It has been months of emotional turmoil. If someone told me that in 2016, Federer, the tennis GOAT, would suffer a major injury and fall out of top 10, I would not have believed. If someone told me that I would have 5 international trips and 3 domest
ic trips, I would not have understood. If someone told me that I would lose my parent-in-laws, a cousin and more bad news, I would have tried hard to stop time. Or that I would spend weeks of effort for a 20,000 character-long job promotion request. Or that I would visit 4 new countries. Or that I would be sad on my birthday. Or that my daughter and I become friends as much as family. Such is the character of the year with losses and burdens intertwined with comfort and new experience.
One cannot practice experiencing losses. One cannot imagine the mental stress of consecutive losses. One cannot predict deaths, as inevitable as they are. These losses of closed ones take part of us away and replace it with our new awareness of how we deal with losses. It is a grief with a strange sense of blunt sadness after years of knowing how the abilities of our parents/relatives are taken away by simple aging and illness. Our sense of loss is related to both the physical proximity as much as closeness of the relationship. The physical remoteness creates a blunted grief that drips rather than pours. The bad news hit in the evening, midnight, often over the phone and at times a whatsapp update.
Many caring friends would pray for us in these difficult moments. What would the prayers be? For the recovery? For the postponement of the inevitables? For a no-pain and fast pass away? For the strength of those who need to go through the difficult times? I am at a loss of what to pray for. I experience the confusion of loss while living my life in the same way as if nothing has happened. I would relive the moment of togetherness, and hope for “what if we can be together for another moment again to do ordinary things and have ordinary conversations with our closed ones?”. I hope the memories would show up in the dream. It is not so easy to let go and accept. I have to constantly remember to be thankful for what we have, at good or bad times.
to Scandinavian countries. Instead, there is direct flight from Oakland to Oslo, Norway or Stockholm, Sweden, operated by Norwegian 
Norway.
thing that needs to book ahead – there are some world famous restaurants in these cities, including 
Quiet : The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking”, by Susan Cain, is a refreshing read. Susan quietly writes about the behavior, the thought process and world-changing contribution of that quieter half of the world population. It gives explanation on how introverts and extroverts function; and offers insights to readers of any personalities.
I contribute to some non-profit organizations, and have been a World Vision child sponsor for many years. More recently, I realize the responsibility to go from easy act of giving to more thoughtful consideration to give where it creates impact I care about.
ople stop donating to a non-profit organization as they consider the CEO got a high pay (when it was pretty low compared to the business world). There is expectation that people associated with non-profit initiatives should be sacrificial. Such undermines abilities to attract best talent and create pressure to cut corners in the administration of non-profit organizations. Should we judge instead the impacts the organization make or not make?
of years ahead. It is a future time machine. It is about love. It is easy to love a bright future, it is something else to love the last mile of a journey. It is humbling and same deal to most. What motivates may just be the constant need to overcome new loss of ability to slow down the deterioration. Life is circular and we end where we start – nothing. Yet, if life is a circle, some draws a humongous one; some is more like a dot, a small number with negative radius. The world is almost shaped by those few who journeys a lot in their lives. Take an example, the smart phones are not a result of public voting, yet it changes how billions are spending their time every day. Internet and search are not the result of the work of the majority; it changes the lives of many. Automation of repetitive tasks is not the choice of majority of workers; it is the effort of bright minds who believe human intelligence will better be consumed in higher order than repetitive and mundane activities, maybe many would not mind mundane jobs to make a possible living. How the world evolves does not tie neatly with the advocacy of democracy in many political systems. No-one protest about technology, the smart phones, Internet, Wi-Fi nor the many apps, we endorse it most wholeheartedly. Are people being selective in the pursuit of democracy?
of mostly disruptive behavior, however people justify them. The city has its share of problems, and more shares of fortunes when compared to many other places. The way it is going creates a real possibility that this generation grows up to see things from great to good, and could be in the hands of a few folks, from good to bad. There could be better outcome from brighter minds, and if not, life is circular so could the path of a city.
n do we have a work week made up of two work days and three days of company holiday? It happened in this week of winter solstice, Christmas Eve, Christmas and Boxing Day. The anticipation for the week started after Thanksgiving holiday. And the week had its fair share of movies, feast and gifts.
ta and information”, taught by Mr. Edward Tufte. Mr. Tufte is a professor emeritus of political science, statistics, and computer science at Yale University. He is a pioneer in data visualization. With hundreds of “adult students” in attendance, he brought his unique perspective on data and gave us highlights of the rich content of his four books on data visualization. It was back to classroom lecture and had reading material that took more of the brain bandwidth and really needed focus. Over the years, we build the habit of the right “messaging” in our presentation with data filtering; we worry about complexity to our audience, and cherry pick “easy” and relevant information to our target audience; our challenge becomes less of a mental and content but more of a political and presentation. It is a day of reminder that rich content is superior to beautiful slides; a reminder to not distort data; and the expectation that communication could be clear, precise and efficient at the same time.
any things convenient, efficient and improves the well-beings of many lives; and it is winning the race with non-technology alternatives. Yet, it is hard to wholeheartedly embrace a complete victory of technology.
ikely way lower than the gasoline consumed in getting to shopping malls. It is as great a thing as free Wi-Fi.
oliviatamccue 