Tag: Experience

Making Someone’s Day

I live in a world where I have a job that allows me to see many people throughout the day. Lots of strangers and lots of familiar faces. Whether they are regulars or fellow colleagues. When it comes to codes, I never really thought about it… until now. My code: making moments. Working in retail, almost everyday I will see hundreds of customers and have a little chat with most of them. No matter how brief or extended the time we have together, I’m always trying to have a connection (if they give off the right vibes). Not every person feels like they’re in the talking mood, so I don’t force it. But for those who do, I am here for it!

My biggest problem is because I see so many people on a daily basis, I will forget that I had a lot of the same conversation with one too many of our regulars. Just recently though, I was told by a customer how I made their day just by being… well, there. My smile makes them feel so much better and just sometimes just by asking if I could do anything to make their day better was enough if they seem to be struggling. It doesn’t take much, but sometimes that’s all you need. Nobody really knows what people go through on an everyday basis and what their life is like… except for if you’re someone’s therapist.

Maybe that’s where I come in. Honestly, I’m all for giving people a free consultation. Our time will be short but I’m hear to listen to you just so you could get things off your chest if you would like. Making someone’s day is more than just my job, it’s an experience. Take care!

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My Perception of Life: Teenage Years

Life for me as a kid I had one focus: making friends. I didn’t realize it then but looking back at it, that really seemed to be the case. The friends I made growing up I had just one feeling every time we would hang out, and that was happiness. Although I didn’t have many friends, my parents did, and their friends had kids of their own. All these other kids were right around the same age as me and we hung out often. This is one of those situations where you would consider them family-friends. Even though we weren’t related, we still considered each other family.

Teenage Years

One of the first major turning points in my life happened during my high school years. But it wasn’t just one specific thing, it was many things that accumulated. New friendships, my love for cars skyrocketed, and of course, my first high school girlfriend. “Snuggly Bear.” I never called her that, just what she referred to herself in the letters we would write each other. Anyone else remember that? Letters! Seriously, when was the last time you wrote a letter to someone? I write maybe one letter a year.

Anyway, a lot of the friends that I also made, we had so much in common. Things like playing sports, video games, and sometimes we would rent a movie that was more horror-esque and pick characters in them who we would claim as ourselves and see who makes it out alive at the end. Also, another thing with horror-type video games, we would rent them and see how far we can get before having to return them. From what I remember, I was typically the one playing the game while my friends would watch. They were more interested in the viewing aspect while giving me options and observing the gameplay, all while I had to make whatever choices that doesn’t lead to death.

Even though I didn’t get my driver’s license until I was 18, that didn’t stop me from being around cars. My older brother was a great example of that. During the weekends, when he would be working on his car in the garage, the moment I heard tools and other mechanical noises, I would pretty much run out to observe. I feel like the reason I did this was to see if I could learn from anything my brother does. I would ask him about what he would be working on or what modifications he would be doing, while still trying not to bother him too much. At least up until the point when I would have my own car to work on. In these early days, we only had 2 Fast & Furious movies out and during this time I could definitely say that I admired Paul Walker’s taste in cars. To this day, I still can’t afford the cars he drove in the movies, which led me to get the next closest thing… affordably.

With all these things that I mentioned and how great they sounded, maybe you’re wondering where the turning point comes in. Because from what we know, turning points are tendencies for conflict. When it came to school, my education was subpar. Bad grades can only lead you so far in life… or so they say. It helps, but a lot of experience with life in general can open up a lot of opportunities. With my grades not doing so great, my relationship with my friends became a bit bumpy as well. At this time, as much as I loved having friends, I never considered what would happen when we all started to get comfortable around each other.

What I mean by this isn’t just about farting in each other’s faces and seeing who beats who to the punch of saying, “doorknob or safety”, followed by running into the wall trying to avoid getting hit, but welcoming one another in like family. And from my experience with family, we do have tendencies to bicker and poke fun, but when it happened to me with my friends, I took it out of context. I thought maybe they were just making fun of me because of how easy I was to make fun of. And maybe that’s at least somewhat true, but my innocence was sort of taken from me. This meant as we got older, we start getting wiser and more mature… I would put an asterisk on both of those. At least when it comes being a teenage boy, we seemed to be incredibly immature.

