Remote work, or "telework" in Japanese, is a pretty simple concept that's become exponentially more popular due to the current status of the world: working outside of the office. It includes but is not limited to working from home, as remote work can be done in a coffeeshop, on an airplane, in a different office, pretty much anywhere you have a laptop or computer. For the last month or so, of course, it's pretty much limited to working at home.
Remote projects can be really convenient: it's possible to wake up and immediately start working: no putting on fancy dress clothes, no hurrying to get out the door to beat traffic or to catch the bus or train on time, the lack of a morning commute is probably the best thing about it. There's no supervision, so it's a welcome relief not to have someone look over your shoulder, and the hours are more flexible: outside of a scheduled meeting or two that must be done at set times, there really isn't too many strict requirements as to when you can be in the office, when not to be in the office, etc., whatever time is wasted during my commute normally can be used to do whatever I want to do. Background sound can be whatever you want it to be: classical and coffeeshop mix for MJ, language learning podcasts for me. Temperature is set at your own preferred temperature, you don't share the bathroom/trash can/break room/water cooler/refrigerator/elevator with everyone else in the office, you share it with yourself, and even pre-coronavirus this was better for you health in terms of air quality and not contracting other people's diseases like flus, colds, etc. No risk of getting into accident on the way to work; less costs of eating out, transportation costs, etc. For me, the only reason why I wouldn't take remote work is because it pays less than normal projects: for some reason law firms and clients who pay law firms still prefer that employees work from an office setting. Some of this makes sense for confidentiality reasons: extremely sensitive matter must be safeguarded and not distributed widely to unsecure locations, and I've worked on projects that the client even issued everyone their own secure laptop to work on. But it's also this (I believe) outdated paradigm that working at the office is more professional and more productive- I don't think remote work diminishes productivity, but......
Unexpected problems with remote projects: distractions, feeling bored with always havng to be at home, having no IT guy around to help with computer issues, being tempted to lie down in bed while working and falling asleep on the job, there's no supervision so it's easy to relax standards, it's easy to slouch in one's chair and not have good posture, it's easy to dress like a slob and not feel professional (I do feel when I put on a dress shirt and wear pants that I feel more accomplished and responsible), not meeting one's friends at work. Time also seems to change when I'm working remotely: it's like entering a weird time portal where the day moves differently, life feels like it's passing you by as you lose contact with the outside world.
The Five People You meet while Working Remotely:
1) No one
2.) yourself
3.) Facebook friends after you feel desperate for any social interaction
4.) Your inner thoughts (some people apparently don't have an inner voice and others do, which is pretty strange to think about)
5.) Tiger King, the hottest thing on Netflix right now.
Remote work fits a certain personality type: cat people more than dog people. Dog people want to get out and see the world, and their job is to go run and get that ball on the grass. That's the dog person in me: my mind is programmed to go to work each day and get somewhere, have a destination. Cat people can be in their homes 24 hours a day, every day without needing to go outdoors at all; MJ is a cat person. Even living in an apartment with huge windows that lets the sun rush in and exposes sights of the outside world at all times of the day, MJ has no temptations, no desire to go out to that nature.......she actually might just close the curtains. When asked if she wanted to go outside at all after a week of being at home, MJ's only wish was to go out......to an art museum and stay inside that art museum the whole day.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
Sunday, March 29, 2020
Friday, March 27, 2020
Quarantine/ Isolation Part 2 (隔离 , 隔離, 격리)
Social Distancing. Self-Quarantine. Isolation. These are the all the buzz words nowadays in Week 2 (going on 3?) of the government-mandated shutdowns across the country caused by the coronavirus pandemic, and it's causing people everywhere to be in isolation.
Isolation is kind of a scary word, it makes me think about being locked in a room with a straightjacket on, or lost in the forest without directions on how to get out and night time rapidly approaching (a huge problem if you're in the world of Kingdom, outlined below). People can prey on isolation: I went to Knott's Scary Farm once with friends during Halloween and the paid actors there are allowed to talk to you and kept mentioning that "now you're isolated" if they trapped me in a corner by myself. It's one thing to deal with monsters, scariness, and the daily grinds of life with friends, but it's even scarier to deal with it alone in isolation!
So yes Isolation sucks, but MJ is doing it bravely! And not just during this mini-crisis in the last month, MJ and many other travelers to another country face isolation when moving to a new country and not assimilating to the culture, not being able to speak the language at first. Many Americans including myself don't have the experience of immigrating somewhere else and living there to start a new life; I read an article today about someone who endured culture shock because he couldn't get used to the new way of life in America and started eating something called "Shin Ramyeon" or dried noodles, something I didn't know existed until MJ started eating it. I guess people need anything they can get to make themselves feel the comforts of home when trying to assimilate to a new culture.
I guess in a way, everyone in the world is kind of getting the culture shock of the new world of social distancing and living our lives at home, in our own bubbles. Sure the coronavirus will eventually disperse and a cure will be found sooner than later, but parts of the new way of life will persist, such as working remotely, working from home, being stuck at home for long periods of time, not touching one's face, staying as far away from other people as possible (or at least 6 feet apart). Society is going to retain some of these things even after the virus like working more from home and planes are already taking out the center seat in some airplanes. Personal space is going to be a big issue moving forward, and as someone who has commuted to work in New York City during rush hour I do not feel culturally shocked by that at all, more culturally welcoming. Not touching things and not biting my nails is going to take some getting used to be, but I guess I'll just have to go munch on some Shin Ramyeon or something to satisfy my urge. I'm getting hungry writing this!
One TV series that you shouldn't watch while isolated: Kingdom, the Korean Netflix series. Intensity, intensity, and more intensity for 4 straight episodes and it only appears to be intensifying, if that's possible. I will probably get nightmares from watching it, but it's so suspenseful I've succumbed to the addictiveness of the show just as the zombies in the movie have succumbed to the disease that's plaguing ancient Korea.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
Isolation is kind of a scary word, it makes me think about being locked in a room with a straightjacket on, or lost in the forest without directions on how to get out and night time rapidly approaching (a huge problem if you're in the world of Kingdom, outlined below). People can prey on isolation: I went to Knott's Scary Farm once with friends during Halloween and the paid actors there are allowed to talk to you and kept mentioning that "now you're isolated" if they trapped me in a corner by myself. It's one thing to deal with monsters, scariness, and the daily grinds of life with friends, but it's even scarier to deal with it alone in isolation!
