Patagonia (巴塔哥尼亚, 파타고니아, パタゴニア)

 It's always interesting to see how the Asian languages translate specific names of people, places, or things in other languages, it usually moves from translating the literal definition to just bunching up a bunch of characters that together create the sound of that word and bunching them together, like piecing together a Frankenstein model of sound bytes for the translation. Especially in Chinese, the above characters taken together would have no meaning by themselves, except Chinese readers would know that these were just loan characters used to create a phonetic pronunciation. MJ often responds to Jeopardy questions with the Korean versions of the English word, so her answers vary in that they are sometimes close enough to be considered acceptable by Jeopardy judges, sometimes so far off as to be completely incomprehensible for an English speaker. Probably a good place to note that I recognize how hard is it for a non-English native speaker to learn English and speak it like a native English speaker who's had the advantage of forming the sounds from a young age; so I cringe when I see people scolding ESL people for "not speaking good English" or native English speakers deliberately messing up the English language to "sound cool," for example when someone says "I tried to a bunch a different ice cream flavors like rocky road and Neapolitan....and $H*T." Perversion of the English language. 

Anyway, MJ and I visited a Patagonia store today, which got MJ very excited, and me less excited but just happy to be somewhere new. As it's already past midway through January (late January, even, like 36 might even be considered to be some as late-30's) there was a sale of winter jackets, and we took full advantage. I asked about this sale, and the employee who helped us spun it in a creative way: "It's because we're trying to clear out space for our spring collections." As a Patagonia executive I'd be proud of this answer because a.) it doesn't admit that winter's almost over and people will very soon not need these items anymore, and b.) promotes the next thing that they're trying to sell, their spring lines, and c.) he was wearing double layers of Patagonia clothing, with a jacket over a sweater and even wearing a Patagonia hat. A walking advertisement. Points for staying on message and loyal to the brand versus a quiet quitting employee who would just be like, "Yea of course we're trying to dump all of this merchandise." Patagonia apparently is one of the better brands in winter clothing with a bunch of comfortable fits. I remember a time when Canada Goose was the big hot name in the space, but much like the stock it just stayed stagnant from 5 years ago. (And also I was in Chicago when Goose felt big, winter's kind of a big deal in Chicago if you don't know). 

Patagonia is actually based in Ventura, CA, near where my parents live! It's environmentally friendly with 1% of sales committed to helping environmental groups, and apparently a goal is to be carbon neutral by 2025....which is coming up! Wow, that crept up on me, there was a time in my life 2020 seemed far away, and 2025 seemed like another world, and my Visa card which expires in 2024 seemed like it'd never expire. Geez. 

Patagonia's also a geographic region of South America, specifically of Argentina, so just by buying the jacket I'm kind of giving myself a reminder of a very common trivia question, right up there with "pampas," a grassland area, as need-to-know geographical regions in Argentina. Another way to incorporate trivia answers is to have them as my login password for a bunch of websites, so that I have to type in "ThomasMannMagicMountain1924" as my Etrade password (don't try it, that's not the actual password) so I'll remember that forever. (or until I forget it and/or password expires and I need a new password). 

Year of the Rabbit (兔, 兎, 토끼)

 I've always liked the look of the Chinese character for rabbit; maybe because it's part of my Chinese name, so I have to write it every time I sign in Chinese, or maybe it's because of the curve of the last part of the character gives the shape of a tail, highlighting the anthropomorphic (that's not the name for describing a word that looks like an animal, but I just like that word) form of the character, it's like drawing a picture every time I write the word, and that's really the beauty of Chinese that I never thought about: in English you're confined to 26 letters, plus some dashes, ampersands, dollar signs, etc.......in Chinese you can act like Jean Michel Basquiat spreading graffiti to the printed page. 

