January Review

Highlights

* went on a heavy metal fitness bicycle ride. i could not keep up, they were so so fast! but decided to continue at my own pace anyways. good for you, Dao! (pat on the back).

* figured out how to download and convert youtube videos! wow! i didn't know if i could do it!

* attended Thuan's Summit Elementary Teachers Talent show. The kids were so cute.

* putting our model plane together and succeeding that was really cool, very proud of you dao you found a way to do it, take your time you don't have to do it all at once, when the momentum is there then focus and go, take a break. flew plane for first time and almost hit a family walking their dog, be mindful of others, dao. it was really exciting getting our plane put together.

* got a job as a black jack dealer at the austin convention center.

Lessons Learned
> recall the lesson that it's not about winning but about constant and never-ending improvement (CAN-I)
> we all progress at different rates and at different ares in our lives and focus on the task at hand and what we can control.

Favorite Quotes

My favorite quotes this week
“Each morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most.” ~ Buddha
“ Much of the stress that people feel doesn’t come from having too much to do. It comes from not finishing what they’ve started.” David Allen, author of Getting Things Done
“ The things that matter most should never be at the mercy of the things that matter least.”
Goethe
" Imagine this instead: you get up early, jumping out of bed, excited to go to work."
Leo Babauta, Zenhabits.net
" It's only too late if you don't start now."
Read it somewhere in a book but forgot the author's name

Love at First Sound

the following is based on true events. Some of the events and characters are composites or totally fictionalized for reading pleasure

The exterior of the department of public safety building near my apartment is designed like a huge concrete grid. I wonder what the authorities there would think of me climbing it, so I tried it out today being that they are closed and in near the top I find a little fairy. The fairy grants me three wishes. I'm ecstatic. My lucky day.

I read today that happiness is only real when shared.

A little boy lost his mother at the store today and crying his heart out. It was adorable seeing him pine for his mother. I can't remember pining for my mother like that in years. It makes me wonder what it's like being a mother knowing that your brood will one day "outgrow" your love. I think I'll call my mother tomorrow and say hello to her.

A lady gives me change at the checkout and i go to count it. i don't trust her? Then I realize she gave me TOO much money. Do I give it back? Do I keep it? I figure corporate America won't be missing a few dollars and decide instead to walk next door to the Chinese restaurant where, in the back, some Hispanic cooks are taking a smoke break.
"This is for you". I off the overage i received at the store to him. He looks at me quizzically, cautious at first, weighs his options and decides to accept the gift from the crazy Asian with the pink backpack and bicycle basket. I smile and say "Feliz Navidad." The fact that it's August is not lost on me.

how do we trust the the oncoming traffic won't come head on to us? Went on a nice morning ride and had these thoughts floating through my mind. I guess we just do. Otherwise we would never get anywhere would we?

the one good thing about some friendships is it's seamlessness, if you can't get your needs once place you can find it in another friend. Although I appreciate this quality, I also yearn for relationships that require a higher standard.

At the bus stop today as I was waiting for a ride, I happened upon a visually impaired couple. Normally it's an older couple but today a pair in their early twenties made their way across Lamar and 51st, one of the busier street intersections in Austin. My heart always melts when I see couples with physical challenges of any kind. I'm sure they have their own quirks and engage in their fare share of disagreements, but it's the earnestness that gets me. There's something especially sweet about two people who love each other who have no idea what the other looks like. There's something noble about that. I too will aspire to love at first sound.

quotes I've enjoyed this week:
"love like you've never lost before"
"i posses a troublesome superabundance of that sort of time which is not money"