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SubscriptionsSites I Read
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| For the past 16 months, I've been using blingo.com. It's a site where you can search for stuff with the Google search engine, but with some ads on the sides (no pop-ups). The results are the same as if you searched directly with google.com. Every time you search for something (up to 25 searches per day), you have a chance to win a prize. A few days ago, my roommate Joe asked me what it was, since he sees me use it from time to time. And whatdya know...I just won $50 cash today! Since my bro referred me, he got a matching prize of $50. If you sign up here, I'll get a matching prize each time you win: http://www.blingo.com/friends?ref=gzaGTV5tpcTGq05Mak4yITqPdE8
You can use the site and get a chance
to win without signing up. I just won't get the matching prize and you
won't be able to refer others. This was my first prize ever. So it's pretty rare, but of minimal (or no) extra cost to me. As long as I'm searching for stuff, I might as well get a chance to win something.
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| I was talking with my mom on the phone earlier this week, telling her how busy I've been. After we talked, I put my phone on silent to go study in the library. When I was leaving, I realized that she called and left me a message that went like this: "Larry, I forgot to tell you...no matter how busy you are, if you need to go to the bathroom, just go. Don't hold it in." Umm...okay, ma.
She told me later that her co-worker got some kind of bladder infection from that. Now go use the bathroom!
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| It's my last quarter of school as an undergrad! I remember when I made this Xanga account, I didn't know when I'd graduate, so I just put 2003, the year I came to UCLA. And now, it's almost over! It's been quite a ride, and it continues to be. Some things I wish I had done differently:
1) Be more social. During my first year, I didn't meet very many people. I guess it sorta came from living in Canyon Point, where there was almost no interaction between floormates and housemates. But that's no excuse. I had plenty of chances to meet people, in all my lectures, discussion sections, and the various student groups on campus. I guess I just had no initiative.
2) Be more studious. I didn't study much my first two years, and my GPA really suffered. At one point, I was quite sure I wouldn't even get into my major. But one day, by God's grace, things turned around. I became much more serious about classes, and even learned to enjoy them. You can now find me in the library at least 3 times a week! :P
3) Plan better. Because I wasn't serious about my studies early on, I didn't carefully consider what I really wanted to study in college. I didn't really decide until just over a year ago. Now, I'm trying to cram in my last classes so that I can graduate on time. Also, I wish I had a better idea of where I'd go in my career. I still don't know. I don't know what I'll be doing in my job next year, and my backup is law school, also something I don't know much about. I should have made better use of the career center, job fairs, and on-campus presentations.
4) Waste less time. 'Nuff said.
Despite all this, I'd have to say my overall college experience has been better than what I had ever seriously hoped for. Praise God! Some of the people I have met are super cool, people I hope to continue to get to know in the coming years. Some of the things I learned will certainly be indispensable in my future relationships, jobs, and other responsibilities. And this struggle to find my way without a plan has given me invaluable experiences, while teaching me the importance of planning and maintaining a proper perspective on things. I will try to sort out some of this life stuff by the end of the quarter.
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| The other day, after a long day of studying, I decided to treat myself to a yummy Rubio's burrito. I've always loved the food, except it was a bit expensive.
That time, my receipt came with a $2 off coupon for completing a survey online, which takes like 2 minutes. So after filling it out and writing down the discount code from the survey, I went again today to claim my cheaper burrito. I thought, I wonder if they'll give me another discount coupon. Nah, that'd be too good to be true. Continuous $2 offs...plus, they already have my opinion! But when I got my receipt today, there was another $2 off coupon!
I then looked at the menu, wondering if I could buy something priced marginally over $2 and get another coupon. I finished my burrito and hopped onto the nearby computer to fill out the survey again. I went back to the cashier and asked for a taco and churro, which was like $2.19. I showed the coupon and basically paid nickels for my second helpings. And yes, I got yet another coupon!
I wonder how long this is gonna last. For now, I shall fill out the survey again. "Very satisfied."
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| New Year's Resolution: To learn how to love freely and wastefully.
All too often I get absorbed by the "scarcity mentality," where I measure the justification of an action by the dollar, with self-interested, cost-benefit analysis. There's never enough to go around, so I gotta take initiative and grab it before others do. And then I end up tightening up and saving what I have, leaving very little to give to others. I think it comes from being an econ major, where all we learn is how to maximize profits. We learn about competitive behavior, and how to gain an edge over other people. Also, I play board games where I treat people as mere instruments or obstacles to my goal of developing my resources and winning. Should I trade with this person? Yes, it will help me. In fact, now I can cut him off and effectively knock him out of the game. If he's out, I'm probably gonna win. Okay.
Now of course this is what board games are about, and the competition is what makes them fun. However, this behavior (or at least thought process) seems to bleed into my real-world life. Instead of applying this skill only to games and wise spending habits for a small, fixed amount of money, it sometimes affects how I spend everything, including my time. And then I miss the reality that the things I'm interacting with are actually people with lives, feelings, and needs of their own.
It's a good thing I study ethics, too. Because it lets me take a step back and consider the moral and situational scopes of the philosophy of economics.
But at the same time, philosophy makes me somewhat inert. It's the old paralysis of analysis. Before changing anything, or doing something that might be good, I often have to stop and state reasons for doing so. And then I consider different possible outcomes and their likelihoods. And then by the time I finally arrive at a justification for the action, the opportunity passes.
I want to learn how to switch on and off my knack for making cold calculations. So that in the appropriate situations, I can be wise with my money, time, and relationships.
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