So yes Isolation sucks, but MJ is doing it bravely! And not just during this mini-crisis in the last month, MJ and many other travelers to another country face isolation when moving to a new country and not assimilating to the culture, not being able to speak the language at first. Many Americans including myself don't have the experience of immigrating somewhere else and living there to start a new life; I read an article today about someone who endured culture shock because he couldn't get used to the new way of life in America and started eating something called "Shin Ramyeon" or dried noodles, something I didn't know existed until MJ started eating it. I guess people need anything they can get to make themselves feel the comforts of home when trying to assimilate to a new culture.
I guess in a way, everyone in the world is kind of getting the culture shock of the new world of social distancing and living our lives at home, in our own bubbles. Sure the coronavirus will eventually disperse and a cure will be found sooner than later, but parts of the new way of life will persist, such as working remotely, working from home, being stuck at home for long periods of time, not touching one's face, staying as far away from other people as possible (or at least 6 feet apart). Society is going to retain some of these things even after the virus like working more from home and planes are already taking out the center seat in some airplanes. Personal space is going to be a big issue moving forward, and as someone who has commuted to work in New York City during rush hour I do not feel culturally shocked by that at all, more culturally welcoming. Not touching things and not biting my nails is going to take some getting used to be, but I guess I'll just have to go munch on some Shin Ramyeon or something to satisfy my urge. I'm getting hungry writing this!
One TV series that you shouldn't watch while isolated: Kingdom, the Korean Netflix series. Intensity, intensity, and more intensity for 4 straight episodes and it only appears to be intensifying, if that's possible. I will probably get nightmares from watching it, but it's so suspenseful I've succumbed to the addictiveness of the show just as the zombies in the movie have succumbed to the disease that's plaguing ancient Korea.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
Thursday, March 26, 2020
Jeju Island (제주도)
A continuing education series on Korean culture! Today one of the treasures of Korea, Jeju Island, a famous honeymoon spot for couples and often compared to the U.S.'s Hawaii. Being quarantined at home makes me (and many others) miss being outside and enjoying the great outdoors, lamenting that we are all stuck at home not doing anything during one of the best times of the year to be on vacation and enjoying all the Earth has to offer. Around Camarillo, CA there is a path around the dry riverbed that is a popular among the locals, and the flowers blooming allow for a colorful jog bursting with all kinds of shapes and colors and smells (Korean people like the fragrance of flowers called 꽃향기) but that's about it.
I've never been to Jeju Island but have seen I on various Korea travel shows and also the site of the TV Series "Hyori's Bed and Breakfast," something MJ and I used to cuddle up and watch when we were together every day and MJ wasn't in nursing school and lost all interest in anything trivial or relaxing. I associate all the scenes with our honeymoon to Hawaii, right after our wedding two and a half years ago. Hawaii's Maui Island has a famous mountain peak called Haleakala, and apparently it's a great place to watch the sunrise or sunset at the peak on a clear day. MJ and I were not able to get up that early or make reservations that early for our honeymoon, but we did get up to the top during the day and look around........fantastic site, but I actually like the plane ride we took from Maui to the Big Island better in getting the full view of all of the different islands of Hawaii and the ocean that surrounds them. Jeju Island has the famous "Halla-san," where tourists can go take mountain trails, which seems kind of tiring when you consider it's the highest mountain in South Korea at 1950 meters.
Jeju Island also has its own regional accent, not surprising given so much of the world even within its own country has accents. Island areas like Okinawa in Japan often have them. Even Hawaii has kind of a regional accent, in its use of "Aloha" and "King Kamehameha." It's actually an official language of Hawaii, Hawaiian language, inspired by Polynesian languages. MJ and I drove around the whole island of Maui, especially traversing the Road to Hana, which seems like a common way to explore islands since you have enough time to get all the way around (my family and I did the same in Catalina Island on a golf cart). Jeju Island seems to have the same aura of roll-down-the-window, let-the-wind-breeze-through-while-you-drive-along the-coast-energy.
Finally, MJ and I had a great meal at one of our honeymoon resort locations (MJ didn't like some of the places on our honeymoon because they weren't "fancy" enough, but they were all like Disneyland resort quality to me!" Even a map was needed, and some had an art museum) in Hawaii where we ordered one of the more exotic fish dishes that was fresh caught from the sea (or at least advertised as such)! Jeju has its own exotic dishes, including soy-boiled cutlassfish (and some of them seem like they're normally eaten raw, which has an exotic tinge to it) and something called hairtail fish soup. Sounds a little strange, but I do like the flavor of great soup.
Now I've just made myself want to go on vacation more! Meanwhile L.A. at least is on lockdown probably until at least May, according to Mayor Eric Garcetti. Sigh.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
Jeju Island also has its own regional accent, not surprising given so much of the world even within its own country has accents. Island areas like Okinawa in Japan often have them. Even Hawaii has kind of a regional accent, in its use of "Aloha" and "King Kamehameha." It's actually an official language of Hawaii, Hawaiian language, inspired by Polynesian languages. MJ and I drove around the whole island of Maui, especially traversing the Road to Hana, which seems like a common way to explore islands since you have enough time to get all the way around (my family and I did the same in Catalina Island on a golf cart). Jeju Island seems to have the same aura of roll-down-the-window, let-the-wind-breeze-through-while-you-drive-along the-coast-energy.
Finally, MJ and I had a great meal at one of our honeymoon resort locations (MJ didn't like some of the places on our honeymoon because they weren't "fancy" enough, but they were all like Disneyland resort quality to me!" Even a map was needed, and some had an art museum) in Hawaii where we ordered one of the more exotic fish dishes that was fresh caught from the sea (or at least advertised as such)! Jeju has its own exotic dishes, including soy-boiled cutlassfish (and some of them seem like they're normally eaten raw, which has an exotic tinge to it) and something called hairtail fish soup. Sounds a little strange, but I do like the flavor of great soup.
