The Eye of the Storm

Today I journeyed into the eye of the storm of the coronavirus pandemic: I flew cross-country on not one, but 2 separate airplanes, from Los Angeles to Phoenix, and from Phoenix to Durham. Don't try this at home, especially while we're all supposed to be at home.

It was not ideal to fly while the whole country and seemingly the world is under a stay-at-home lockdown, but I apparently wasn't the only one who had the idea: approximately 65 fellow passengers were on my Southwest flight from L.A. to Phoenix, and about 25 more were on the one from Phoenix to Durham, which is a much less popular flight. LAX Terminal was unsurprisingly barren, but not so barren as to be deserted: still some coffee shops and souvenir shops open, not the ghost town I saw from social media just 2 weeks ago. Almost all the passengers I saw were wearing some sort of mask, but surprisingly some of the airport workers and flight attendants on the flight were not wearing masks, prompting me to question whether they know something the rest of us don't. Plenty of social distancing going on even on the flights, but that meant everybody got to sit in their own row! I'm going to miss the ample amount of leg space once everything gets back to normal. One thing to remember is that flights are not serving water or snacks (or meals), no food of any kind, so make sure to bring something on the flights. Overall, it wasn't like a hurricane or even a bumpy ride to the center of the store, certainly didn't feel like I was gambling my life to get on a plane; a bit surreal and actually somewhat satisfying doing something other than my regular routine of wake up, work, afternoon jog for an hour, and then stay at home some more. I did smell my own breath way too much while wearing a face mask at all times, but that's the price we pay for protection nowadays.

Overall, my attitude towards the pandemic has never been jump-off-the-bridge pessimistic; in most situations I absorb all the information without overreacting to it too much, then take a measured approach. It's like Elon Musk said once on the Joe Rogan podcast: I'd rather be optimistic about the future and wrong than pessimistic and right, especially if we end up being in the same place anyway. Obviously I don't want to be too complacent and lackadaisical in preparing for the worst, but sometimes believing the absolute worst case scenarios on the internet can make us feel foolish later when it doesn't turn out to be that bad. MJ and I just watched Contagion together: the first 30 minutes of the movie describing their fictional Mer-1 virus have eerily similar aspects to Covid-19 (even though Contagion came out like 9 years ago!), identifying key terms like social distancing, R-naught, CDC, WHO guidelines, and protocols for finding the origin of the virus (something we still haven't pinpointed for Covid-19), but then Contagion goes way further, as the disease mutates, causes millions of deaths around the world, public looting and government shutdowns of the roads forcing entire cities to stay where they are. Luckily, it appears as though Covid-19 has not gone the way of the Contagion virus, and we are progressing on our way to a vaccine faster and with a lower death rate (albeit, still a dangerously high death rate) than Covid. It appears like the plan is working. And as for when the country will get back to normal, it's still too early to say, but even just last weekend my lawyer friends were discussing maybe September, October. And no sports coming back until then neither. I keep going back to the fact that roughly a month ago I was still going to work in downtown LA, NBA games were still being played, and the world was still operating somewhat normally, Tiger King was still an obscure documentary on Netflix. And just 2 months ago (February 16 or so), I was just getting back from a Big Bear trip with my friends, the stock market was making all-time highs, and no one would have predicted the situation we'd be in just a month later. Isn't it possible things change just as fast the other way, on the way up, and that unexpected things happen between now and September? It's still only April, so who knows what the next 2 months will bring. Just a month ago stock market PROFESSIONALS, experts, gurus even, were predicting a prolonged bear market, at least a recession and even maybe a mini-depression, stores not opening for the rest of the year, etc., etc., and that there was NO WAY there would be a V-shaped recovery, and no one should put money back into the market. Well, a month later, the chart sure looks like a V-shaped recovery. Granted, the stock market does not reflect how the economy is doing, and the economy and especially small businesses have taken an enormous hit, as has the unemployment rate (heck, I technically lost my job as well too), but I would posit that a similar principle applies: the world can get recover quicker than expected. I choose to think positively about that than to be mired in negativity.

Fantasize on,

Robert Yan

Paycheck-to-Paycheck Generation (月光族)

Unfortunately due to the March coronavirus shutdowns, April is going to be a month of financial pain for many people, as many industries have been completely put on pause, companies are furlough-ing their employees if not laying them off entirely, millions of new Americans are filing for unemployment, and it's going to stay this way with no end in sight for the time being. Which is devastating for the 月光族, or a Chinese term literally meaning "spend it all by the end of the month" or have nothing left by the end of the month, or in English means living paycheck to paycheck. 

