"There were times when he could not read the face he had studied so long, and when this lonely girl was a greater mystery to him than any women of the world...” Charles Dickens (1812-1870).
One and half centuries later....
"Dear Charles Dickens:
This is how the story ends: The boy went online and Googled that girl. He found her on Facebook. The boy needed to study no longer.
The End."
Things could have been worse if that girl turned out to be one of us on Facebook:
The Friendly Friends - We don't know you at all but we invite you to be our friends anyway.
The Face Collectors - Our hobby used to be stamp collecting. We had a stamp book. We've recently switched it to face collecting. We started collecting faces and now we have a Facebook. We never do anything on Facebook besides collecting faces.
The Liker’s - We are a bunch of positive thinkers. We like. We never dislike. By the way, it's the Facebook spirit: "You shall only like; You shall not dislike". One post received our 5 "like"s minutes after it's posted and it read "I just went to my bathroom".
The Oversharers - We share and overshare what we eat, where we go and how we think. We really care what you don't care and have no idea about, us, our kids, our grandkids, our great grandkids, our great great grand kids, our house, our dogs, our cats...
The Inviters - We invite you to our events 10 years from now, five thousand miles from here. You: Please RSVP.
The Suggestors - We have become a fan of our villages. Therefore we suggest you be a fan too.
The Noblers - We are in it only for the cause. As long as God lives, we will be on Facebook. The day when Obama quits the presidency, we will quit Facebook. Amen!
The Exhibitionists - We make a public display of our private matters. We proclaim "I love you!" on someone's newsfeeds just in case others don't know.
The Equal Opportunists - It's an equal opportunity out there for us. Think you have a special bond with us? It was a thing of past. We are now sharing those little things we used to share only with you with our other 2000 Facebook friends.
The Gamers - There are many hidden sides of us you have not seen us in real life. We are farmers, gangsters, pillow fighters, zoo keepers...
The Smart Ones - We have done our IQ tests consisting of 4 or 5 questions. We are convinced with our test results enough to publish our scores. The scores indicate we are genius.
The Horoscopers - We publish our daily horoscope with the lucky hour of the day. We really believe in those horoscopes. According to the horoscopes, our lucky hours are sometimes midnight or 3:00 in the morning. No wonder we didn't get the luck: We slept through it. Let's stay awake during our daily lucky hour from now on then.
The Movie Stars - We have just published the result of the quiz "which movie star do I look like?". The result is Marilyn Monroe or Demi Moore. We've forgotten this is Facebook and we have previously posted our faces.
The Group Thinkers - We can not think alone. Please comment so we can do some group thinking.
The Visibles - We refuse to be invisible. We need to be seen. We upload our photos from our cell phones wherever we go.
The Taggers - You have spent your whole life trying so hard to preserve your delicate image. You've painstakingly selected and deselected which photos to post on Facebook. With our one tag, it's all over.
FFF - Fuck Facebook Forever!
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Thursday, April 15, 2010
24 - A Day's Full Account with the Birds' Nest
Previously on 24
In the morning, I found a bundle of soft moss on the front deck behind my newly built climbing rose trellis. I thought it was brought by the wind. I cleaned up the mess. In the afternoon after I got back from work, I checked on the deck, the little moss turned into circular bedding. By this time I realized it was the birds trying to build a bird nest. The planet earth is over-populated with people but not birds. I've always enjoyed the birds and their singing. Go ahead having more babies and bringing on your family symphony. However, this time their nest was in encrochment with mine. I demolished theirs.
Next Day
- 8:30am
I opened the front door. The birds just built a new nest on the same spot last night. Darn it. I don't want to be mean but....(Simon says). If you push me too hard, I will have to add you to my list of enemies in combat, in the same category as the other cute enemies, you know, deer, frogs…
- 8:35:am
The birds flew in. Male bird: "What the heck? Our nest is gone again, the third time.Where is the nest we spent the whole night building?" Female: "Sure you remember the place right? Should we stop and ask for directions from other birds around us" Male bird: "I don't ask for directions. I swear in our future children's lives, it's here.".