Now I've just made myself want to go on vacation more! Meanwhile L.A. at least is on lockdown probably until at least May, according to Mayor Eric Garcetti. Sigh.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
Sunday, March 22, 2020
Company Dinner (회식)
The concept of "身在福中不知福" is really coming into play nowadays with the coronavirus, meaning "you grow up in happiness but don't know happiness, or you don't know how good you have it unless it's gone. Suddenly without an office to go to and co-workers to talk to, the day-to-day life seems dull, bland, and devoid of social interaction, one of the main things that human beings thrive upon. Sure some lucky portion of Americans still have jobs and can work remotely, but it's not the same as the office experience, and also you don't have one of the more universal parts of the work culture: going to a company dinner, usually on Friday night after the hard work week is over.
I wouldn't say I'm a huge proponent of the concept of a company dinner; I personally would like to just check out of my work mode and have some personal time after 8 hours a day (probably more than that because of the lunch break and sometimes overtime) and have "me" time, rather than spend it with people you already see at least 40 hours a week, 5 times a day anyway. (I've contemplated many times how I spend more time with co-workers than my wife or my family, which is mitigated by the fact I switch jobs and co-workers every few months, but some career people have the same officemates for years and decades on end!). Then again, I've also seen companies bring a group of 20 people or so to a dodgeball league and have fun together, which I fully support as a team building exercise.
The Korean company dinner has a special term ("hoesik") and it is an extreme version of American company outings, first of which is that employees feel pressured to go to them and drink a lot, like soju or beer. It's an established part of the company culture, and it's how new employees receive advice from higher ups, and some even feel like they're betraying the company by not going. Especially in Asian cultures like Japan and Korea where employees work for the same company their whole life and know that going in, it's important to go to these, show respect, and develop relationships. There's the standard routine of having samgyupsal (barbeque pork belly) with a drink, and rounds and rounds of alcohol, and maybe some karaoke (called noraebang in Korean) later. I imagine MJ would not have liked the company dinner culture if she worked in Korea, just from the food items and forced nature of the conversations. There's other etiquette like you have to hold he cup of soju that someone pours for you with 2 hands, you should look away from the person pouring, etc., etc., and people telling you to stay longer. (But you're expected to still show up to work the next day on time if it's a work day!)
In America there's definitely less company pressure, like your job depends on it, especially if you have kids at home or some other obligations. I have definitely went to company dinners, though, and they seem relatively tame, leave when you want. I just find it clumsy and time-wasting to go to a bar and talk about random chatter on a Friday night (so you normally wouldn't have to go to work the next day) , and would much prefer a Friday lunch where everyone needs to take a lunch break anyway. Just the idea of always needing a beer or some form of alcohol in your hand to appear engaged, along with trying to avoid people who you don't really want to talk to. MJ's nursing program has these type of gatherings; I do miss some of the law school gatherings because there was a sense of being all in the same boat and around the same age; company gatherings tend to divide people based on status (if you're the boss), age, and the sense that people come to work just to collet a paycheck anyway. When I worked in New York city, it was easy to go to a bar after work and just take the subway home or walk home, but Los Angeles parties also have the added element of what to do with your car, depending on if you drove to work that morning. There have been some valuable information gleaned during the course of a company dinner of Happy Hour, as employees tend to speak more freely about issues, and also some people go to develop camaraderie or even flirt with someone at the office, and it can be useful for celebrating someone's birthday although I find that just getting a birthday cake around 3:00PM and not imposing on people's precious weekend time is better.
All in all, I wasn't a big fan of the idea, but it's funny how even some of the so-so experiences seem like they were happy and boisterous when we're all stuck at home without much social interaction at all. I start wishing I had taken advantage of those opportunities of hilarity and merriness more.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
I wouldn't say I'm a huge proponent of the concept of a company dinner; I personally would like to just check out of my work mode and have some personal time after 8 hours a day (probably more than that because of the lunch break and sometimes overtime) and have "me" time, rather than spend it with people you already see at least 40 hours a week, 5 times a day anyway. (I've contemplated many times how I spend more time with co-workers than my wife or my family, which is mitigated by the fact I switch jobs and co-workers every few months, but some career people have the same officemates for years and decades on end!). Then again, I've also seen companies bring a group of 20 people or so to a dodgeball league and have fun together, which I fully support as a team building exercise.
The Korean company dinner has a special term ("hoesik") and it is an extreme version of American company outings, first of which is that employees feel pressured to go to them and drink a lot, like soju or beer. It's an established part of the company culture, and it's how new employees receive advice from higher ups, and some even feel like they're betraying the company by not going. Especially in Asian cultures like Japan and Korea where employees work for the same company their whole life and know that going in, it's important to go to these, show respect, and develop relationships. There's the standard routine of having samgyupsal (barbeque pork belly) with a drink, and rounds and rounds of alcohol, and maybe some karaoke (called noraebang in Korean) later. I imagine MJ would not have liked the company dinner culture if she worked in Korea, just from the food items and forced nature of the conversations. There's other etiquette like you have to hold he cup of soju that someone pours for you with 2 hands, you should look away from the person pouring, etc., etc., and people telling you to stay longer. (But you're expected to still show up to work the next day on time if it's a work day!)
In America there's definitely less company pressure, like your job depends on it, especially if you have kids at home or some other obligations. I have definitely went to company dinners, though, and they seem relatively tame, leave when you want. I just find it clumsy and time-wasting to go to a bar and talk about random chatter on a Friday night (so you normally wouldn't have to go to work the next day) , and would much prefer a Friday lunch where everyone needs to take a lunch break anyway. Just the idea of always needing a beer or some form of alcohol in your hand to appear engaged, along with trying to avoid people who you don't really want to talk to. MJ's nursing program has these type of gatherings; I do miss some of the law school gatherings because there was a sense of being all in the same boat and around the same age; company gatherings tend to divide people based on status (if you're the boss), age, and the sense that people come to work just to collet a paycheck anyway. When I worked in New York city, it was easy to go to a bar after work and just take the subway home or walk home, but Los Angeles parties also have the added element of what to do with your car, depending on if you drove to work that morning. There have been some valuable information gleaned during the course of a company dinner of Happy Hour, as employees tend to speak more freely about issues, and also some people go to develop camaraderie or even flirt with someone at the office, and it can be useful for celebrating someone's birthday although I find that just getting a birthday cake around 3:00PM and not imposing on people's precious weekend time is better.