An astounding amount of the US workforce lives paycheck to paycheck. One CNBC article estimated it at around 78%, and that was last year, 2019, during a pretty booming economy. Now we have an economy that has been put into an artificially-induced coma, so most people are not making money. At all. I've thankfully always lived under secure financial conditions, so I can't really sympathize with those who do this, but I think the pressure and stress would be overwhelming. I don't live paycheck to paycheck now but it already stresses me out, and it makes me cringe just thinking about the prospect if one day our family will have to do so.

This brings up some key points:

1.) always set aside cash in an emergency fund that would last you up to 6 months. Easier said than done, as the people who live paycheck to paycheck wouldn't be able to save any money any of those months, but maybe put the minimal amount of savings in as soon as you get the paycheck, then use it on other things?

2.) Shouldn't invest every single dime in the stock market, in case it goes down and you're forced to sell at an unattractive rate. That's actually happening to some people during this downturn, as they lost their jobs, so the only money they can use are those tied up in the stock market, but since the stock market is down too can't hold on through the bad times like you're supposed to, or at least forced to make a trade based on financial hardship, which shouldn't be the case.

3.) Don't put your IRA funds for the year in until you have to. Every year, I contribute the maximum to my IRA retirement fund ($6,000) and now also for MJ ($6,000) each, but I put in my contribution in January, way before the coronavirus crash, so that money was just stuck in the account for a few months while I could have suffered serious financial damage, and I hadn't even submitted my taxes yet so I didn't get the time value of money of getting my tax return early.


Some other cool Chinese expressions (well, I think they're cool):

注孤生- destined to be alone forever. I think what most people have been feeling for a month, even on what is usually a festive day on Easter. 

家里有矿- family has a gold mine, meaning family is rich. One of the ways to avoid living paycheck to paycheck or becoming 月光族.

喪文化- the pessimistic view of millenials. Unfortunately there's some validity to this pessimistic view, especially with current conditions but also the disappearance of the middle class, you either have to be rich or poor and live paycheck to paycheck, the dumbing down of society due to social media, the planet deteriorating (a view MJ definitely has which makes her doubt whether bringing a child into this world is for the best). 

Fantasize on, 

Robert Yan 

Hidden City Ticketing

During the coronavirus pandemic, one would assume that air travel is very inexpensive; I've seen plenty of pictures on social media showing people flying on airplanes or that person is the only passenger on the flight. And yes, many flights were cheap for 2 weeks since the whole country shut down, which made me wonder how airlines can stay in business: it's really worse for them than the restaurants and barbershops and many small businesses. Not only are the airlines not getting any demand and customers canceling all of their flights, but they also have to keep flying the scheduled flights even without any passengers, for fear of losing out on those flight plans in the future which they fought for (apparently it's pretty competitive within the airline industry to get the most coveted L.A.- New York flight or similarly frequently made flights, so airlines don't want to lose them). So they still have to pay all the overhead costs on top of the money they lose out on from not having customers. It's like if a restaurant was forced to close down but they still had to produce all the food and pay for all the ingredients. Perhaps that's why airline stocks are down more than any other industry... DAL (Delta), LUV (Southwest), and SAVE (Spirit Air) are all about 1/3 or 40% of what their stock price was 2 months ago, while Boeing (BA) is also taking a residual hit. And this is even with the 10% move up by the overall stock market this past (shortened week due to Good Friday) on the possibility of the coronavirus peaking as well as the Fed injecting more money into the economy.