-12:00pm
I opened the door. The nest was built again. You stupid birds. Don’t you know you are wasting you time building here?! Has it ever occurred to you the reason why your nest kept disappearing was that someone didn't like it here? If you were smart enough to understand signage, I could even use some of my real estate arrow signs to redirect you to a comfy site in the woods a few feet away I found for you. If I had a surveillance camera, I would probably just let you had your way so I could make myself a Discovery Channel, but I didn't!
- 12:05pm
The birds flew back with more building materials. As soon as they figured out they had the right place this time, and all along, they knew it was not an accident. It was a terrorist act! Female bird: "We should not waste our time. Let's find another building site.”. Male bird: "We will not give in to terrorism. This is the place we will call home! Let's get busy."
- 5:30pm
It looked like a solid nest. I figured if I had come home a little later, the female bird would have been in labor. By then I would not have had heart to do anything because despite my meanness, 'I don't have a wooden heart'. I rushed to finish the demo work. It started to feel like racing against the clock with the birds. Jack Bauer (played by me on this episode) was on the mission.
- 5:35pm
The birds saw me. Male bird: "It was her, the terrorist! All the time we thought she was our friend. She fooled us as an avid bird watcher but in fact she was just spying on us all these time!" Female bird: "I feel the babies kicking. We are running out of time" Male bird: "There is no negotiation. Let's try again. Let's show her our determination and persistence. Maybe she will finally give up.".
- 6:00pm
I found several fresh moss on the front deck again. It was an easier cleanup thanks to my timely check.
- 6:02pm
The birds were really pissed and frustrated. I heard them chirping loudly. Made no mistake about it. They were not singing. Male bird: "The bitch did it, again!". Female bird: "She is more determined than us. Let's go. I beg you please for our babies' sake.". The male bird finally gave in to the female bird’s plead.
- 8:00am
I stepped out in my pajama. The desk was as clean as I last cleaned it. I was relieved, and tormented at the same time. How I admired the birds' persistence and amazing engineering feats.I couldn't help thinking if we have half of their persistence, what kind of feats we can achieve.
The healthy baby birds were delivered in the emergency room completed just in time, somewhere else. I hope so. I really hope so.
In the morning, I found a bundle of soft moss on the front deck behind my newly built climbing rose trellis. I thought it was brought by the wind. I cleaned up the mess. In the afternoon after I got back from work, I checked on the deck, the little moss turned into circular bedding. By this time I realized it was the birds trying to build a bird nest. The planet earth is over-populated with people but not birds. I've always enjoyed the birds and their singing. Go ahead having more babies and bringing on your family symphony. However, this time their nest was in encrochment with mine. I demolished theirs.
Next Day
- 8:30am
I opened the front door. The birds just built a new nest on the same spot last night. Darn it. I don't want to be mean but....(Simon says). If you push me too hard, I will have to add you to my list of enemies in combat, in the same category as the other cute enemies, you know, deer, frogs…
- 8:35:am
The birds flew in. Male bird: "What the heck? Our nest is gone again, the third time.Where is the nest we spent the whole night building?" Female: "Sure you remember the place right? Should we stop and ask for directions from other birds around us" Male bird: "I don't ask for directions. I swear in our future children's lives, it's here.".
-12:00pm
- 12:05pm
The birds flew back with more building materials. As soon as they figured out they had the right place this time, and all along, they knew it was not an accident. It was a terrorist act! Female bird: "We should not waste our time. Let's find another building site.”. Male bird: "We will not give in to terrorism. This is the place we will call home! Let's get busy."
- 5:30pm
- 5:35pm
The birds saw me. Male bird: "It was her, the terrorist! All the time we thought she was our friend. She fooled us as an avid bird watcher but in fact she was just spying on us all these time!" Female bird: "I feel the babies kicking. We are running out of time" Male bird: "There is no negotiation. Let's try again. Let's show her our determination and persistence. Maybe she will finally give up.".