The year of one's zodiac sign is said to be even luckier than normal years, and since it comes every 12 years, it better be.....I don't remember anything particularly extraordinary when I was 12 years old or 24 years old (I did win a fantasy football championship that year, so maybe?) so maybe 3rd time's the charm! Maybe MJ and I have waited for this year to have a child so that everyone in our family could become veggie-eater zodiac animals: Mom = rooster, Dad = sheep, sister = rat (veggie eating? At least not a primary meat-eater like dragons or tigers or snakes) and Grandpa (miss him) and MJ are oxen. Miss out on this year (hurry up baby!) and it's going to be dragon, traditionally very auspicious but to me.......I prefer under-rated, under-the-radar performers who get overlooked by others. Dragons are too flashy. Rabbits like me are timid and hesitant, but quick-witted and easy-going and LUCKY! (According to the place setting at my local Chinese restaurant. But that's actually been kind of prophetic: I'm a naturally timid person who doesn't like confrontation: never got into a fight, don't like negotiating about salary or bargaining over anything really. Quick-witted- check! and easy-going (like to think so!) and I'm just learning how absolutely lucky it is that I grew into a body that doesn't need alcohol, caffeine, drugs, of any kind, doesn't need maintenance at the hospital very often, and goes to sleep easily. That's lucky, better than money can buy. 

Some random trivia thoughts because, well, I haven't talked about trivia for a while and I need to review: 

-I'd like to try vegemite (the Auzzie savory spread) and marmite (the British version) once just to note it and have them stick in my mind as popular trivia answers. 

-How cool would it to be like Tom Cruise in The Color of Money or Paul Newman in The Hustler, playing a pool shark/hustler who just wins money by playing pool? Now that's a game I could see perfecting, just getting better and better until it becomes muscle memory (kind of like Jeopardy, where sometimes I read a clue and without even processing anything about what it's asking an answer will pop up, like "Delta Dawn," something I've barely heard about, will pop up in my head as a Helen Reddy song. The power of word association and remembering names with catchy titles, I guess. 

Chess: there is actually an active lawsuit right now for defamation brought by a chess player who was accused by Magnus Carlsen of cheating during a game. Hans Neumann is the plaintiff suing for $100 million in a bizarre set of circumstances, especially for chess which is normally a gentleman-like game/sport/whatever you want to call it, not too much controversy, but this story has it all....and just to top it off Elon Musk has weighed in on the cheating. Will this be the new Johnny Depp-Amber Heard trial of 2023? If only chess could get that much attention, even for the wrong reasons. 

I got disappointed today watching an episode of the Chase on a question asking about the "Princess of Xiaohe" and what it was; I've never heard of it but know Xiaohe means "little river" in Chinese, so guessed it was a waterfall, but it turned out to be a...mummy. A very well-preserved and beautiful mummy, thus why it's called a princess, but definitely not a waterfall, and Xiaohe was actually a small river but just the place where they found the mummy. Sometimes we put so much pressure on ourselves to get trivia questions in our areas of "strength" correct, but there are certain clues that you just won't get even if it's in your supposed wheelhouse, and we're at danger of overthinking. Later in the game, Buzzy Cohen, the chaser, got a question about what Italian designer known for their blazers.......he thought for a long time and guessed an Italian brand I've never heard of, showing off his knowledge of fashion (his area of expertise) but me a fashion zero, just went with the easy answer, Armani (because of all the jackets, etc.) and got it right. Trivia, at least general trivia and what Jeopardy uses, is said to be a mile broad but an inch deep: you don't need deep knowledge about any one particular topic, just a little knowledge about ALL topics. 

Revisiting Old Passions

 MJ once told me her friend thought I might be close to being on the (autistic) spectrum, to which I feverishly disagreed and got upset about, thinking it was an insult to my character, deflating to my ego (I consider myself great at navigating social situations and talking to people!) and not taking the comment well at all. Looking back on it, and learning a little more about autism and people on the spectrum, I do sometimes see myself displaying some aspects of autism, in that I fall quickly in and out of obsessions, becoming fully engrossed in something like learning a language or (the latest fad) trivia questions, but then once the flame peters out, losing interest in that pursuit rather quickly, and completely forgetting about it. It usually ebbs and flows in 2 year cycles, where I change as a person every 2 years or so. 

