Easter Egg Huntin' for Vocab Words

My sister's a freshman in high school. And for every Asian parent, you know what that means: SAT/PSAT studying. Yup, it's less than 24 months away from having to take those things, and it's never too early to study. And a BIG part of that test is the verbal section. The more words you know, the better it is. Therefore, acting on a suggestion my friend, I tape notecards on the wall around the house in prominent areas for my sister with vocab words on them (o did I mention I still live at home with my parents?) and then have my sister actually look at them when she's living her life. A bit insistent and intrusive, I know, but....necessary? I think so. And she's learning the words. I never needed physical "on-the-wall" visualization, but hey.




Negligent (not paying attention)- my stance towards this blog in these last few weeks. A mix of being busy + forgetfulness + laziness, and then just turning into a habit.

Hegemony (Dominance over other people)- my fantasy basketball team!! Well, actually, hegemony would be overstating it, and actually "squeaking in" would probably be the proper term for slipping barely into the playoffs (#6 seed) and needing every single player this past week (it literally came to my last player going, little Isaiah Thomas) for me to beat my opponent.

Inaudible (unable to be heard)- my silent hope that I don't want to articulate by stating it out loud to win all 3 major sports' fantasy leagues this season (I won football, in the Final 4 for basketball, baseball season just started). My own little triple crown.

Diligent (hard-working) - certainly described my work ethic in late February-March, when I took on TWO jobs while working roughly 60-65 hours a week. I know, pales in comparison to the first-year associates at their big law firms, but for a few weeks there I was acting like a worker-bee junior associate. March Madness.

Maelstrom (whirlpool)- a storm of events going down at the firm with depo, EB-5, private placement memorandum, new client intake......so THIS is the life of a lawyer, eh?

Lackadaisacal (lacking energy)- My March Madness pool. For the umpteenth year in a row, nothing doing and was basically out of it from the getgo. DID manage to pick the actual winner this year (Kentucky) but so did half of the world. Basically got no other teams correct.

Futile (pointless, incapable of producing any result) - MegaMillions jackpot. Everyone and their mother bought a ticket, and unfortunately so did I, in the wild hopes of capturing the $640 million grand prize. End result? Nothing, except maybe some false hopes of what you'd like to buy with the money. I guess people will spend a $1 for a hope, right?



Intricate (complex)- the Japanese language. Very interesting language with its own mix of alphabet and Mandarin-based hieroglyphs. Supposedly as a Mandarin speaker I should know 1/3 of Japanese already, but it certainly doesn't feel that way.



Meander (wander)- In a fit of stupor one night I wandered through West Hollywood. On foot. On Saturday night. Alone. Don't ask. I ended up on a bus that distinctly smelled like urine trying to get back to my car.



Usurp (to take the position of another)- Ahh, Game of Thrones. And the beginning of the baseball season. Deliciously intertwined with each other, both involve gallant armies dueling each other in pursuit of one specific goal that shall not be determined for a long time, but the pursuit of is the prize. Feels like it's gonna be a great summer.



Fervor (a state of passion)- learning a new language is exciting; it's triggered a feeling that's been dormant deep inside me for a while: the thrill of learning something completely new and different. Still need law, still like sports, still do exercise, still speak English, but learning Japanese is a new endeavor that's made me passionate about doing something again. I needed it and I'm dedicated to it.



Quintessential (representing the most typical example of a class)- Am I on the quintessential 24-year-old? I don't know. I think perhaps in America, I'm pretty close to that. Living in a big city, newly graduated from school, working 9-to-6 every day, listen to sports talk radio, read the newspaper, exercise every day but less than I probably should because that whole "there's not enough hours in the day" thing, wanting to travel around the world at some time or do something new but knowing I have to pay my dues first, being in graduate debt, doing my taxes at the last second, driving to work through rush hour traffic, watching mainstream movies, listening to the IPod, gaining experience at work, Facebooking..... all of these things are probably much of what the average 24-year-old is doing. I am very close to what a quintessential person of my demographic is doing. How do I feel about that? I feel lucky enough that I have a lot of these things, have the pleasure of doing certain things, and the privilege of living in a great society, but I want more. I want to be special; I want to be able to dictate life, not have life dictate me. I want to seize control. I have a plan to do that.





Fantasize on,



Robert Yan