A New Year

It's been about 11 days or so since I've been back from China and I feel like my sleeping schedule/jet lag has finally situated itself. I usually take little time to get readjusted because, as some of you may know, I can sleep anywhere and anytime, which helps me catch up on sleep, but also is bad if I'm in class.

Anyway, I think I should update about what I feel about the states now that I've been back for a while and my thoughts on the New Year.

The states seems a little more dull than before, of course this is because I'm not in school and interaction with friends is limited, but I think I got a sense of liking to interact with new faces everyday, something I adopted in China (all those 6 months). I thought it was a really cool thing to be able to talk to random people and adapt to a different society, pretty much experience something new and foreign everyday. This "adventurous" sense is much less in the United States. However, I'm sure that when I go back to school and other issues are dealt with, other things concerning my major, coming back home and getting officially resettled, etc., I'll be able to feel that sense of adventure again. That's what I really like about college, it's almost limitless in friends you can make and activities you can associate with compared to high school.

That adventurous state is related to one of my New Year's Resolutions. I vowed to be more daring, more adventurous and if something got me down, to pick my head up and keep going. I mean this in ways that exceed school (grades), and the work force (now that the market is not so welcoming to new workers), but also emotionally and psychologically (whatever that means). Things in the past tended to keep me down, but I guess my vow is to see it that, whatever happens will happen. I just need to try my hardest in all aspects of my life and see if I can find a balance between them all. So, I guess my resolution is perseverance and sticking to my gut and my instinct and not letting myself get too down if something goes the other way. Sounds serious huh? It's actually not that bad, I bet a lot of people have this idea.

Anyway, on a lighter note, this holiday season's funniest moment lies in the single party that I attended, my mom's annual "White Elephant" gift, networking, get together party (because all her parties tend to be networking events). It was quite interesting, seeing people from different parts of my mom's business social networks come together in a more social standpoint. There were people from the way past, some new people, and some people that have always been around. I think that is was very successful. I talked to new people and old people who all seemed to know I was away in China, so I ended up talking to all these people about my experience, my aspirations, and what I took away most from it. I said I took away a better understanding of another culture/society and a more open-minded view of the world. I also said something about really identifying in my major at school and having more of a drive for what I want to achieve in the world in the future. I think that I can do a lot of good with China-US Business relations, etc. (though right now I only say that in a broad scope).

After all the interaction with the adults and a little talk about the economy and new ideas for getting jobs and entrepreneurship, we moved into the room with the Christmas tree for the exchange. By this point, many of the adults were intoxicated, mostly from the 10 bottles of red wine they opened. One woman in particular, who came with my mom's employee, was extremely drunk and saying random things that nobody cared to listen to. We did the "White Elephant" exchange a little differently this time because someone felt like their way was much better and started passing out the gifts, though he didn't know what to do after all the gifts were passed out and gave the narrating job back to my sister. It worked out in the end, but from it I learned one really funny thing: Adults are like awkward children. It was so funny to see how they interacted and what kind of comments they would say. One of my mom's friends, a surgeon, had such dry humor. When it came to a gift and people were curiously guessing what it was, he would, in a monotone voice, say "It's probably just chocolates" or "It's chocolates, I brought it". He also said, when others were having fun playing with the amount that was on a Starbucks gift card, "It's probably just $5 dollars". It was HILARIOUS, one of those moments where you had to know the guy and you had to be there. All the while, the exchange rule of no more "stealing" gifts after 2 steals started getting people pissed when the disco ball had already been stolen twice. People were angry because it was unfair and others were mad because "who would take a present away from a 3 year-old child". And the whole time I was thinking how funny it was to see these adults get so worked up about a freaking disco ball that was probably worth 5 dollars.

Maybe some of you don't get the rules, so I'll explain it.

1. Each person get's a number that corresponds to a present, the last is the best because you can steal anything you want that has already been open.
2. Everyone goes by number order. #1 either opens the present or decides if he wants to steal something else without looking at it.
3. #2 decides whether they want another present or if they want to open theirs. If they decide to steal, then the person they steal from can steal from someone else.
4. Continue until everyone has a present and we've gone through all the numbers.

The stealing can get complicated so we've limited to 2 steals per item, then no more stealing. It takes a long time with more people, but it's really funny once there is an item that everyone wants to steal and also an item that no one wants and just gives away. I had a lot of fun, but at the same time I felt so awkward around these adults that I just wanted to punch myself in the face or run upstairs and hide. Haha. In the end, I guess it was a fun experience and I also talked to some of my mom's VC friends about a project that my friends and I are trying to get started.

I guess that's a lot for an update now, but one more thing. My other New Years Resolution: waste no time, be proactive, be assertive. I know it sounds like 3 things, but it comes in a package. I guess that starts tomorrow with my Real Estate study. No more procrastination!

Happy New Year. I hope you guys follow through with your resolutions, I certainly hope I will.