However, I've found that sometimes it can be very invigorating to revisit old passions once in a while, not turning one's back on something completely. Like discovering an old piece of clothing that's tucked away in the back of the cabinet that's still very wearable, I discovered last year that I still enjoy orchestra performances, going into a symphony hall with great acoustics and listening to live music (and sometimes accompanied by performances or movie showings). This past weekend, I participated again in the Sin City Dodgeball tournament in Las Vegas (aka "The Meadow" in Spanish- common trivia question), a dodgeball tournament centered on LGBTQIA+ athletes from around the country (and even other countries), an event that had been shut down for awhile due to Covid-19 lockdowns and the fact dodgeball is played indoors with a lot of people throwing sweat-covered balls at each other, basically a petri dish of germs and infectiousness in one place. But now it's back with everyone vaccinated, and 35-year-old body can still play some dodgeball! I've also learned to use my left arm to throw balls (as well as navigate a mouse on a computer, a recommended practice for people who spend lots of time on a computer and who want to avoid carpal tunnel syndrome). It helps that dodgeball is something I'm actually good at, as opposed to many other things I'm either a complete novice at or just haven't gotten any better at even after years and years of trying (playing the violin, for example). Another thing is that dodgeball is one of the few communities where I can walk into, and there will assuredly be at least a few people who know who I am. Just like the TV show "Cheers," most humans are all just yearning to go somewhere "where everybody knows your name." That's so important, and certainly gives a boost to my ego to know that people know me from being good back in the day or at least being memorable enough for people to know who I was. That makes me keep coming back. 

On some occasions, revisiting old passions can also affirm that I've lost all interest in them. During the stay in Vegas, I had many chances to go gambling, an old flame of mine. I went the first night, eager to test my luck at the blackjack tables, but a couple of hands in (I sat down and immediately was dealt blackjack, which was....gratuitously lucky) I realized how much of a derelict gambler I felt, being the only guy at the blackjack table playing against the dealer who I was trying to manufacture conversation with. (ME, as the PLAYER, was trying to manufacture conversation with the DEALER, who is supposed to work for tips from ME, the PLAYER!) I realized much like dodgeball, a big part of the positive memories of playing backjack is playing with my friends and winning (or losing together) as a team, the camaraderie of trying to beat the casino, or at least stay long enough for the lady taking drink orders to get us a free drink. Me chasing that high couldn't be recreated just by sitting down at a Blackjack table if nobody knew my name, and I was just talking to a "Steve from Hong Kong." I cashed out with a $100 gain and never gambled again the whole trip. Goodbye, old flame. (until the next time my friends want to play together) 

Eat Your Veggies!

 Americans have a hard time eating their veggies, I get it. Meat, desserts, pasta, and a whole bunch of other things taste better than veggies, and a salad tastes like "a rabbit crapped in my mouth." I used to be in the same camp, but now the first thing I worry about in every meal is how I get a whole lot of veggies, preferably some sort of salad with a tasty dressing, or sandwiches with a lot of sprout, lettuce, herbs, greens, carrots, legumes, peas, you name it on there. It's not that I feel superior to others due to my new eating habits, but I do cringe when a Facebook friend posts on New Year's Day: "This year I'm eating healthy with more veggies! Moving up from the small V8 juice to the Big boy can today!" Is V8 really this man's idea of getting more green in his diet? Here's an idea: how bout to get more veggies, eating an actual vegetable? MJ encounters the same frustrations at the hospital towards the general American populace: patients will be literally in the hospital due to poor diet and nutrition leading to being put on a doctor-mandated restricted low-sodium diet, but they'll be ordering the new "Ghost Pepper" chicken from Popeye's, then when MJ refuses and suggests food from the hospital's more "toned-down" menu, they'll try to bargain for Chipotle and McDonald's, not exactly the most veggie-abundant restaurants, although you can at least build a decent amount of tomatoes/lettuce/fajitas at a Chipotle (although my local Chipotle seems to be perpetually out of fajitas, probably reflecting the dietary choices of the patrons who frequent there). That or Chipotle and its stock price is trending downhill. You now that genius idea I had in 2011 of "BUY Amazon stock! BUY Chipotle stock!" which I harped on all the time? That didn't work out so well in 2022......I really didn't think one of the biggest companies in the world Amazon could have its stock cut by MORE THAN HALF (from 3650 or so peak to what's effectively 1650 or so after its stock split). The Chinese have a saying called "splitting blood," or suffering some sort of great loss, and that Amazon cut fits the bill. 