After only a short time dating my girlfriend, she would break things off with me. Funny thing, she thought that I was going to break up with her which wasn’t true. But it happened and we talked about trying to get back together which we never did. So, no more Snuggly Bear for me. As I tried to move on, I did put myself out there with other girls. At the time, it seemed like it was preferred that as teenagers, you would rather hangout as a group while getting to know each other better before finding yourselves into a one-on-one situation, which was what I was trying to do. The girls that I asked out said yes and agreed to meet with me only to not show up and I would get stood up, multiple times, multiple girls. Since then, I just been afraid to ask anyone else out for the remainder of my high school career. And so, we move on…

My Perspective

Depending on how long ago since you’ve been a teenager, obviously, you’ve changed and have grown from that person you once were. The parts of you that you didn’t like, you no longer did that. Unless you are living in the past and only want to stay that way, but life doesn’t really work like that. Yes, you can keep certain aspects of your younger self with you. But the biggest takeaway from this in my opinion, is any situation that we find ourselves in, despite how we react to it and how it changes us… that defines who we are. Maybe not completely, but easily when it comes to certain aspects about us.

If I was able to go back and give any advice to my younger self, I would tell myself, “Don’t be so emotional. Learn to relax a bit. People are going to talk and you can either shrug it off or just do what you are going to develop later in your 20s: self deprecation. Trust me, it works! I know you wear your emotions on your sleeve but you’re a great kid… also, quit trying to be right all the time! There’s so much greatness in you and you don’t even know it yet, but you have to figure that out on your own. You can’t be afraid to learn something new. And one last thing: education is important. I know you don’t like it and a good amount of this stuff might not be useful in the future. But a lot of it is… that and you could also use it for trivia night. Did you know there are over 1400 different types of cheese in France?! Anyway, I should get going. One last thing, don’t tell anyone about this and the whole thing about time travel stuff.”

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Distractions

Even though you’re in the zone, you can still be thrown off by exactly that… distractions. Life’s biggest issue. Distractions plain and simple, throw us off. They take us off our groove. Our vibe. An idea that has the potential to be something brilliant, can easily be washed away by such a simple distraction. At this point, I’m sure you already catch my drift.

I had an idea that came to me and wanted to share it with whomever. Unfortunately, I was bothered and lost my train of thought which derailed my entire universe. And if that could not get any worse, what else is there?

Don’t get me wrong, when it comes to living alone in an apartment, you have mainly two things: independence and neighbors on the other side of the wall. But from my experience, it’s almost like you’re not living alone, not by yourself. Your neighbors can be incredibly distracting, but you have to do what you can. Distractions are just a part of life. Which is why I know that if someday I can make it and get my own place without walls that have random strangers on the other side of it, I know that I… made it. And that’s what matters to me.

Make the most of what you have to work with. No matter what surrounds you. Life is going to be exactly just that. It will distract you; it will frustrate you, but in the end… life cares about you. Forget the negativity and the bad. Those are distractions that you need to put aside to what really matters. You are the best thing life has given you and it wants you to blossom into something beautiful. Cherish it. Don’t ever take life for granted. As Christina Aguilera has said, “you are beautiful, no matter what they say.” And I stand by that whole heartedly.

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Unspoken Words

As an entire civilization probably, we think about everything that goes on in our everyday lives. The problem though… is that we don’t express ourselves about what’s actually going on. If you’re confused, that’s okay. Because I am as well. John Mayer had this song, “say what you need to say“, and I could not agree more. How we feel and especially want to express ourselves, yet we keep it only to ourselves is, well, selfish. If anybody says anything that rubs you the wrong way, it makes sense to be straight with them right there on the spot. But life has a way of making us want to bottle these feelings. And why not?! This is what society has made of us. I could be wrong by saying this, but I really don’t care, and the thing is I feel we our all sensitive. The little things hit us right to the core, but by expressing it out loud would make people judge us, and lead to others talking about us behind our back. Not that we should even care about it. But maybe, just maybe, we do care. Of course, we want to make a good impression to everyone around us. And this is where I give so much credit to those that just don’t give a… poop.