All in all, I wasn't a big fan of the idea, but it's funny how even some of the so-so experiences seem like they were happy and boisterous when we're all stuck at home without much social interaction at all. I start wishing I had taken advantage of those opportunities of hilarity and merriness more.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
Saturday, March 21, 2020
Black Bean Noodles (자장면, 炸酱面 )
Black Bean Noodles are a great Korean-style Chinese dish, but I'm sure MJ would prefer the Korean version and that I associate the tasty black bean noodles with the Korean style, but in all honesty I've had both Chinese and Korean versions and they're both great. It's one of the most basic staples of Asian culture, to have noodles topped with sauce....noodles are like the bread for a sandwich in Western Culture, they go well with anything. Chinese people can make a LOT of noise eating these noodles ( no matter what kind of noodles). MJ and I went to a Korean restaurant near Atlanta, there's a large Korean population there, and a Chinese couple next to us slurped EXTREMELY loudly, and now MJ has attributed that behavior to me and reminded me not to be so loud in eating, talking, and just generally anything. My protests that making noise while eating is actually a compliment to the quality of the food go unheard.
More significantly, the dish is the subject of a famous Korean song "My Memory of My Mother" sung by the boy band G.O.D. (not a religious name, it's short for Groove over Dose). Excellent theme about a family growing up poor and not having much money, barely saving enough to have black bean noodles (a staple dish that's relatively inexpensive) and the mother giving it to her child and saying that she doesn't really like them. Eventually the mother dies and the child laments that he never got to say how much he loved her. Quite the classic tale, and a reminder of how much parents love their children, and the true essence of being a parent, that hopefully MJ and I can one day achieve. (There are aspiring writers and aspiring filmmakers. We are aspiring parents!) I'm sure we've heard plenty of rags-to-riches tales or stories like A Christmas Carol with Scrooge and Tiny Tim and the plight of poor families, but I can really resonate because I experienced that as a child and still feel the same emptiness and desperation that I felt then when I see people going through hardship (watch the documentary "Betting on Zero" about Bill Ackman and his hedge against the Herbalife company, there's plenty of poor gullible people who get swindled by others and sink deeper into poverty). The more people I meet, the more I realize not everyone went through a low-income childhood as I did and not everyone can relate to the plight of the poor, and can't sympathize. As I get older and further away from those times even I sometimes forget those roots and where I come from; the current coronavirus outbreak will cause a tremendous amount of lost jobs and desperate workers with little or no income unable to pay their rent for the foreseeable future; it really makes me put in perspective some of my own financial losses in the stock market as trivial compared to the life-and-death situation those people are in.
Oh but also the lesson of "tell your parents you love them" is also important; I should probably work on that as well.
The most famous boy band from Korea nowadays, of course, is BTS, short for a Korean term called 방탄소년단, 防彈少年團, or Bulletproof Boy Scouts.
Which is a little sad because the Boy Scouts of America filed for bankruptcy earlier this year due to numerous sexual abuse allegations. One of the saddest things in America is how the most well-esteemed and well-intentioned organizations can completely fail the most vulnerable members of our society, children. There are about 2.2 million youths who participate in Boy Scouts, and I even participated under a similar organization called Cub Scouts and understood the value of doing outdoor activities, woodworking, teamwork, and developing character. Yet Boy Scouts leaders, the Catholic church, teachers, and other organizations that allow people to serve in positions of power over kids and there inevitably are some bad actors who ruin it for everyone. Reminds us why we as a nation can't have nice things.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
More significantly, the dish is the subject of a famous Korean song "My Memory of My Mother" sung by the boy band G.O.D. (not a religious name, it's short for Groove over Dose). Excellent theme about a family growing up poor and not having much money, barely saving enough to have black bean noodles (a staple dish that's relatively inexpensive) and the mother giving it to her child and saying that she doesn't really like them. Eventually the mother dies and the child laments that he never got to say how much he loved her. Quite the classic tale, and a reminder of how much parents love their children, and the true essence of being a parent, that hopefully MJ and I can one day achieve. (There are aspiring writers and aspiring filmmakers. We are aspiring parents!) I'm sure we've heard plenty of rags-to-riches tales or stories like A Christmas Carol with Scrooge and Tiny Tim and the plight of poor families, but I can really resonate because I experienced that as a child and still feel the same emptiness and desperation that I felt then when I see people going through hardship (watch the documentary "Betting on Zero" about Bill Ackman and his hedge against the Herbalife company, there's plenty of poor gullible people who get swindled by others and sink deeper into poverty). The more people I meet, the more I realize not everyone went through a low-income childhood as I did and not everyone can relate to the plight of the poor, and can't sympathize. As I get older and further away from those times even I sometimes forget those roots and where I come from; the current coronavirus outbreak will cause a tremendous amount of lost jobs and desperate workers with little or no income unable to pay their rent for the foreseeable future; it really makes me put in perspective some of my own financial losses in the stock market as trivial compared to the life-and-death situation those people are in.
Oh but also the lesson of "tell your parents you love them" is also important; I should probably work on that as well.
The most famous boy band from Korea nowadays, of course, is BTS, short for a Korean term called 방탄소년단, 防彈少年團, or Bulletproof Boy Scouts.
Which is a little sad because the Boy Scouts of America filed for bankruptcy earlier this year due to numerous sexual abuse allegations. One of the saddest things in America is how the most well-esteemed and well-intentioned organizations can completely fail the most vulnerable members of our society, children. There are about 2.2 million youths who participate in Boy Scouts, and I even participated under a similar organization called Cub Scouts and understood the value of doing outdoor activities, woodworking, teamwork, and developing character. Yet Boy Scouts leaders, the Catholic church, teachers, and other organizations that allow people to serve in positions of power over kids and there inevitably are some bad actors who ruin it for everyone. Reminds us why we as a nation can't have nice things.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
Wednesday, March 18, 2020
Ghost Town (鬼城, ゴーストタウン, 유령 마을)
In every zombie apocalypse movie, there's at least a few scenes of an the aftermath of the apocalypse, as all humans have cleared out of a once prominent city and all that are left are empty roads, unoccupied buildings, unused street lights, and stray pieces of paper flying through the air. Like the name it's been given, "ghost town," there's an eerie quality to this kind of cleared-out city, like I've always wondered how it'd feel to walk through a ghost town like this, how the movie producers were able to clear out large cities like London (in 28 Days Later), New York, Atlanta (the Walking Dead) to film those eerie scenes.