The French have a saying called espirit de l'escalier, or "wit of a staircase," where someone thinks of a funny or witty response AFTER the opportunity has passed. Happens all the time to me, probably because I often play back conversations I have with people and analyze what I could have said to spice up the conversation, clever points to have added to get a laugh. I lament the shots I didn't take but should have, but then that makes me force some shots that I shouldn't have taken but did take, followed by stunned and awkward silence on a text thread or zoom call that is uncomfortable for everyone involved, including myself. Only thing missing is a slow clap. What's the opposite of wit of a staircase, getting a funny response BEFORE the opportunity even comes? Just having a repository of funny responses in my mind packed up ready to use before the situation even arises. That's probably the sign of a great comedian.....or a psychopath. (And also, not a bad strategy for Jeopardy to think of possible answers based on the category before the clues even come up, like thinking of words beginning in Q if they give you that category already).  

Quiet Quitting

 The 2022 word of the year was "woman" due to all the people on Google searching for what the definition of a woman is due to the modern-day gender issues, which really borders on a political discussion that's sure to spark contentious debate depending on which side of the political spectrum one is on (or your debate partner is on). "Quiet quitting" is a much more neutral word, but in my opinion a more pervasive problem, affecting in the workplace. It refers to the practice of workers/employees doing the least amount possible to get by at a job, not going the extra mile or doing anything extra then they are required to do, a direct backlash of the 2020 work-from-home Covid measures where everyone realized that workers can have more leverage, demand more things. Sidebar: the start of the pandemic is almost THREE FULL YEARS ago now? Seems just like yesterday we were huddled at home staring at a screen all day with nowhere to go...oh wait, that's still my life now. But I do remember the early novelty of just being at home all day and not having to commute to work or worry about bringing a lunch, etc... That summer of 2020 is etched in my memory of seemingly free from responsibilities, totally shut off from the world. 

Quiet quitting mostly affects MJ, who works with a team of nurses at the hospital who in theory should be helping each other provide care for patients, cover for each other when someone has to go on break, take lunch, can't be in multiple laces at one time, etc. (MJ sometimes has FIVE patients assigned to her, which from what I understand is a crazy excessive amount). Before the pandemic nursing was a little easier, but nowadays the issues start at the bottom of the profession: The nursing assistants don't want to work anymore for the pittance (small amount) that they get paid, they don't worry about being fired since they'd prefer not to work anyway, so they don't the work, that extra work gets passed up to the "tech" working at the hospital who ALSO doesn't want to do any extra work, and that extra work passes to the nurses, who try to pass it on to other nurses on their team. It's a game of hot potato, no one wants to get stuck with the bad assignments, and MJ being the nice person she is, often gets stuck with the ticking time bomb (metaphorical). And then that ticking time bomb gets blown up at home when she vents to me about her days at work. I've experienced similar employee "lag" in people extending their lunch hours when they don't want to work, trying to get out of the tough assignments and let someone else take the burden, and MJ's experiencing the full brunt of that right with certain co-workers somehow always being on break, suddenly "getting a headache" when others need their help, talking and gossiping while they should be working, etc. 