- 6:00pm
- 6:02pm
The birds were really pissed and frustrated. I heard them chirping loudly. Made no mistake about it. They were not singing. Male bird: "The bitch did it, again!". Female bird: "She is more determined than us. Let's go. I beg you please for our babies' sake.". The male bird finally gave in to the female bird’s plead.
- 8:00am
I stepped out in my pajama. The desk was as clean as I last cleaned it. I was relieved, and tormented at the same time. How I admired the birds' persistence and amazing engineering feats.I couldn't help thinking if we have half of their persistence, what kind of feats we can achieve.
The healthy baby birds were delivered in the emergency room completed just in time, somewhere else. I hope so. I really hope so.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Words to Live By
Quotes are over quoted. I mean it. Everyday I turn on Twitter, there are people out there who do nothing but quote someone else on Twitter. In the beginning, there were just a couple of them so I read their tweaked quotes every day. Pretty soon, the number of people became bigger. Eventually I could not keep up with the never-ending collection of wise and whimsical things people said for every occasion because some of them tweak quotes every single hour. It's not like I will think less of them if they run out of smart things to say. I don't even know them. I finally gave up on my quotes people. From Socrates to Confucius to unknown nobody, a lot has been said since the dawn of civilization. I might have remembered more quotes than an average American. If you don't know what I mean, here is a hint: We grew up reciting the Red Book. I have recently challenged myself and my husband to top a couple of my favorite quotes. I then realized we'd better quote someone else too because the best he could come up with to top my #1 quote below is "Shit happens.". Below are four of my favorite quotes, however subjective my choices are.
1. "This too, shall pass" - Unknown
These words have the ability to make a happy person sad, and visa versa. It is said an Eastern monarch once charged his wise men to invent him a sentence, to be ever in view, and which should be true and appropriate in all times and situations. They presented him the words. Its meaning to me is close to another my favorite Chinese saying "天下没有不散的宴席" (All good things must come to an end.) originated from the novel of "Dream of the Red Chamber", written in the18th century. These words have the effect of helping letting go of whatever we cling to. It's both sad and comforting to come to the realization that all things will come to pass, sooner or later.
2. "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do" - Jesus
It's one of the seven sayings Jesus uttered at his crucifixion immediately before he died. He said it to the two murders to his left and to his right on the cross, and to Israelites and Jews who put him to the cross. I'm not a Christian, so I don't pretend I understand its meaning from the religious context. To me the saying has two parts. The 1st part of the saying is to point the source of all wong doings as: know not what they do - ignorance. The 2nd part is to ask forgiveness for all wrong doings because their ignorance. I remembered when I was a little kid in China, we occasionally went to a square where the criminals were all gathered for their hearings prior to their executions. Such an occasion was a public affair and watched by thousands of spectators. After a list of their crimes being read and death sentences being announced, they were taken to a truck, and then on to the execution field. A few times, I was just standing 8-10 feet from the criminals, who were in their early 20s because of their first horrific crimes. When their names were called upon and before they were taken away, they cried so hard that their tears touched their nose drippings. I sincerely believed at the time of their criminal acts they didn't know the extent of their crimes as well as the consequences. Had they known, they would not have done what they did. Sadly in their case, there were no second chances. Ignorance is a human condition. Understanding this makes forgiveness possible. "To understand is to forgive” -says Buddha. If I myself want to be forgiven for my wrong doings due to my ignorance, I should extend the same forgiveness to others. Forgiveness is humanity at its fair play. "It is in pardoning that we are pardoned." -Saint Francis of Assisi
3. "I don't know" - My then two-year old nephew
It was first amusing to hear it from my then two-year old nephew. He must have picked it up from some adults around him. I wondered who that was because that's a rare phrase in the adult world, where usually it's one corrects another, and one knows more than another. In the world full of smart asses, you know-it-alls please don't try to piss off us really know-it-alls. It's so refreshing hearing "I don't Know", this time from a two-year old. I could not help mimicking the baby talk for a while until my two-year-old dropped that phrase as his language skills progressed. And then I went back to my old self, the one who knows it all. There is an ancient Chinese saying "'知之为知之, 不知为不知, 是知也.”, meaning: "To say you know when you know, and to say you do not when you do not, that is knowledge. ". The opposite of knowledge is not ignorance but certainty/absolute. When you declare in absolute certainty that you have all the right answers to one god, culture, language, political or misc dogma, and when you therefore denounce anything else, you are not giving doubt a chance. "Doubt is not a pleasant mental state, but certainty is a ridiculous one. -Voltaire". Certainty is dangerous in that it does not allow room for doubts, curiosity, learning and mystery, the source of scientific discoveries and artistic aspirations. I remembered one time in my middle school math class, I asked my math teacher a question. My math teacher had no answer for it. She answered "I don't know." There was a long awkward pause in the classroom. Then the math teacher did something that was face saving to her at that instant. She did not know that I have remembered it ever since. She drew a small circle with her white chalk on the blackboard. She said inside the small circle it was your knowledge, and the darkness outside the circle was the unknown. Then she drew a bigger circle. She explained to us this was how it worked: 'The bigger the white circle, the more it touches the unknow darkness. Therefore the more you know, the more you don't know.' So here is a piece of the good news for us know-it-all smart asses, saying "I don't know" does not make you less smart. It just means...you don't know. Sigh of relief. Haha.