Recently Los Angeles has felt like a ghost town. The library is closed, stores are shuttered up, no events are happening at Staples Center, malls have few to no people. Many restaurants are closed, most buildings don't have occupants, not that many cars are flowing through the town, people aren't filing out of the subway station like on normal busy non-holiday weekdays. I feel bad for small businesses, service industry workers that work for those small business and restaurants that aren't getting any revenue that they normally would be getting, and all others who have been disproportionately affected adversely by the coronavirus. I've had a really rough month on the stock market (the Dow is down more than 30%, restaurant stocks like Shake Shack are down 50%, travel stocks like Carnival and airlines are down 70%, Boeing is on the brink of bankruptcy if they don't get bailed out. I feel lucky enough to have a job through this for now; many don't. It really is a terrible tragedy for most of America, especially poor-to-middle-class income people who are depending on their weekly or monthly income for their very survival. Big corporations can get bailed out, political leaders will still make a living even if they get voted out of office, but the normal average worker in America gets hit the hardest, with losing at least a month of income or maybe even their job entirely (some experts estimate about a 20% unemployment rate as a result of the outbreak). And there's not even really anyone to blame! No one even knows who caused the coronavirus, and sources differ as to the origin of the virus. I hope people don't get a negative impression of Chinese people due to the most likely origin of the disease in Wuhan, China. It's not like Chinese people meaningfully caused people to get the virus and the ensuing mass hysteria, but alas uninformed people might find someone to blame (I've already encountered some homeless people on the street who started grumbling and cursing under their breath at me, regarding what I suspect to be accusations that I'm Chinese).
But back to the ghost town. It's so shocking how the American city and economy can go from thriving, booming, and operating on all cylinders in one month (stock market at all-time highs) and seemingly go belly-up in just a few weeks time, and it's symbolized by how bad a booming city like LA has become. And LA hasn't even had it that bad; it's like it's on extended weekend. Other cities like San Francisco, and New York, and Seattle have really turned into ghost towns from what I've read; there is much more regulation in those cities about not going outside due to fear of spreading the virus. And it's only getting worse; America is about to go into full lockdown mode, which is terrible for the economy. The economy can take a break; families that need income can't.
Let's hope that the ghost towns and American economy can come back to life again. (Some restaurants and businesses, unfortunately, wont'......they don't have enough cash to last them until the July-August estimated time of recovery that President Trump has laid out).
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
Recently Los Angeles has felt like a ghost town. The library is closed, stores are shuttered up, no events are happening at Staples Center, malls have few to no people. Many restaurants are closed, most buildings don't have occupants, not that many cars are flowing through the town, people aren't filing out of the subway station like on normal busy non-holiday weekdays. I feel bad for small businesses, service industry workers that work for those small business and restaurants that aren't getting any revenue that they normally would be getting, and all others who have been disproportionately affected adversely by the coronavirus. I've had a really rough month on the stock market (the Dow is down more than 30%, restaurant stocks like Shake Shack are down 50%, travel stocks like Carnival and airlines are down 70%, Boeing is on the brink of bankruptcy if they don't get bailed out. I feel lucky enough to have a job through this for now; many don't. It really is a terrible tragedy for most of America, especially poor-to-middle-class income people who are depending on their weekly or monthly income for their very survival. Big corporations can get bailed out, political leaders will still make a living even if they get voted out of office, but the normal average worker in America gets hit the hardest, with losing at least a month of income or maybe even their job entirely (some experts estimate about a 20% unemployment rate as a result of the outbreak). And there's not even really anyone to blame! No one even knows who caused the coronavirus, and sources differ as to the origin of the virus. I hope people don't get a negative impression of Chinese people due to the most likely origin of the disease in Wuhan, China. It's not like Chinese people meaningfully caused people to get the virus and the ensuing mass hysteria, but alas uninformed people might find someone to blame (I've already encountered some homeless people on the street who started grumbling and cursing under their breath at me, regarding what I suspect to be accusations that I'm Chinese).
But back to the ghost town. It's so shocking how the American city and economy can go from thriving, booming, and operating on all cylinders in one month (stock market at all-time highs) and seemingly go belly-up in just a few weeks time, and it's symbolized by how bad a booming city like LA has become. And LA hasn't even had it that bad; it's like it's on extended weekend. Other cities like San Francisco, and New York, and Seattle have really turned into ghost towns from what I've read; there is much more regulation in those cities about not going outside due to fear of spreading the virus. And it's only getting worse; America is about to go into full lockdown mode, which is terrible for the economy. The economy can take a break; families that need income can't.
Let's hope that the ghost towns and American economy can come back to life again. (Some restaurants and businesses, unfortunately, wont'......they don't have enough cash to last them until the July-August estimated time of recovery that President Trump has laid out).
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
Sunday, March 15, 2020
Quarantine (隔离 , 隔離, 격리)
Quarantine- just the word itself has a bit of a negative connotation, doesn't it? Like there's something wrong with you and you need to be separated from the rest of society. Even when I was a kid, that was a form of punishment imposed by schools: if you did something bad, you went to the timeout corner ad spent time away from everyone else. In prison, only the delinequents who do not follow the rules of the guards get relegated to solitary confinement. Even now, I have been separated away from my wife, who I can't get to without having to risk getting on an airplane and becoming affected by the coronavirus.
And yet, it seems like we are getting closer and closer to a mandatory quarantine here in the US, something that was imposed in China weeks ago to stop the spread of the disease but didn't really hit home or seem realistic until it started affecting us all here in the US......as of this writing there was a rumor that there would be a mandatory quarantine on all US citizens for 2 weeks under the Stafford (Emergency Relief Act)......seems a tough mandate to impose, as America is a free country as opposed to China, and the amount of land mass a quarantine would cover seems impossible to make sure everyone stays inside insid their homes. From a containment perspective a quarantine seems the most aggressive but most effective approach effictively cutting off human contact and the virus's ability to spread to new people, but those 2 weeks would be extremely harsh and detrimental to the psyche of the nation, not sure how long it would take to recover from something like that, financially, spiritually, and supplies/provisions-wise. My parents already reported today that the line at Costco was out of the store and wrapped around the entire warehouse; hard to imagine how magnified it would be were a quarantine would be declared and everyone knew they needed enough supplies to last 2 weeks at home.
