初 (First time)

All Asian languages emphasize the first time doing something, like when the Japanese first meet someone they say "hajimemashite." There's also hatsumimi (初耳), first time hearing something, hatsuyuki (初雪) first snow of the season, and first sunrise of the season (初日の出). 

There are a lot of benefits of doing something for the first time. So much of our daily lives is just repeating the same things over and over again, going to work, brushing our teeth, taking the same route to work every day, eating the same lunch, talking to the same people. It's like my mind is freed from its cage when I experience something new or do it for the first time, so much stimulus coming in and adrenaline pumping in the system. That's why I love playing sports in different gyms or running new routes in new cities, it's just a different feeling each time. Today I played in yet another dodgeball gym, this time (unlike so many times before) was in New York City, where they played with cloth balls instead of the normal soft rubber ones I'm accustomed to. I knew no one, everyone was new, and I felt like the new kid at school again, except I was pretty good and distinguished myself quickly instead of the kid getting picked on all the time. 


There's benefits of trying new foods- the Ritual app that I use gives $5 off of purchases for the first time at different restaurants. It's how they try to hook you in and have you come back again and again, but it probably isn't that profitable for me when all I'm doing is trying new restaurants with the $5 off discount and never going back ever again. MJ always likes to go to restaurants and "try" new things and for some reason the waiters all love her! It definitely is riskier than going to your favorite restaurant and getting the same thing: On the one hand you know what you'll get with Chipotle burritos, because I've had them over and over again with about the same gratification level each time and I appreciate that I can get it under $10, but try something new and I might have to overpay to get it, I might not like it, and there may be some trick to the restaurant or service that works like a hidden fee (yup, those pesky hidden fees). But on the flip side, I can be AMAZED and find my new favorite life. As some people online are saying, "LIVE YOUR BEST LIFE!" (except I think this isn't the greatest advice because it can be interpreted as "GET ALL THE THINGS YOU'VE EVER WANTED, SPLURGE ON PURCHASES, AND DON'T WORRY ABOUT CONSEQUENCES!" and you find that you've lived your best life for 3 months but now have run out of funds and are about to live a broke life. Wouldn't be surprised if that phrase was started by businesspeople trying to drive more money into the economy or Instagram "influencers." 

Today I also watched my first ten-person presidential candidate! The Democratic nomination for President of the United States was at stake, and they had to split the 20-person debate field into 2 nights, which was prudent because 20 would have been way too many on one stage. As it was, 10 people was way too many, as it resembled a circus, a gathering of people who like to talk for hours at campaign rallies and events but then are somehow forced to condense their messages into small bite-sized packages and somehow jump in and respond to another candidate's points when there are 9 other candidates trying to get camera time and (more importantly, time to speak). It's not really a debate, more of an infomercial for each candidate to introduce themselves and what's really important to them and a put a face to the names. And the moderator didn't help.........Chuck Todd (never trust people with first 2 names!) started off by asking the candidates to say the first thing they'd do if they entered office, in one or 2 words, and of course each candidate just completely ignored the word limit and delved into their talking points and stretched it as long as they could, and Chuck Todd gave them a C- for not following his directions. Really sounded like a guy who wanted America to listen to his own voice then the candidates as out of any one person in the debates he had the most words........why does he get to say more when we're trying to hear the candidates for President of the United States speak? Is this the first time he's doing a national debate? 

Fantasize on, 

Robert Yan