But anyway, hidden city ticketing is going beyond just entering your origin city and destination city into Google Flights and looking at the options, it's entering a different city that you have no intention of going to and have a layover at the city that you actually want to go to, then not getting on the 2nd leg of your flight. These flights can be cheaper for some reason, and substantially cheaper. For example, I am trying to fly back to Durham from Los Angeles next weekend (to see lovely MJ!) but all flights to Durham (even one-stop flights) are more than $200. The next closest city, Charlotte (The Queen City!) demands more than $300. However, flights to Washington DC are actually pretty cheap, starting from $72, and one flight from American Airlines is just $78, stops at CLT, then goes to DC. So instead of getting on a flight to Charlotte for $300, I can just take the Washington DC flight, get off at Charlotte, and just walk out. Easy, right? The airlines definitely do not want you to do this, and apparently have taken significant measures to stop people from doing this, despite the pretty common sense logic of, "why do I have to take the last leg of a flight if I don't want to?" It's like paying for a whole pizza, eating half of it, and then throwing the rest out. The pizza shop is not going to have a problem with it, but airlines do; it's all in the wacky world of airline pricing, with complex algorithms and the intricate science of milking as much money out of customers as possible. Airlines apparently monitor this type of hidden city ticketing behavior in customers very closely.  I wouldn't have known this was being cracked down on! In fact, I think I've unintentionally done this once, flying to Portland and stopping at SFO, I decided I wasn't feeling great about my trip, felt like getting some clams at Fisherman's Wharf and just got out of the airport, spent the rest of the weekend in San Francisco. Ah, the joys of traveling alone and doing things spontaneously without having to book fancy hotels! (See previous article about traveling alone). But nothing happened to me as far as know; I apparently got off the hook. And it wasn't like I got away with murder; I didn't feel guilty at all at the time, and I still don't now, except for not wanting to damage my frequent flyer miles with whichever airline I'm flying with.

So yea, it's a risky maneuver, this hidden city ticketing, but as with the stock market, can be risky but lucrative.....a decrease in price from $300 to $78 is no joke.

Fantasize on,

Robert Yan

Rabies (狂犬病, 광견병, 狂犬 病)

Tonight my parents became hysterical worrying about whether my sister had contracted virus that can cause death in humans, is originated somewhat through bats. And it wasn't coronavirus! It was rabies, a much less threatening virus nowadays than the coronavirus, but every year it kills more than 10,000 people worldwide, but mostly in Africa and Asia, and a large portion of patients are younger than 15 years old, getting it from being bitten by wild dogs or other wild animals. My sister was running around outside and got scratched by a dog that was taking a walk with its owner, not bitten. The scratch didn't draw blood and just caused some surface scratches on the skin, like the ones caused by brushing by some sharp tree branches. Doesn't seem like much to worry about to me, but I don't blame people for being extra cautious and super protective nowadays, a heightened sense of alarm and prevention during the Covid-19 outbreak. Even I, who normally doesn't take personal hygiene and cleanliness in too high of regard, am washing my hands for 30 seconds every time I come home from the outside and doing it the nurse/ very thorough way MJ showed me. Fun facts straight from wikipedia: rabies comes from the Latin word rabies meaning "madness," and luckily, unlike coronavirus, there is a known vaccine for rabies that causes it to be neutralized as a threat as long as you get vaccinated in time (it seems quite expensive though, luckily health insurance covers it).  Just as an aside: why do Asian people call it "crazy dog" disease? Apparently it can be passed through various animals like foxes, skunks, cows, raccoons, cats... it's not exclusive to dogs. (I looked this up.....apparently rabies can spread through other animals to dogs, but the way humans get it is usually through dogs who have the tendency to bite).

I am worried, however, that due to all the attention the coronavirus is getting, people are not paying as much attention as they should on other matters. Depression, suicide, financial hardship, health concerns. domestic abuse, racism, and gun violence are just some of the things I'm worried about beyond the obvious effects of Covid-19 (the death toll and the economic impact of the quarantines).

1.) Depression- this is a very trying time for most people in the world, not just to be stuck in their home but not having a sense of purpose or having social interaction. I have enough money saved to weather this time and even worked remotely from home this week, yet even I was a little downcast this week at the situation we are faced with, and many people don't have the luxuries I have. (Closely related: drug use, alcohol abuse).

2.) Suicide- A very serious matter, and I imagine the home setting allows people to more easily contemplate suicide, especially if they are alone. Duke University already reported a couple suicides. Suicides aren't unusual unfortunately, so it's difficult to assess whether they were caused directly by the coronavirus, but the quarantine certainly isn't helping,

3.) Financial Hardship- lots of heartbreaking stories out there about both couples in a household losing their jobs, 6 million new unemployment claims last week, and all the service industry workers that aren't working at all who rely on tips and hourly wages, as well as lacking any savings or emergency funds to even pay rent or pay for food. Just today I got a haircut from my dad instead of go to a barbershop... those haircut workers are all out of luck; I've also read stories about workers at nail salons, restaurants, movie set workers, amusement parks, courthouses, etc. etc.