4. "Wherever you go, there you are" - Buddha
I looked it up online. Some people say the quotation is from Thomas a Kempis around 1440 AD. "So, the cross is always ready and waits for you everywhere. You cannot escape it no matter where you run, for wherever you go you are burdened with yourself. Wherever you go, there you are." But most people agree it is originated from Buddha "Most every wakeful step, every mindful act is the direct path to awakening. Wherever you go, there you are.” There is a similar Chinese two world phrase 随缘, meaning "go with it (fate)". For someone who has always had his way in life, this saying is a hard one to grasp. For rest of us, we know some things can be changed while other things can not. Accepting the things we can not change saves us from the wars of no ending and no winning. Learn to surrender to our destined path. Wherever we are heading to, and whom we will come across on the way, it's not as simple as just up to us or our effort. It sounds passive but if you are no longer in your twenties and thirties, you will come to appreciate the freedom from this active "giving up". Surrendering to voices is listening; Surrendering to differences is accepting; Surrendering to yourself is being comfortable in your own skin; and surrendering to war is peace (ok only if winning is impossible). Surrender to your chosen path. "Surrender to the flow.”- Mike Gordon
1. "This too, shall pass" - Unknown
These words have the ability to make a happy person sad, and visa versa. It is said an Eastern monarch once charged his wise men to invent him a sentence, to be ever in view, and which should be true and appropriate in all times and situations. They presented him the words. Its meaning to me is close to another my favorite Chinese saying "天下没有不散的宴席" (All good things must come to an end.) originated from the novel of "Dream of the Red Chamber", written in the18th century. These words have the effect of helping letting go of whatever we cling to. It's both sad and comforting to come to the realization that all things will come to pass, sooner or later.