(What a difference 2 weeks makes). 2 weeks ago I was getting ready to have a brief work from work, to visiting MJ for spring break beginning the next week, looking forward to baseball and fantasy baseball starting in a couple weeks, to March Madness, to any variety of events, group gatherings, and possibly taking trips to various cities, countries. Now those hopes and desire seem like luxuries and pipe dreams, of having taken granted the ability to move around freely without fear of contracting disease. If anything, the coronavirus has been a wake-up call that even with all our fancy technology and advanced communication methods and information and network, we humans are still frail and weak compared to mother nature and at her mercy, and not just exclusively due to earthquakes, hurricanes, or other natural disasters. Humans evolved, but diseases can too......coronavirus is so catastrophic because it can go undetected for days after infecting a human being, allowing that human being to pass it onto others without knowing they are a carrier. A disease for our time.
But I guess if there is a lockdown, gives me a chance to brush up on language skills, binge watch the heir apparent to The Wire as the Best TV show ever made, Succession........catch up on reading, and do what many people do during quarantine: ponder life, how we got to this point, and where do we go from here; in what is quickly becoming a global crisis, it might be nice to press the "reset" button and reassess everything about ourselves and what's important to us, and how important global health is and how quickly it can be taken away from us. And treasure pictures like these when we could go outside freely and enjoy the outdoor world with large groups of other people, something that we might not be as willing to do after this is all over.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
Thursday, March 12, 2020
Don't Touch! (만지지 마십시오, 触れない, 不摸)
Yesterday and today marked a huge turning point in the coronavirus outbreak, and not for the better here in the US. The amount of cases in the US increased along with the amount of deaths, more and more states declared a state of emergency (along with large cities like New York City), and even prominent public figures like NBA star Rudy Gobert and actor-actress couple Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson announced that they had contracted the virus (albeit in Australia). Many leading politicians started to self-quarantine themselves (although I wonder if that's just to avoid working), and there's even some rumblings that President Trump may have contracted the coronavirus from a meeting with a Brazilian official he met with. Crazy times. Oh and the Dow lost almost 4000 points combined, including 2300+ today (an almost exact 10% loss!), so yes many portfolios are hurting. But I'm honestly pretty lucky; I still have a job I report to, while many in the service industry don't, and I haven't tested positive for coronavirus, a new and novel risk to our society that people don't have a cure for. That's scary.
The "no-touch" and cancel culture had already started weeks ago (many events like concerts, sports games, conferences, schools etc. have been cancelled), but they've just been reinforced these last few days. Purell everywhere, wash hands carefully, but the Manji-ji Ma! (the Korean phrase for "Don't touch" is really catchy and I like to say it even if it doesn't apply in context) philosophy is the best: just don't touch anything if you don't have to. People open up the door to the work office using shirt or other clothing as a shield to avoid touching with bare hand. I think twice about pressing the elevator buttons. And I'm not touching the "pedestrian beg light" button in the streets of DTLA as who knows how many people touch that. The virus can apparently stay in the air and on surfaces for hours. But most importantly, we've been told not to touch our face! The most memorable example was the Santa Clara health official who licked her finger while warning people not to touch their faces. I guess she got her point across and with max visibility, as the video went viral around the world. But it's actually pretty amazing how often I feel the urge to touch my face. Everything from scratching an itch, wiping my nose, putting my hand under my chin, wiping my eyes to wake up, all those things involve touching of the face, I even do it subconsciously! Just a natural movement. Especially for people who have nervous habits like me who bite their nails, it's really uncontrollable. I would need something like electronic shock therapy to rid myself of the habit. I finally did stop biting my nails, though, so that's one thing to be thankful for this virus. It's also a good reminder to reassess our habits of touching things and be aware of everywhere that our hands have been.
Shaking hands has become a no-no! Touching elbows is the new norm, or touching feet even. It'd probably be for the better if shaking hands was just abolished permanently; it's an outdated tradition of meeting someone and forces unnecessary contact with other people, as I'm sure conditions other than coronavirus also can spread this way, like giving someone a cold or the flu through a handshake. I've also never been a big hugger, but I guess that shows more affection and intimacy, so that might be allowed to stay under a theoretical world with Czar Robert Yan. But for now, everyone should touch as few things as possible! Manjiji Ma!
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
The "no-touch" and cancel culture had already started weeks ago (many events like concerts, sports games, conferences, schools etc. have been cancelled), but they've just been reinforced these last few days. Purell everywhere, wash hands carefully, but the Manji-ji Ma! (the Korean phrase for "Don't touch" is really catchy and I like to say it even if it doesn't apply in context) philosophy is the best: just don't touch anything if you don't have to. People open up the door to the work office using shirt or other clothing as a shield to avoid touching with bare hand. I think twice about pressing the elevator buttons. And I'm not touching the "pedestrian beg light" button in the streets of DTLA as who knows how many people touch that. The virus can apparently stay in the air and on surfaces for hours. But most importantly, we've been told not to touch our face! The most memorable example was the Santa Clara health official who licked her finger while warning people not to touch their faces. I guess she got her point across and with max visibility, as the video went viral around the world. But it's actually pretty amazing how often I feel the urge to touch my face. Everything from scratching an itch, wiping my nose, putting my hand under my chin, wiping my eyes to wake up, all those things involve touching of the face, I even do it subconsciously! Just a natural movement. Especially for people who have nervous habits like me who bite their nails, it's really uncontrollable. I would need something like electronic shock therapy to rid myself of the habit. I finally did stop biting my nails, though, so that's one thing to be thankful for this virus. It's also a good reminder to reassess our habits of touching things and be aware of everywhere that our hands have been.
Shaking hands has become a no-no! Touching elbows is the new norm, or touching feet even. It'd probably be for the better if shaking hands was just abolished permanently; it's an outdated tradition of meeting someone and forces unnecessary contact with other people, as I'm sure conditions other than coronavirus also can spread this way, like giving someone a cold or the flu through a handshake. I've also never been a big hugger, but I guess that shows more affection and intimacy, so that might be allowed to stay under a theoretical world with Czar Robert Yan. But for now, everyone should touch as few things as possible! Manjiji Ma!
