New Stuff

Time for an update on my life........(I know, Snooze, right?) But followed by......tada!!! An explanation as to why doing new things is so awesome.

New: 1. I joined the Los Angeles Lawyers Philharmonic. These are all lawyers who play orchestral instruments.... some of them also happen to be VERY GOOD. It's kind of a step up for me, not gonna lie: some of the music is hard, and sometimes I feel out of my league. But then I'm remember I'm no slouch at violin myself. I like it; great networking opportunity as well.

2. New group of friends: Over spring break I spent almost every waking hour with 20 new people from USC: I barely knew any of them going in and now I feel like we've known each other forever. It's an awesome feeling, making new friends (I feel like this is pretty universal).

3. New season of Amazing Race......is pretty damn good. I haven't seen tonight (Sunday's) ep yet, but last one had a BUNCH of key elements of Amazing Race bundled into one. A double U-turn where 2 teams were U-turned, lots of racers passing each other, the Express Pass being used, a SUPER-HARD U-turn, a team getting back into contention after being on the brink of elimination, good stuff. O and did I mention it's the All-Star (Unfinished Business) edition? So I feel like (again) I've known the Cowboys, Flight Time & Big Easy, and Zev and Justin (the Special Kid & his Friend) for the longest time.

4. My parents bought a new car for themselves this past weekend. Black Toyota Camry, Hybrid. 2010. Sigh. I'm not sure I approve, considering we just bought an SUV in 2009 and now we technically own 4 cars, one more than the number of people in our household who can drive. Alas, it's my parents' decision; and fortunately for me my parents have steady jobs and financial security. I cannot stress how lucky I am that we are in the shape we're in, especially after meeting some people at the new....


5. Naturalization clinic I volunteered for over the weekend. Learned lots of new stuff, met some people who were......NOT as fortunate as I am. They were all permanent residents trying to get naturalized and become American citizens. To do so, they needed to fill out an N-400 form, and because most people there had limited English, my job was to translate for them in filling out the form. Dane, my Mandarin-translating skills were stretched. I had to look up "alimony" and "naturalization" in the dictionary the night before, but I think I got it done. Which is why I ......

6. Got a new Chinese-English dictionary for $19.95. Best investment I've ever made, I think. I will LITERALLy actually read that dictionary, cuz Chinese, IMO, is as valuabe for someone like me as learning the law. Seriously.

7. Got a new game called Munchkins. The last true game I bought was this little game I like to call.......Catchphrase. Superfun, best entertainment investment I ever made, great for making new friends, partying it up. Let's see how Munchkins does. I've got a good feeling about it....



OK now to the good part: Why I think most of us like new stuff:

A. Cuz we need to escape the "Mouse in a maze" once in a while. If all you're doing is going to work or school every day, coming home, eating, and watching TV, rinse and repeat, you get BORED.

B. It's scientific: your brain likes it. It wants new stimuli, more stimulation. New stuff allows it to work in different ways, and you can feel it. I sometimes literally have my heartbeat go up and my brain feel like it's churning extra-hard when I am playing a new (intellectually challenging) game or something.

C. We find out there's more out there in the world. There is so much stuff out there; there's stuff we know that we don't know, and there's stuff that we don't even know we don't know; (at the risk of sounding like Donald Rumsfeld, "unknown unknowns.") It's good once in a while to tear into those unknowns, turn an unknown into a known. At least for me anyway.

D. It's also social: Every time you do something new (learn how to play bridge, play dodgeball, solve a crossword, watch a new movie) you're either doing it with someone or at the advice of someone. And it forces you to become a social creature; interact. Sometimes that's all you need: Get out of the house, walk around, TALK to people....and the newness is just a subplot.

E. Turning a new leaf, starting fresh, Getting back on the horse, whatever you wanna call it, new stuff gives us a chance to start at zero, do something right, and esecpailly, escape the mistakes that we've made before. O how much many of us would pay for a clean slate.


I mean, obviously it's not hard to analyze why people like new things: Duh. But I think there's something to be said for ACTIVELy trying to do new things, have an open mind, and live a little. That's my philosophy anyway (for now). Ask me after I've graduated law school and taken the bar....then we'll see if I still have the same 'tude.

Fantasize on, Robert Yan