2. "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do" - Jesus
It's one of the seven sayings Jesus uttered at his crucifixion immediately before he died. He said it to the two murders to his left and to his right on the cross, and to Israelites and Jews who put him to the cross. I'm not a Christian, so I don't pretend I understand its meaning from the religious context. To me the saying has two parts. The 1st part of the saying is to point the source of all wong doings as: know not what they do - ignorance. The 2nd part is to ask forgiveness for all wrong doings because their ignorance. I remembered when I was a little kid in China, we occasionally went to a square where the criminals were all gathered for their hearings prior to their executions. Such an occasion was a public affair and watched by thousands of spectators. After a list of their crimes being read and death sentences being announced, they were taken to a truck, and then on to the execution field. A few times, I was just standing 8-10 feet from the criminals, who were in their early 20s because of their first horrific crimes. When their names were called upon and before they were taken away, they cried so hard that their tears touched their nose drippings. I sincerely believed at the time of their criminal acts they didn't know the extent of their crimes as well as the consequences. Had they known, they would not have done what they did. Sadly in their case, there were no second chances. Ignorance is a human condition. Understanding this makes forgiveness possible. "To understand is to forgive” -says Buddha. If I myself want to be forgiven for my wrong doings due to my ignorance, I should extend the same forgiveness to others. Forgiveness is humanity at its fair play. "It is in pardoning that we are pardoned." -Saint Francis of Assisi
3. "I don't know" - My then two-year old nephew
It was first amusing to hear it from my then two-year old nephew. He must have picked it up from some adults around him. I wondered who that was because that's a rare phrase in the adult world, where usually it's one corrects another, and one knows more than another. In the world full of smart asses, you know-it-alls please don't try to piss off us really know-it-alls. It's so refreshing hearing "I don't Know", this time from a two-year old. I could not help mimicking the baby talk for a while until my two-year-old dropped that phrase as his language skills progressed. And then I went back to my old self, the one who knows it all. There is an ancient Chinese saying "'知之为知之, 不知为不知, 是知也.”, meaning: "To say you know when you know, and to say you do not when you do not, that is knowledge. ". The opposite of knowledge is not ignorance but certainty/absolute. When you declare in absolute certainty that you have all the right answers to one god, culture, language, political or misc dogma, and when you therefore denounce anything else, you are not giving doubt a chance. "Doubt is not a pleasant mental state, but certainty is a ridiculous one. -Voltaire". Certainty is dangerous in that it does not allow room for doubts, curiosity, learning and mystery, the source of scientific discoveries and artistic aspirations. I remembered one time in my middle school math class, I asked my math teacher a question. My math teacher had no answer for it. She answered "I don't know." There was a long awkward pause in the classroom. Then the math teacher did something that was face saving to her at that instant. She did not know that I have remembered it ever since. She drew a small circle with her white chalk on the blackboard. She said inside the small circle it was your knowledge, and the darkness outside the circle was the unknown. Then she drew a bigger circle. She explained to us this was how it worked: 'The bigger the white circle, the more it touches the unknow darkness. Therefore the more you know, the more you don't know.' So here is a piece of the good news for us know-it-all smart asses, saying "I don't know" does not make you less smart. It just means...you don't know. Sigh of relief. Haha.
4. "Wherever you go, there you are" - Buddha
I looked it up online. Some people say the quotation is from Thomas a Kempis around 1440 AD. "So, the cross is always ready and waits for you everywhere. You cannot escape it no matter where you run, for wherever you go you are burdened with yourself. Wherever you go, there you are." But most people agree it is originated from Buddha "Most every wakeful step, every mindful act is the direct path to awakening. Wherever you go, there you are.” There is a similar Chinese two world phrase 随缘, meaning "go with it (fate)". For someone who has always had his way in life, this saying is a hard one to grasp. For rest of us, we know some things can be changed while other things can not. Accepting the things we can not change saves us from the wars of no ending and no winning. Learn to surrender to our destined path. Wherever we are heading to, and whom we will come across on the way, it's not as simple as just up to us or our effort. It sounds passive but if you are no longer in your twenties and thirties, you will come to appreciate the freedom from this active "giving up". Surrendering to voices is listening; Surrendering to differences is accepting; Surrendering to yourself is being comfortable in your own skin; and surrendering to war is peace (ok only if winning is impossible). Surrender to your chosen path. "Surrender to the flow.”- Mike Gordon
Thursday, April 8, 2010
The Sweet and Lowdown of Being a Real Estate Agent
The past few days have been crazy. I drove back and forth to Bellevue several times to sell houses there. "Best to wear out than to rust out" is my motto when it comes to business. I welcome any wear and tear opportunities in this economy. Not a morning person, I have to have an alarm clock to wake me up before 8:30am. Sure I missed many sunrises but I stayed awake for sunsets. The only exception to that rule is if you win a jackpot and need me out to write an offer for your next multi-million dollar house, feel free to wake me up at any hour: 4:00am is not too early for that matter. Real estate business is like a tropic rainfall: it's either none or a downpour. If real estate agents aren't responding to the highs and lows, and the twists and turns of the real estate market, they could miss opportunities, big time. So when the phone is ringing, they drop everything they are doing and are supposed to be doing next, to answer the higher calling from commissions. They wear out their bodies and their car tires. The question remains: Will they catch a little sunshine at the end of the downpour, ever? Here are some real estate rules I have concluded through my 6 year real estate practice.