4.) health concerns- America was an unhealthy nation as it is, I wonder what being forced to be at home all day will do to obesity rates and obesity-related diseases like heart disease or diabetes. Some people do make it outside every day to do legally-sanctioned jogging and exercise, and you can do yoga or walk stairs or something inside the house too, but gyms and parks being closed would discourage some from doing their normal routine. MJ gets NO exercise at all but that's not necessarily due to being quarantined....

5.) Domestic abuse - I wish this doesn't happen but the sad reality is that families stuck together at home can start to get sick of each other and lead to arguments and conflict. Need to gauge each other's triggers and be mindful of not driving each other crazy!

6.) Racism- Same as during SARS, Asian (especially Chinese) people are being blamed for the disease, even though many (like me) are Asian American and haven't gone to China in years, if ever.

7.) Guns- The new trend after the toilet paper buying spree has now been guns. Not sure how effective guns are against the coronavirus, but it's more of a reflection of paranoia and distrust settling in, of fantastic delusions of the end of the world and doomsday scenarios, and logical fallacies. Just like the heightened fear that my parents had about my sister getting rabies, everybody has heightened fear that causes them to do illogical things. Which may be the greatest side effect of all during the pandemic (just that word sounds scary and inspires fear, doesn't it?): the increase in fear.

Fantasize on,

Robert Yan

The Rat-Snake Scholar (구 롱이)

Nowadays anything that has an animal in the title seems to get more attention, like the Netflix TV show "Tiger King," or the late Kobe Bryant's nickname "Black Mamba," so why not have 2 animals in the same title? The Rat-Snake scholar is part of a series of traditional Korean folktales that I'm reading, full of parables and stories with strong morals. Rat-Snake Scholar is like a cross beauty Beauty and the Beast, about a scholar who isn't aesthetically pleasing to look at but marries a girl who shows kindness to him, and they are separated by magic, having to live separately for weeks, months, even years. The Rat-Snake Scholar misses his wife so much that he sings a song at night looking up at the moon, wondering if his wife is looking at the same moon, and then suddenly the wife who had been on her own adventure looking for him sings that she IS looking at the same moon, and then they reunite. Kind of a cross between Beauty and the Beast and the story of Orihime and Hikoboshi of Japanese lore, who can only meet on July 7 of each year. Reminds me of MJ and I! Right now we are separated by the coronavirus which seems like evil magic, and we've gone several weeks without reuniting, making us wonder if we will ever see each other again. Sometimes when I watch the sun setting in California, I ruminate about MJ seeing that same sun 3 hours ago in a different time zone.

There's a lot of coronavirus coverage now, and one can be drowned in news 24/7, and most of the news is bad (but some of it is good, like the fact staying in our homes seems to have actually decreased the average temperature of fevers in coronavirus patients, Abbot has created a 5-minute coronavirus test, and a bunch of companies like JNJ and Regeneron are testing coronavirus vaccines). My friend's father had a friend who battled alcoholism for many years, finally became sober recently but died of the coronavirus, leaving behind a wife and family. Really tragic, and I'm sure there are more stories out there. What's really terrifying is hearing the more intense cases of patients not being able to breathe for up to 25 minutes, requiring a ventilator to help them breath. Not being able to breathe sounds a lot like the feeling of drowning, which I hear is one of the worst sensations one can experience, which is why it's used in waterboarding as a torture technique.

And then there is the racism against Asian people due to the "Chinese" coronavirus perpetuated by President Trump calling it so, but it's a developing story and so far I haven't been discriminated against (doesn't mean it's not happening to other Asians) so I will keep a close eye on that, and hope I don't get stabbed, although I think the few instances of that were somewhat isolated cases.

So yes, to pass the time not digesting too much of the depressing coronavirus news, I read folk tales which seem a little childish but teach some good lessons! I actually re-read a lot of things, a.) language learning requires a lot of re-reading to let the brain digest, b.) some movies/books are just good and I want to replay it in my mind again, and c.) there are no sports going on, but plenty of games and matches that have been played in the history of mankind that I can watch again. Currently watching replay of World Cup matches from 2014 and S. Korea's 2002 World Cup run.

Fantasize on,

Robert Yan