2012년01월25일, 수요일 아침: 01월 january has flown by. i can’t believe how quickly it rushed by, but i guess i know why: well, the first couple of weeks of january was all about catching up on the things that we missed while out on christmas break for two weeks (especially at work but also in other areas of life). then, for me, things got even more hectic after that; so, yeah, i can understand how january has totally flown by.
this morning, i had a couple of dreams. gee, i can’t remember either right now. i know the first involved some kind of problem.solving situation.
[later] 오후: i worked hard all morning, right up until i had to go home for lunch. i did not make it out to the sunnyvale skate park for any skateboarding today, and that is not right. i really wish i had. however, my stomach was pretty full from breakfast, so maybe it would not have been so enjoyable to go skateboarding while my stomach was still so full. you see, i ate leftover 흑돼지 삼겹살 heukdwaeji samgyuhbsal for breakfast and also made an amazingly delicious pumpkin banana protein smoothie. the smoothie was delicious! …and it was very simple to make:
- banana
- organic, pure pumpkin moosh from a can (no additives or sugar)
- fage greek yoghurt
- ice cubes
- standard process brand whey protein
- a bit of organic, whole, raw milk
- some organic cinnamon
wow, it was delicious! i drank as much as i could, but i gave the beautiful kaela hwang and ewan some to go as they rushed off to ewan’s swim class.
you see, i put ewan to bed right at his bedtime last night at 900p. then, he woke up this morning at 500a. i had woken up on my own at that time and noticed that kaela had fallen asleep on the couch with her little, portable, electric space heater on and the tv on. i always want to shut off the tv when she falls asleep on the couch because i hate when she subliminally takes in all the late night tv ads and then gets bad ideas to buy useless things or worse yet get suckered into some self.help scam. anyway, as i got kaela off to couch, ewan called out to me. he had obviously woken up a while ago; he was ready to go. after i made sure kaela made it to our bedroom, i went to check on ewan; and, yeah, he was all ready to go, standing up in his crib, ready to play. i tried to have him go back to sleep at first. however, after like ten minutes of that or so, it was very obvious that he wasn’t going back to sleep just yet. i hung out in his room with him and let him play for a while. then i brought him to our bed, and we both went back to sleep for a while. then i woke up to start my day after that little nap, but ewan kept sleeping along with kaela. i almost never need an alarm clock these days, but i especially didn’t need an alarm clock this morning because i woke up with ewan’s feet jabbing into my side because he insisted on sleeping diagonally. he’s often like that when we let him share our bed.
[later] i was looking at my credit card account and noticed that, not only was my 12월 december bill huge, but my 01월 january bill will be even worse. we spent a lot on ewan’s birthday celebrations, especially since it wasn’t just the party at gymboree but the big, huge day at disneyland and other little festivities with just the family, little things that add up to a huge amount. we spent too much on dining out last month. i don’t know why we had to eat so fancily during our socal roadtrip. furthermore, as usual, we spent too much on groceries. over the next few months, how can i save money here and there to try to heal my bank account? i already resolved to spend no money on new clothes this year except for clothing items that would needed for important things like djing, snowboarding, skateboarding, taekwondo, or exercise. (using up existing gift cards, group buying vouchers, etc. is permitted.) so far, i have stuck to that resolution. i also have that deal with kaela to cut down the grocery bill and use that money to help pay off her disgustingly horrible student loans. in a sense, that’s helping even though it’s obviously no net gain for my bank account. i actually told myself that i would also try to trim our dining budget: i want to use up our existing group buying vouchers and certificates as soon as possible. i want to take the money i save from our average monthly dining budget and apply it to some kind of savings account, perhaps the 529 we plan to open for ewan’s college education. i don’t know; am i going to be able to pull us out of the red, out of this budget crisis?
trimming expenses is one major thing, but increasing revenue might help. this past month, i did not get any pay for djing. i djed one event last weekend, and i’m djing an event at work on friday. i’m not getting any pay for those things. in 02월 february, i don’t so far have any paid gigs. however, once we reach the end of 03월 march; wow, the paid, wedding gigs are going to come, one right after another. the end of 03월 march through 09월 september are going to be really busy with djing weddings. let me reemphasize that i don’t dj for the money but simply for the love of music and for the love of helping people. however, the money i get does help, i have to admit. as i’ve said before, when people comment to me, “oh, it must be cool to earn a little beer money” or “oh, it must be cool to earn a little pocket change”; i’m always like agreeing on the outside; but, on the inside, i’m thinking, “yeah… ‘pocket change…’ i’d hate for these people to realise that i actually need this income to support my family and its expensive habits.” it’s tough. i really have to emphasize that it’s tough… to work 1.5 jobs to try to make ends meet for my family. all this, and i try to be that “involved dad” as opposed to the absentee dad of previous generations.
[later] when i look at my recent expenses again, i realise that so little of my expenses over the past year have been my own. i spend so little on myself, and i’m not usually the one doing the spending. that surprised me a bit, but i’ve been telling myself that that’s simply how it’s going to be for now or perhaps for the rest of my life. i think i’m okay with that. i need to be okay with that. it doesn’t look like i’ll be buying a new skateboard deck for myself anytime soon. i’ve managed to make my current skateboard deck last a really long time. it’s mostly probably because i rarely ride it on the streets and sidewalks but mostly just in the park. when i take sooni for skateboard walks, i usually take the santa cruz homer one cruiser setup, and i don’t even ollie or ever tap its tail. i plan to make that deck last a long time. a new skateboard deck might set me back like $50 to $70. that’s not much in either direction. if i were to buy the new deck, it wouldn’t hurt our budget much. if i were to hold off buying the new deck, it wouldn’t help our budget much. what i’m getting at here is that nothing that i do these days can really affect our budget all that much. it’s totally out of my hands. still, i sit and stare at the scary numbers and frantically try to devise up schemes to ameliorate and patch up the situation. i can’t really control our spending, and i can’t really do anything more to control our income. i’m kind of working at maximum throttle when it comes to income, as i said earlier, with my 1.5 jobs. i mean, i wish my engineering job would pay more; but the economy is still healing, right?