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
Sunday, March 8, 2020
Daylight Savings Time (夏令时, 夏時間, 일광 절약 시간제)
I really don't know if the above translations are correct since none of the Asian countries observe daylight savings time, but it sounds right......daylight savings time is applied in the summer and was originally an energy-saving measure for people to use less light and electricity during the summer months....but it's not really saving us anymore, so we should discontinue it! I say as I'm sitting here on midnight of 3/8/2020, 2 hours from daylight savings time kicking in and clocks automatically rolling forward an hour.
I read a great book recently about what the world is doing right in today's era called "It's Better Than It Looks," by Greg Easterbrook, and he argued that the spread of democracy around the world has been very beneficial for the world as a whole, as opposed to dictatorships (through communism and fascism). I agree with most of his points, but that doesn't change the fact that democracy has its drawbacks, like not having easy fixes to minor problems! 2 minor issues (not existential or mass hysteria-causing like the coronavirus recently) are daylight savings time and the Electoral College. A dictator would easily be able to stop those practices immediately, starting at whatever time he wishes to, and they'd be gone. But in a democracy, Congress would need to pass a bill, Senate would have to approve it, the President has to approve it, or it might just be an issue decided by the states, etc., etc. Lot of bureaucratic red tape for something that shouldn't need that much.
1.) Daylight savings time actually kills people. It does, because in the vast population that America possesses someone will be woken up by an alarm clock that is set to be intended for a certain time but forgets that daylight savings time cuts everyone's sleep by an hour, causing a heart attack. This happens every year! And also the sleep deprivation causing health deterioration also plays a factor (I guess the reverse is true that people might gain an hour of sleep and get a better sleep in October when it switches back to standard time), but daylight savings does actually kill people, in exchange for the very low benefit of getting more daylight time in the summer, for Seattle and Vancouver to still be light outside at 9:30PM on the longest summer days, for Donald Trump and other rich golfers to enjoy golfing for a little longer in the summer. Not worth it! Arizona and Hawaii have the right idea by not implementing it.
2.) Electoral college v. popular vote: The correct answer is a popular vote, every person's vote is counted. It's pretty absurd that every presidential election year, states like California, New York, and Texas don't have any of the presidential candidates come to campaign because their states are already decided based on historical voting: it's the swing states like Ohio and Pennsylvania that get all the attention. "It's Better Than It Looks" notes that the elected President is not the President of the entire US, more like the President of Ohio and Pennsylvania. And in 2 of the last 5 elections, the popular vote winner lost the election. 40% of the time! It would have been 60% of the time if John Kerry had just gotten a few more votes in Ohio in 2004! One of the most ironic things about the US version of democracy, that the candidate whom less people in the country voted for wins. Seems backwards, but we can't change the electoral college unless like enough states' senators allow for it, but guess since the small states benefit from the electoral college because they have more power from it than the big states (in a popular vote states like California and New York would have huge populations that make all the difference), the small states won't pass any legislation to do so. An ironic position America has placed itself in.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
I read a great book recently about what the world is doing right in today's era called "It's Better Than It Looks," by Greg Easterbrook, and he argued that the spread of democracy around the world has been very beneficial for the world as a whole, as opposed to dictatorships (through communism and fascism). I agree with most of his points, but that doesn't change the fact that democracy has its drawbacks, like not having easy fixes to minor problems! 2 minor issues (not existential or mass hysteria-causing like the coronavirus recently) are daylight savings time and the Electoral College. A dictator would easily be able to stop those practices immediately, starting at whatever time he wishes to, and they'd be gone. But in a democracy, Congress would need to pass a bill, Senate would have to approve it, the President has to approve it, or it might just be an issue decided by the states, etc., etc. Lot of bureaucratic red tape for something that shouldn't need that much.
1.) Daylight savings time actually kills people. It does, because in the vast population that America possesses someone will be woken up by an alarm clock that is set to be intended for a certain time but forgets that daylight savings time cuts everyone's sleep by an hour, causing a heart attack. This happens every year! And also the sleep deprivation causing health deterioration also plays a factor (I guess the reverse is true that people might gain an hour of sleep and get a better sleep in October when it switches back to standard time), but daylight savings does actually kill people, in exchange for the very low benefit of getting more daylight time in the summer, for Seattle and Vancouver to still be light outside at 9:30PM on the longest summer days, for Donald Trump and other rich golfers to enjoy golfing for a little longer in the summer. Not worth it! Arizona and Hawaii have the right idea by not implementing it.
2.) Electoral college v. popular vote: The correct answer is a popular vote, every person's vote is counted. It's pretty absurd that every presidential election year, states like California, New York, and Texas don't have any of the presidential candidates come to campaign because their states are already decided based on historical voting: it's the swing states like Ohio and Pennsylvania that get all the attention. "It's Better Than It Looks" notes that the elected President is not the President of the entire US, more like the President of Ohio and Pennsylvania. And in 2 of the last 5 elections, the popular vote winner lost the election. 40% of the time! It would have been 60% of the time if John Kerry had just gotten a few more votes in Ohio in 2004! One of the most ironic things about the US version of democracy, that the candidate whom less people in the country voted for wins. Seems backwards, but we can't change the electoral college unless like enough states' senators allow for it, but guess since the small states benefit from the electoral college because they have more power from it than the big states (in a popular vote states like California and New York would have huge populations that make all the difference), the small states won't pass any legislation to do so. An ironic position America has placed itself in.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
Wednesday, March 4, 2020
Miyeokguk- Seaweed Soup (미육국)
One of the best things about meeting MJ is learning about different cultures- I remember how little I knew about Japanese and Korean culture just 10 years ago, how America-centric I was, kind of typical of most Americans, I suspect (and why there's been some unfortunate racial prejudice in this coronavirus debacle). I used to think that Koreans were just part of the Korean war, often got it mixed up with Vietnam of all places, couldn't even pick out Korea on a map (I thought they were somewhere southeast of China), and thought Korean BBQ was their most typical food (from eating in Koreatown). I highly recommend dating (or even marrying like I did!) a person from a different race, born in a different country, or just from a different background as yourself, as there is so much to learn. I used to have this weird notion that I would end up marrying a Chinese woman, maybe a Chinese American like myself, which was much too narrow-minded and closing myself off to other possibilities. Learning more about MJ has coincided with learning more about Korean culture, Korean holidays, Korean customs, and....Korean foods. They're all kind of connected really, as a lot of traditional Korean foods are eaten during holidays.