Quiet quitting affects me as well, maybe not as directly as nurses directly requesting each other and having to look each other in the eye and say they're on lunch/break, where they can physically see each other and it's a lot more personal. At my work, I have teammates who I've never met in person, just a voice on the group call or a name on the zoom call/email chain who I have to work with, so I've never been able to develop a relationship with this person other than what's reflected in their work; there are definite extremes of people a.) going above and beyond to impress the law firm partner to the extent that it makes me look bad and b.) not being responsive to emails and giving terse responses, not doing what they say they were going to do. There's a broad spectrum of co-workers, and I'd say the latter is much more annoying in terms of not being accountable. I've always had a motivation to not let the team down and it drives me to turn in assignments on time, or at least email to communicate, but some co-workers don't even feel an obligation, choosing to just let the matter sit and (I imagine) hoping it will just go away on its own, or maybe someone else will just do it instead. I think that's a common occurrence in any and every industry in our quiet-quitting world nowadays, and probably why Amazon, SalesForce, and a bevy of tech companies are laying off employees. Even law firms nowadays have associates who used to be gun-ho about working, now refusing to work on the weekends, bill enough hours, etc. It's an epidemic, alright, just maybe not Covid: it's quiet-quitting. 

Home Alone (独自在家, 一人で家に帰る, 혼자 집에)

 I feel like I've posted about this topic before because the Japanese, Chinese, and Korean all seem familiar, but that's kind of the point of the post: Ever since the pandemic started I've found myself alone at home quite often and for large quantities of time: MJ went to nursing school and then started working, leaving me at home in the new WFH environment. So on this New Year's Day I hit up Hulu and could totally relate to the original Home Alone starring Macauley Culkin, who grew up in a huge household in a huge home with 2 parents and 5 or 6 siblings, but then suddenly left at home over the holidays by himself. It's a huge contrast and a lonely feeling, and Home Alone really does a great job making family and tons of family members milling around seem like a great feeling vs. being alone. In other words, great propaganda film for large families and having tons of kids. 

Then I realized, I grew up watching all these American mainstream TV shows/movies like Home Alone 2 (I swear I've seen that movie 20+ times), watched the Cosby show religiously after school, another fictional family with lots of siblings (too bad it never comes up on Jeopardy! because the title guy turned out to be a really bad guy using quaaludes to assault women), Home Improvement (3 boys in the Tim Taylor household), later on Everybody Loves Raymond, etc. etc. Even as a kid I was conditioned to think that it was natural and happy to have a huge family with lots of nephews, aunts, cousins, second cousins, and family reunions/gatherings once in a while where you see all those people. Or maybe as a kid I was subconsciously seeking those shows out, looking for a sense of home when both my parents were working all the time and I was essentially a latchkey kid (if not for my grandpa who kept me company, thank god for him all those years), and Emily my sister wasn't around until I was nine and a half years old. Yup, a shrink would probably tell me I was craving what I didn't have, a big family. But as an adult do I still feel this way? Every holiday season I still have my parents' home to go back to, I see my sister periodically, and I have MJ, and then all of my extended family is off in various areas of the US or back in China. I often go years without seeing them, or even calling them. Is my life better off? I guess I've conditioned myself to be pretty secluded and not needing too many family members in my life, and it doesn't seem like MJ and I are going to have a huge family of our own (likely 1 child if we're likely, 2 tops) and I keep telling myself that this is for the better that I'm not bogged down with having too many family members asking for favors, having to give out beaucoup gifts during the holiday season, write letters, join preparations for parties, etc., and I value my free time anyway and get bored with chitchat and talking about what other people want to talk about. That's all true, but of course there's other parts of me that crave attention, social interaction, cracking jokes, etc., and fantasizes about that ideal family like the Huxtibles (Cosby show) or McAllisters (Home Alone). They all seem so perfect (of course they're not, all happy families are alike, but each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way- Tolstoy) there could be a ton of bad things that run within a dysfunctional family that really make life difficult. I do look around, though, at some of my friends who have at least 3 siblings in their family and they seem to have gotten a leg up on "street sense" and being mature about life where I only learned things like how to talk to girls or how not to be awkward at a very, very late age (think 20+). That, I do think, would have been very different for my development as a kid. 

