8 January 2018

in

Today, I met a bunch of different people I'd be interacting with, on and off... For the next 3 months!

I applied for a work program that allows me to live and work at Redmond to grow my work experience, marketability, and career. I'm super awkward when I first meet people, so that's always fun. Overall though, my first week will be jam-packed because we're just jumping in.

Either way, I'm super excited to do stuff here... Which will put this project down on hiatus for the best reasons possible! 

7 January 2018

in

Today, in my sickness, I met one, and only one person.

It was the guy who dropped off my stuff through Amazon Now!

That's amazing. I first mentioned Amazon Now when I visited my brother in Portland last year. Holy crap, it was convenient. The drivers are also very nice too. My only problem with it is my inability to properly estimate how much I actually had to carry up to my apartment. 

Let me tell you, I wasn't very graceful. 

6 January 2018

in

Today, I met some pretty nice airport people.

They helped me weigh my bags ahead of time because I was overweight on some stuff. I was also super sick, so this was really helpful. I felt bad for the people who had to sit next to me on the plane, I was miserable. But the woman next to me on my first leg made sure I had the opportunity to get a drink every time the trolley passed by. 

Even in my feverish haze, I took some beautiful pictures on my flight though. 

5 January 2018

in

Today, I met my parents' accountant. 

He's pretty fascinating. Though he's an accountant, he said he really is in the business for people and helping them. In about an hour, I think I learned more of his life than I felt necessary. Leaving out some really confidential stuff, here were some good pieces: 

  • Taught while his first wife went to med school. While the two eventually divorced, she refused to take him for anything. Her reasoning was that without him, she wouldn't be where she is. He also made it a point to take their children to eat meals with their mother on days she was on duty. I believe she's the head of a med school department in the mainland now. 

  • His mother was a Broadway singer, so the #MeToo movement doesn't surprise him. He shared that his parents often wondered if she should have conceded just so they would make it.

  • One of his family members used to own the NY Giants. 

  • He's Auli'i Cravahlo's accountant, and he warned her mother about Hollywood culture.

  • He was once busted for supposedly running a prostitution parlor... But the judge threw the case out because none of the women would testify against him since he actually treated all of them very well.

There was more, but I think those are more his children's stories than his own. He was a cool cat, and I wouldn't mind running into him again. 

4 January 2018

in

Today I met my new neighbors.

They're super friendly, though it was a little weird since the first interaction we heard was... Well, someone had broken into their house and there was a commotion caused and the would be burglars got hurt.

Anyway, these people are super nice. Husband works for Hawaiiantel and the wife works for Philippine Airlines, which is always late. That confirms what everyone else has ever said about it to me. 

The nice thing about Filipino people from the motherland is that they automatically gravitate to forming communities with the people around them. It's an enviable for many people who are looking for a sense of belonging. It's something I find wonderful and beautiful about my culture. 

3 January 2018

in

Today I met a girl who just didn't know what she wanted.

She came into the store and wanted to look at a specific computer. Sure. I helped her with that. She said she didn't know much about computers, so I took time to explain the specs. She then hit me with some questions.

"What are you doing with your computer?"
"Business development and graphics design."
"What programs are you using?"
"Oh I don't know, whatever my friends gave me."
"What programs did your friends give you?"
"Just whatever is in the box."
"Ok... Is Adobe Photoshop one of them?"
"Oh yeah, I'm using it." 
"I might recommend the one with more RAM and storage space."
"Why? Isn't 128GB enough?"
"It is, but if you're using Photoshop your images are going to start to take up a lot of space. I mean, unless you plan on backing it up all the time."
"Oh I back it up."
"What are you backing it up to?"
"A USB drive."

Bruh. If you're backing your stuff up to a USB drive, I doubt it's going to be enough space. This girl was just aggressively ignorant. It hurt me. 

"This is a good computer right?"
"Well yeah, what are you using now?"
"A Mac."
"So why don't you want to use a Mac?"
"Oh because I heard this was better.

Pause.

"Can you show me how Photoshop works on this computer?"
"... We don't have demos of that on the computer."
"Oh but I want to see how it's better."

BRUH. I was done. How the hell are you going to do photoshop and business development if you need someone to show you how to do it? And why are you so aggressively ignorant about this? If your friends are giving you software shouldn't you also ask them what to look for in a computer? And if you're not going to listen to me, why are you interrupting me.

WHY. The worst part about this is that this girl looked like she was so hardcore. She had her Doc Marten boots and half shaved head. If you're going into business development, why aren't you more assertive about what you're looking for? If you're developing a business, you should probably know where to start.

I was super annoyed, so I gave the sale to someone else. 

2 January 2018

in

Today I met a former CEO.

If I recall correctly, he used to own a financial asset management company. However, he lost his position in a merger and was looking to open up another company. He and his wife are particularly successful, and his success has afforded his wife the ability to stay home with their daughter. However, he did express concerns that they were pushing their daughter in academics faster than she wanted to be pushed.

I helped him with some of his computer stuff, and he said to me that if there's any advice he could give me... Invest in real estate. It sounds like they did, and they're doing quite well for themselves. 

He also said the most important thing for him was that his daughter was happy. I was really amazed at how grounded and kind he was despite his obvious well being. Humility is important, and it's something that was very evident in him from our conversation. 

1 January 2018

in

Today I met some... People up Koko Head.

It was really an encouraging group of people up the hill, especially compared to the group on Friday. Maybe the fact it was the New Year helped, but everyone cheered each other on with small words of encouragement. From you can do it, to you're almost there, it's nice to start the new year with some positivity.

Plus, having a gorgeous view doesn't hurt at all.