- 10% rule. There is a famous 10% rule in real estate, i.e. 10% of the agents do 90% of the agents' work. Consequently, 10% of the agents make 90% of agents' earnings. It's one of the winner-takes-it-all fields. The published median expected salary for a typical real estate sales agent in the United States is $35,994. Real estate agents are self-employed, which means they are on their own, insurance and retirement wise. Good luck living on that entry-level salary being self-employed. There are starving real estate agents in any kind of market. Their almost ground-level property signs -"Price Reduced"+"New Price"+"Price Improved" need some ground clearance to add another rider for themselves "Will sell for food". If you don't happen to know everyone in town, to have either the banks (repos) or the builders (new constructions) on your side, you are destined to play the typical real estate game, which is "Who wants to be the next thousandnaire?"
- 24/7 rule. There are some part-timers out there who need an added income to their existing retirement, or to their regular 9-5 jobs; there are some builders and investors out there who also get themselves agent licenses to avoid paying commissions. Then there are your average housewives, high school graduates, college dropouts, and recent lay-offs. Real estate is one of those fields where it's too easy to get in and too many are in, and where anyone can get a real estate license and call it a profession. In the vast ocean of real estate agents, food is scarce; Sharks swim with shrimps -The stakes are high. If they want to be one of the top 10% agents and make a good living out of this profession, they'll have to go in full-time. When I say full-time, I mean 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. When their family needs them, their clients need them more. On any given evenings, weekends, holidays and vacations, be prepared to be on call, no matter where and when.
- Ass rule. To keep it short, it's all thing asses. In order to get their heads above the water, real estate agents have to give an ass to all that's required of them to build their clientele base. In order to stay above the water, they can not do a half-ass job. It's either no ass or full ass. In addition, they have to know how to kiss ass while kick ass.
- Attorney rule. Real estate agents are often viewed as money grubbing like attorneys, stock brokers, or bankers. It's the single most injustice to the real estate agents because 1) attorney, stock brokers or bankers don't pay it forward as real estate agents do (literally, real estate agents have to front their time and pockets for any potential earnings). 2) Attorneys and the alike get paid no matter what the results are. Whether or not they reach a deal or no deal in the end, is not part of their pay deal. Whereas, for real estate agents, deal or no deal is a big deal. Real estate agents only get paid if a deal is successfully closed. If not, they don't get a dime, not even a word of consolation from their clients. They consider themselves lucky if they don't get blamed at. 3) No one expects his attorney to give a rate discount or to provide free consultations but in real estate everyone expects real estate agents discount their commissions. When there is a concession to be made, the first corner to cut is real estate agents' commissions. Sadly, there are few desperate real estate agents (formerly Desperate Housewives on TV) who will cut their own throat just to get a listing or close a sale. I don't know why real estate offices are often viewed by public as visitor information centers. Not to mention there are those real estate users who use real estate agents as if there were public service representatives or tour guides. They seem to forget that real estate agents might have kids to feed and mortgage to pay, just like them. Real estate business is their livelihood. Most of the real estate agents will probably happily work for free if they can live for free. Next time when someone compares you an agent to an attorney, I suggest that you send him an attorney equivalent rate bill for all your work hours. That's what an attorney would do. If real estate agents can not fight an uphill battle against their poor public reputation, they better live up to it, which I'm cetain it's not a bad living. Look at any attorneys. In despite of all the attorney jokes and the general public concensus, they hold their heads high and their rates higher. Real estate agents should learn from attorneys if they want to making a living in real estate industry. Here is my new tagline for real estate agents: Think real estate agents, think attorneys.
