to driving an ambulance. He found himself waking up at 4:30am every morning to write before he would head off to work.

After deciding he was never going to be published he decided to write his 9th novel, but for himself. He realized if he stopped writing to sell and started writing in his own voice he was funny. He decided to start his own online column which originally only had about 6 subscribers, most of which were family. This number soon grew to 40,000 subscribers in 52 countries.

In 1998 he showed his column to the Rocky Mountain News in Colorado and they began featuring his column weekly in the paper.

He turned one of his columns “8 Simple rules for Dating my Teenage Daughter” into a book that was number 14 on the New York Times best seller list. Disney then picked it up as a T.V show. A good example of how he writes is rule number seven of his column:

"As you stand in my front hallway, waiting for my daughter to appear, and more than an hour goes by, do not sigh and fidget. If you want to be on time for the movie, you should not be dating. My daughter is putting on her makeup, a process which can take longer than painting the Golden Gate Bridge. Instead of just standing there, why don't you do something useful, like changing the oil in my car?"

He then wrote another book called 8 Simple Rules for Marrying my Daughter.

In 2001 he was introduced to Creators Syndicate and he became a syndicated
columnist. The Rocky Mountain News is a folding newspaper, but you can read some of his columns on his website. He still writes a weekly online column for Creator’s Syndicate.

His newest book is called A Remodeled Man which is currently under production to become a movie.

He writes mostly about his daily life. His last two columns have dealt with his recent colonoscopy. One of his more popular columns is called “Chili Judge”. This is a hilarious column that after just recently reading I realized I had read it before. It was something I read many years ago, either from a mass email or from a family member.

In 2006 he was selected by the Society of Newspaper Columnists as the number one humor columnists in newspapers with a large circulation. Bruce Cameron has an interesting perspective and has a way a describing exactly what everyone is thinking, but in a funnier way.