Here’s another problem, though. To the people that don’t care, it affects those that do. The day-to-day stuff might just mean more to others, and we should all at least respect it. Stubborn is a word that I feel doesn’t get used enough. To me, it means that people aren’t open to new experiences. That’s why perspective is one of the most important things in life. You live most of your life knowing one thing, and that everything else is basically wrong.

It’s sad. Most people in this world feel like they have to hide behind this façade. And I don’t blame them. Life is difficult. One of the most difficult things is to be yourself. Who cares what you are. Be who you were meant to be. Because you were meant for greatness. You were meant to do things beyond imaginable. “Only you can prevent forest fires!” Sorry. I’m a comedian by nature, probably. But enough talk. Go out there and be the best version you were meant to be. As Joe Dirt once said, “Life’s a garden, dig it!”

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My 2020 Experience

I think it’s safe to say 2020 was definitely something else. Anywhere from good to bad, to worst. You can call it what you want, the fact is, it’s now a part of our history. A crisis that shook the world. As an entire species, we had to get through it together. And to this day, we still are. As bad as it was, we still have to look on the bright side. To me it was more than just a pandemic, it was an opportunity. Taking the time to slow down and figure out more about life. My life. I was working at what appeared to be a dead-end job with no plans to change my future anytime soon. I wanted to try my luck with making YouTube videos but was never consistent with posting any content (maybe an average of 2 videos a year). Well, whatever was in stored for my future, I only knew one thing, and that wasn’t to work until I was 65 before retiring. Or maybe it was 59 1/2 (things may have changed and I forget what it is now). Either way, change was going to happen. It’s just a matter of when.

January

One of my many passions is that I like to bowl. Almost to the point where I could have gone pro. Been a part of leagues since I was 18 and did quite a bit of tournaments. Every January my teammates and I would compete in the state tournament. It was normally the first or second week to start the 5-month long tourney. Being that we went early, the goal was to set the benchmark for other teams to try to take us down. Unfortunately, we rarely ever set the benchmark for anyone to beat. However, there are side bets (jackpots and brackets) that we do and that’s normally when I win my fair share. Most of the time it was enough to cover all my expenses throughout the weekend, which is a win in my book!

This time around it was much different. On our last day somewhere in the middle of the tournament, we had gotten news that Kobe Bryant passed away in that horrific helicopter crash… I was shocked. Could not believe what had happened. It was all over the news and everything. Along with his daughter and the other passengers, my heart dropped. On the car ride home from the tournament, I was watching Kobe’s highlight reels and could not stop myself from crying. Tears were just running down my face constantly. Kobe was an icon to me. That mentality to win each and every time he stepped out onto the floor. He had the mindset of a winner and I will always appreciate what he did on the court. The first few days at work was just whatever to me. I made it quite known to my colleagues of what I was going through. Then one of my colleagues, Anne, said to me, “David. You didn’t even know him.” The look on my face when she said that. “Anne. Really? I’m going through something.” I’m paraphrasing of course. But it was very close to that. Now that I think of it, I would consider myself a pretty dramatic person. Probably has something to do with watching a lot of movies and TV shows. Anyway, Kobe was a symbol to the world and he changed the game of basketball for everyone that enjoyed the sport.