Then again, being Home Alone isn't all that bad. There are tons of TV shows like Abbott Elementary and "What We do in the Shadows" to brush up on, The Chase is coming back on, and there's a whole world of books from the library I haven't read yet to get 2023 off to a great start. And maybe by the end of the year, we'll add someone to our family that makes me not be home alone anymore! Have a wonderful 2023! (can't be worse than 2022 in the stock market......right?) 

Will It Play in Peoria?

 A phrase that was completely unfamiliar to me before 2022, "Will it play in Peoria?" was according to Wikipedia because they do such a better job of explaining than me, a phrase traditionally used to ask whether a given product, person, promotional theme, or event will appeal to mainstream United States, or across a broad range of demographic and psychographic groups.

The "Peoria" in that phrase was Peoria, IL, which reflected middle America at the time and its Midwestern culture a the "mainstream," and nowadays I don't think it's much different: I would submit Chicago, IL as a great "test market" for any things that will appeal to wide swaths of the American public, not just the Ivy League elites on the East Coast or West Coast hipsters, and even with TikTok and a variety of other social media services that influence culture, I can still see it every time I travel through the Midwest: mainstream culture. 

Nowhere was this more reflected better than in my most recent trip to Chicago, where I spent a LONG day before New Year's Eve weekend at O'Hare Airport (Midway airport was compromised due to the aforementioned problems with Southwest), mostly at the American Airlines lounge. Families, friends, business travelers, people on vacation, families with children, all flooded through the airport on their way to different areas around the country, and all apparently needing a McDonald's or a Starbucks (depending on their priority to quench their hunger, thirst, or fatigue). O'Hare airport, at one time one of the busiest airports in the world (now that honor I think belongs to Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta) serving the second-largest city in the US (used to be Chicago before it was overtaken by LA) was featured on "Home Alone 2" as an important plot point, where Kevin McAllister (MacCauley Culkin) gets lost at the airport when his family is bustling through the airport to make it to their gate on time after waking up late that morning. Boy do I relate to that, both the rush to the airport (I'm like 20 for 23 on making it on my flight after close-shave trips to the airport, but those 3 times I missed the flight were pretty painful), and that sprint through O'Hare has always stayed with me even when I walk through the airport roughly 26 years later, like I'm revisiting a scene from my own childhood. 

Also, the visit to the airport reminds me of how far America has come since the pandemic: While China is barely coming out of it now, finally ripping off the band-aid after almost 3 years in lockdown trying to chase down the elusive white whale of zero Covid, the US is pretty much back to pre-pandemic travel rates, with less and less people wearing masks (ill-advised, IMO, but not a tradeoff people are willing to make anymore) and getting back to the lives of Christmas parties, New Year's Eve Celebrations, and rushing through airports. For some reason, I've had fond memories of spending time at airports perhaps because it's one of the best places to people-watch (better than even Disneyworld, music concerts, and outdoor parks) just from the sheer volume of people coming in and out. It's definitely not because of the jacked-up prices of food inside the hospitals or the consistently disappointing attitude I get from TSA agents (did they never get a morale boost from the movie Get Hard or at least understand the irony of being mean and condescending TSA agents?) but the idea of O'Hare airport being the hub of people going from one place to another and branching out, like life passing through and intersecting with others' lives, has an odd appeal to me. Oh and there are some weird places that American Airlines flies to from Chicago: Bozeman, MT? Grand Rapids, MI? Davenport, Iowa? And with a name trivia nerds love, Grand Forks, North Dakota. Yup, for one glorious day at the end of the year of our Lord 2022, I was at the center of it all, of civilization itself: the American Airlines terminal at O'Hare Airport.