Thanks 3 - Work

I've been sick the past couple days, so I've had a little bit of spare time for reflection. I sometimes feel like it's a pain to have to get up early to go to work and go to sleep early so I can wake up the next morning. After about four months of this "employment" thing, I'm still trying to adjust to the system. I have a much greater awareness of time, and how little of it that I have, but I'm still working on how to manage it. Despite having an 8-6 schedule everyday, it feels like life is more open-ended than ever before. In school, things were very tightly scheduled and I always knew what needed to be done and when. Work has definite goals in place as well, but the difference is that in school my life basically revolved around these deadlines. Studying, homework, and projects filled the copious amounts of free time in between classes, meals, and sleep. While I have much less free time with the job, the free time I do get is generally mine to use as a I please. And I'm still trying to figure out how best to productively use that time and do what I want to get done.

It may not be readily obvious why I am giving thanks to this. Well, first, the job has given me an entirely new perspective on just about everything. Whereas before I had my experiences with family, friends, and school to color my views, I now have a fourth vantage point from which to look at life. I think there's a greater sense of freedom, but also a greater sense of responsibility. Do you get this sense too? Am I just late to the party?

The other reason I'm grateful is that I have a job at all, especially with the mass layoffs going on everywhere. I don't want to jinx anything, but having a steady stream of income not from my parents is great to have as I explore this new episode in my life. And I'm not even a big spender.

Thanks 2 - Howland

Today I want to give thanks to Ben Howland, Jordan Farmar, and Arron Afflalo for restoring the glory of UCLA basketball. To many of my friends, UCLA is just a school, and you happen to somewhat root for the sports just because you go there. But I've grown up in a UCLA family, and UCLA basketball has always been more than just something that comes around during the fall and winter. It's in my blood, as they say. Weekends in which the team does well are usually good weekends, and losses can really spoil the mood. If you know me well enough, you'll know that this is part of what makes me tick. The late '90s and early '00s were not kind to the UCLA basketball program, thanks to the one whose name we shan't mention. But good times have been restored, due in no small part to the mastery of our coach. And I thank JFarm and AA for helping to make the turnaround possible. Go Bruins!

11/29/08 UCLA 89, Florida International University 54

Thanks 1 - Family

I just got back from Thanksgiving dinner with the relatives. Yeah, I know it's Friday. What're you gonna do about it? Anyway, I'd like to give thanks to my family. Thanks to my parents who have always been supportive of what I do in just about every way. Thanks to my brother who has always cared and been a positive role model, even when using tough love. Thanks to my uncles and aunts and grandparents, who have always been very generous and loving to me, despite their squabbles and silliness. A lot of what I am is because of my family, and it's for the better.