[later] …which could bring me to a certain topic: yesterday evening, president barack obama delivered his third state of the union address to us americans. i actually caught the latter half of it (or so) over the internet via live, streaming feed; while stuck in my office, working late as usual. being that 2012년 is a u.s. presidential election year, i have been reading more political news stories and seeing more political news headlines than usual. i read that republicans tried to give a “prebuttal” to president obama’s speech. first of all, is “prebuttal” really a word? maybe it is, but it’s not a very good one. anyway, republicans tried to say that president obama is dividing the nation with his talk of the rich that pay no taxes and the poor that pay lots of taxes. that’s a weak ludicrous argument: just because president obama and democrats have been pointing out the division hardly means that they created it. the republicans created this huge economic divide, and we can’t simply pretend it doesn’t exist. in the end, president obama did not deliver a divisive speech at all but rather a very unifying one. he talked plenty about bipartisanship and win.win solutions. the news has of course been covering the current republican primaries; but i purposely ignore much of it because it won’t matter in the end. fiscal conservatives will and so.called “moral” conservatives will clash as usual, and president obama will get the second term that he deserves. i honestly don’t really love talking politics. however, it’s an election year, so it’s hard to avoid. in the end, we’re all americans; or at least we’re all citizens of this earth.
what will 2012년 bring us? [later] 저녁 이지만 아직도 퇴근 안했어요: although it’s unfortunate that the 49ers won’t get to play in this year’s super bowl, do you have any predictions for the year in front of us? did you make any resolutions? now that the lunar new year has started and the first month of solar new year is ending, it is definitely about time that i posted up my resolutions for 2012년:
- to eat grains no more than two days a week. (a pretty “s.m.a.r.t.” goal)
- the days don’t have to be specific days of the week.
- if i happen to go over two days in one week, i can maintain the resolution by deducting a day from the following week.
- however, i may not bank up unused days from a given week for use in future weeks.
- i shall not fret over trace amounts of grains found in otherwise grain.free food because i am not a legalist and, as is the case in spirituality and parenting, rules just for the sake of having rules ultimately breeds rebellion.
- to spend no money on new clothes except for items needed for skateboarding, snowboarding, taekwondo, djing, or exercise. (a relatively “s.m.a.r.t.” goal)
- to fall asleep on the couch or without brushing my teeth no more than one night in any week. (a relatively “s.m.a.r.t.” goal)
- if i fall sleep on the couch one night; then, for the rest of the week, i should shower (if necessary) and brush my teeth right after dinner for the rest of that week.
- to drive in a more time.efficient manner, while upholding safety and fuel economy. (not a very measurable goal but nice nonetheless]
- to do lower back exercises at least once a week. (a somewhat “s.m.a.r.t.” goal)
- to improve my efforts to show god’s love for all people and show more respect for legitimate religions (while continuing to battle cults and new age self.help scams) because freedom of religion allows me to worship god. (hardly “s.m.a.r.t.” but necessary)
- to stand firm in my resolve to be an involved father in spite of the pressures of the work world. (not a “s.m.a.r.t” goal at all but a good mission statement of sorts)
- to record and publish / post at least three mixsets throughout the year including one 1980s eurosynthpop mix, one mix with more kpop, and one underground hip.hop mix. (a decently “s.m.a.r.t.” goal, although i ought to set some milestones such as releasing one new mix every three months or so)
- (bonus) to make it out to the san josé lake cunningham regional skate park for skateboarding at least once this year. (a good, “s.m.a.r.t.” goal, repeated from last year)
- (just an idea, not necessarily a solid resolution) to get at least one massage this year. (a somewhat “s.m.a.r.t.” goal)
[later] even with having missed skateboarding today, the day was going “okay,” but then i ran into some total b.s. at the last minute at work. i ended up missing sach’s wednesday, 700p turbo kickboxing (tkb) class at the east fremont avenue, sunnyvale 24 hour fitness sport. as i escaped my cubicle, i made the explicit decision to detour to my corporation’s gym instead of hitting up any of the 24 hour fitness gyms, in order to save time and not get yelled at upon my return home. big mistake! something about last week’s visit here let me forget just how unmotivating this gym can be. sure, they upgraded the cardio equipment a little in that the treadmills now have televisions. however, a room full of out.of.shape, old men walking on treadmills in slacks is even less motivating for workouts than you can imagine. well, there is sometimes a couple of fratboy meatheads here, total ut austin longhorn transplants. this gym always plays stupid, old classic rock because that’s what old men “need” to hear while at the gym. i’m lucky if nirvana or u2 comes on, but this station plays really old classic rock. *sigh* i brought my own tunes via pandora and my own videos via netflix, but i was frustrated at first while my android phone crashed while i was trying to connect my bluetooth headphones. i really should have hit up at least the nearby 24 hour fitness active.
perfectly in line with my number one new year's resolution for 2012년, i cooked protein.style bison burgers for dinner tonight.