So somewhere in the middle of all this, and for several weeks prior, I met this young woman named Lexi. She’s also a bowler and a very good one to say the least. I was new in this league we were in together and very fortunately; our team was paired up next to her team for a month straight. Because of that, it gave me an opportunity to get to know her. At first it started with glances towards one another, and soon a smile. Then some of my teammates started talking to Lexi and her teammates. Now that the ice was broken, we started talking a little bit. And I could never understand why people try to talk softly to each other about the people they’re talking about… when they’re like an arm’s length away from them. I heard just about everything her teammate was saying about us. She told Lexi, “You have 3 to choose from.” … uh, no! The other 2 of my teammates she mentioned both are in relationships. They’re just a**holes! Looking for that lay. One of them is Harvey (You’ll have to check out ‘My Hopeless Romantic’ post so you know who I’m referring to). I was doing just fine talking to Lexi but Harvey always has this mindset where if he can’t get the girl, he’ll make it seem like he was the reason you got with them. What he did was nudged me towards her when I was already standing next to her and having an honest conversation. Each week that went by, Lexi and I talked more and more and got to know each other a little better. But not too long before Covid hit, one of the last times I saw her I was going to ask her out to see if she wanted to get something to eat after leagues. Unfortunately, Harvey kept butting in and blocked me out of doing so. Keeping the conversation between them. Then they walked out towards the car and I’m left all alone again… (Worst. Wingman. Ever) I did reach out to Lexi during the early stages of when we were on lockdown. Figured I might as well try my luck only for her to tell me she just recently started dating someone else (no, not Harvey. He has a fiancé (like that’s stopping him from anything)).

During the time we were bowling next to each other, I was crushing it. Normally when I’m trying to bowl well and impress a girl, I end up derping it. Not this time. At least I assume I impressed Lexi. After I asked her out, she did say she wanted to stay friends and wanted to keep me in her life, and thought we should do tournaments together. I agreed with her. But I also felt like she was hoping to keep me around in case things didn’t work out with the guy she was with at the time. Not long after that she just stopped responding to me completely. Which is fine, because life goes on (can’t be a little b*tch about it) and you can’t dwell in the past. In a way, this one goes in my hopeless romantic stories and there’s still a few more left to be told. Let’s just say this one is a bonus for you!

And to end this chapter with what’s to come in the next; I have the worst week of my life… and it’s from lasagna. Tune in next time.

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First Plane Ride & Airbnb Experience

Introduction/Wedding

Planes, Airbnb and a wedding. None of this would have been possible if not for my friends Vincent and Eddie. If I went at this alone I’m certain I would have been lost at the airport and my flight would have left without me. With that, I would have missed out on a friend’s wedding and a hidden nightclub to say the least. So, to tell this story we’ll have to go back to 2015…

A friend of mine, Wae, recently moved to Texas and was soon to be married. Our history, he is the brother of my sister’s baby daddy. We knew each other already but when I got a temp job, not only did I work at the same location as him, but we ended up working in the same department. So that brought us closer together. Wae was a big influence during my early fitness days. He got me to workout with him at the gym he went to. And as we like to call it, we were getting “swole!”

So it was a traditional Lao wedding. An event that I believe goes on an entire week. But probably ended up being 2 days maybe. From preparations to having monks come and blessed those who are soon to be, and of course, the reception. Now, you know it’s an Asian wedding if there’s Remy Martin, Hennessey, Heineken and Corona involved. So, this wasn’t one of my most proudest moments, but when I was at the venue of the wedding sitting at a table, I noticed that the servers bringing out the food was wearing the exact same thing I was. A simple white button-down shirt with a black vest and tie. One of the guest at the wedding mistaken me for a server too. I’m sure they weren’t the only one. How embarrassing for me. Eventually, after a few drinks I was able to look past that and still managed to have a great time, even though I knew almost no one.

Posing before heading off to the wedding. (Photo by Eddie)
Sangria bar?
Art inside the Dallas museum
Candy shop with a bouncer?
Hidden nightclub. (All other photos complimentary by Vincent)

My Experience

Going back to the flight, I probably wouldn’t have even gone if I was by myself. Fortunately some of my friends wanted to tag along and experiencing the city of Dallas. The worst part about the flight for me was descending. Every time I flew my ears would pop, even when I would chew gum or tried plugging my ears. So the flight was taken care of for me as I set-up the Airbnb, which was a nice cozy apartment. Only like a 5 minute walk from downtown. Thank you Natalie for the listing! I would definitely stay there again if I find myself back in Dallas.

A lot of what we did was checking out dive bars, eating a really large pizza because, well, Texas. Found a nice Mexican restaurant with cheap margaritas, checked out the museum and a couple nightclubs. And I can’t say exactly how it happened but we somehow found ourselves inside a pretty cool nightclub, which was hidden behind or underneath a candy shop. Overall, it was a great experience for me with plenty more stories like this to come. Stay tuned!

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