Miyeokguk is a seaweed soup that often also includes other ingredients like tofu or rice. It's very soothing and rich when cooked right, and Koreans say it has great health effects like replenishing blood and contains calcium. Koreans eat it on their birthday because Korean mothers ate it while giving birth, as well as after delivering the baby. (my mom had a similar concept of eating bamboo shoots when giving birth to me, which she reminds me every time I complain about having to eat bamboo shoots). The tradition of eating miyeokguk started back in the day when whales ate seaweed on the shore, and ancient Koreans started doing that for their own people, with apparently good effects. MJ's friend cooked some for her when she was in the hospital from her scooter accident, and I ended up having some.......so delicious. I wish I could cook some, and could give some to MJ for her birthday. However, it's not supposed to be eaten before tests because the slippery seaweed might cause the examinee to "slip" on the exam, or so the superstition goes.
Another traditional food that I'm interested in is "songpyeon," or a rice cake eaten on Chuseok, the Korean Thanksgiving. I like rice cake in general anyway, but apparently there are more than 200 types of rice cakes in Korean, even a songpyeon museum. Koreans make songpyeons like Chinese people make dumplings, sit around the table with family and friends and chat while making songpyeon (actually one of my favorite activities). Apparently making a beautiful songpyeon means you'll make a beautiful baby, again as the myth goes (no empirical evidence to back this up). I better get started learning how to make a beautiful songpyeon!
There's plenty of other Korean foods that have some interesting and enriching histories, like kimchi and samgyetang (fight fire with fire!). Korean food is not just Korean BBQ!
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
Miyeokguk is a seaweed soup that often also includes other ingredients like tofu or rice. It's very soothing and rich when cooked right, and Koreans say it has great health effects like replenishing blood and contains calcium. Koreans eat it on their birthday because Korean mothers ate it while giving birth, as well as after delivering the baby. (my mom had a similar concept of eating bamboo shoots when giving birth to me, which she reminds me every time I complain about having to eat bamboo shoots). The tradition of eating miyeokguk started back in the day when whales ate seaweed on the shore, and ancient Koreans started doing that for their own people, with apparently good effects. MJ's friend cooked some for her when she was in the hospital from her scooter accident, and I ended up having some.......so delicious. I wish I could cook some, and could give some to MJ for her birthday. However, it's not supposed to be eaten before tests because the slippery seaweed might cause the examinee to "slip" on the exam, or so the superstition goes.
Another traditional food that I'm interested in is "songpyeon," or a rice cake eaten on Chuseok, the Korean Thanksgiving. I like rice cake in general anyway, but apparently there are more than 200 types of rice cakes in Korean, even a songpyeon museum. Koreans make songpyeons like Chinese people make dumplings, sit around the table with family and friends and chat while making songpyeon (actually one of my favorite activities). Apparently making a beautiful songpyeon means you'll make a beautiful baby, again as the myth goes (no empirical evidence to back this up). I better get started learning how to make a beautiful songpyeon!
There's plenty of other Korean foods that have some interesting and enriching histories, like kimchi and samgyetang (fight fire with fire!). Korean food is not just Korean BBQ!
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
Tuesday, March 3, 2020
Costco (코스트코) 好市多
Large warehouses. Cheap gas. Free food samples. Buying in bulk. Cheap hot dogs and pizza. Big packs of bottled water. These are the things I think of when I go to Costco, and I'm sure others do too. And a great stock. The Chinese have a specific name for Costco that's a mix between how it sounds and the meaning, and it means "good market with plenty." A fitting description for this generation of getting cheap stuff and a lot of it.
I went to Costco today on my day off to get gas, and realized that the Lindero Canyon location in Ventura County doesn't sell gas! Not all Costcos do! Imagine that. I had also heard that Costco had been getting a ton of business recently as customers flocked to stores to load up on emergency provisional goods in case the coronavirus got out of control (a lot of people watched a lot of zombie and apocalypse movies over the weekend), and my visit confirmed my suspicions: even at 11:30AM on a Tuesday morning in March (not like huge holiday weekends in December and January) the store was packed, people with large shopping carts stacking up on bulk items. Costco purportedly doesn't make any money on their prices of goods, they sell them to you at cost (no markups) and only make money on their membership fees, but I'm not so sure.........those acai bowls and cheap food items are pretty enticing though. Costco has kind of a unique shopping experience different than other stores in the airiness of its stores, MJ and I feel like we're going on a date every time we go to one. Just have to make sure there's a gas station if I'm going there for gas!
Completely separate note, I've realized as I'm growing older that the phrase "youth is wasted on the young" is applicable in more than one way. There's the most common interpretation which is young people are the only ones who have youth but they while it away without appreciating it, but also because youth is when we develop all of our habits and basis of how we will be in the future. I think I watched too much TV or played too many video games as a kid, I didn't absorb enough information and wasn't able to develop any special skills, except maybe Chinese language. The repetitive behavior of youth and the formation of the body play a critical role in those formative years, I'd say from like 6 years old to 18; those are the critical times you're training yourself for the future. Language comes best at those times, sports (you have to start early as an athlete or else have no hope of making it big), musical prodigies. But not just specific skills, it's also the attitude and psychology that's developed during those times, whether to read a lot, work hard, be able to express love and compassion, etc., etc. I find that no matter how much we think that we can always start over as adults, there's still that foundation as a child that's built there that persists that can't be replicated. I guess that's why tiger moms and helicopter parents are so insistent on forcing their children to do what they think is best for them......and in a way it's a gift. It works both ways for me: I wasn't able to develop amazing chess ability or sports ability, and didn't like science and engineering which could have been major benefits for me later on in life, but I did focus a lot in English grammar class (which allows me to have natural command of the English language and help MJ on her essays and writing assignments), read a lot of Kanji as part of my Chinese studies early on in life that's paying off now, and also, maybe most importantly, I developed a strong work ethic during the high school years of always doing my homework and studying for tests, as well as working hard on the job (started my first job at age 16). Invaluable experiences for the rest of my life.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
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