- 10% rule. There is a famous 10% rule in real estate, i.e. 10% of the agents do 90% of the agents' work. Consequently, 10% of the agents make 90% of agents' earnings. It's one of the winner-takes-it-all fields. The published median expected salary for a typical real estate sales agent in the United States is $35,994. Real estate agents are self-employed, which means they are on their own, insurance and retirement wise. Good luck living on that entry-level salary being self-employed. There are starving real estate agents in any kind of market. Their almost ground-level property signs -"Price Reduced"+"New Price"+"Price Improved" need some ground clearance to add another rider for themselves "Will sell for food". If you don't happen to know everyone in town, to have either the banks (repos) or the builders (new constructions) on your side, you are destined to play the typical real estate game, which is "Who wants to be the next thousandnaire?"
- 24/7 rule. There are some part-timers out there who need an added income to their existing retirement, or to their regular 9-5 jobs; there are some builders and investors out there who also get themselves agent licenses to avoid paying commissions. Then there are your average housewives, high school graduates, college dropouts, and recent lay-offs. Real estate is one of those fields where it's too easy to get in and too many are in, and where anyone can get a real estate license and call it a profession. In the vast ocean of real estate agents, food is scarce; Sharks swim with shrimps -The stakes are high. If they want to be one of the top 10% agents and make a good living out of this profession, they'll have to go in full-time. When I say full-time, I mean 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. When their family needs them, their clients need them more. On any given evenings, weekends, holidays and vacations, be prepared to be on call, no matter where and when.
- Ass rule. To keep it short, it's all thing asses. In order to get their heads above the water, real estate agents have to give an ass to all that's required of them to build their clientele base. In order to stay above the water, they can not do a half-ass job. It's either no ass or full ass. In addition, they have to know how to kiss ass while kick ass.
- Attorney rule. Real estate agents are often viewed as money grubbing like attorneys, stock brokers, or bankers. It's the single most injustice to the real estate agents because 1) attorney, stock brokers or bankers don't pay it forward as real estate agents do (literally, real estate agents have to front their time and pockets for any potential earnings). 2) Attorneys and the alike get paid no matter what the results are. Whether or not they reach a deal or no deal in the end, is not part of their pay deal. Whereas, for real estate agents, deal or no deal is a big deal. Real estate agents only get paid if a deal is successfully closed. If not, they don't get a dime, not even a word of consolation from their clients. They consider themselves lucky if they don't get blamed at. 3) No one expects his attorney to give a rate discount or to provide free consultations but in real estate everyone expects real estate agents discount their commissions. When there is a concession to be made, the first corner to cut is real estate agents' commissions. Sadly, there are few desperate real estate agents (formerly Desperate Housewives on TV) who will cut their own throat just to get a listing or close a sale. I don't know why real estate offices are often viewed by public as visitor information centers. Not to mention there are those real estate users who use real estate agents as if there were public service representatives or tour guides. They seem to forget that real estate agents might have kids to feed and mortgage to pay, just like them. Real estate business is their livelihood. Most of the real estate agents will probably happily work for free if they can live for free. Next time when someone compares you an agent to an attorney, I suggest that you send him an attorney equivalent rate bill for all your work hours. That's what an attorney would do. If real estate agents can not fight an uphill battle against their poor public reputation, they better live up to it, which I'm cetain it's not a bad living. Look at any attorneys. In despite of all the attorney jokes and the general public concensus, they hold their heads high and their rates higher. Real estate agents should learn from attorneys if they want to making a living in real estate industry. Here is my new tagline for real estate agents: Think real estate agents, think attorneys.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Come On Baby Light My Fire
That was the plan. It should be an easy plan to execute. We have built a brick fire pit a few years ago. Next to the fire pit, a big pile of chopped logs from us falling the trees on the property are neatly lined up painstakingly by me. They are an eyesore to the surrounding environment. We have offered the logs to our friends free of charge and some of our friends have expressed interest in taking them but none of them has acted. We figure we will have to burn them all this summer. It's just March. I know. But let's start a fire now.
I brought a long bench by the fire pit, preparing myself to a leisure afternoon around a warm fire into the night. Richard stacked a few logs in the middle of the fire pit and tried to light them. No luck. Then he sprayed some lighter fluid on the logs and threw a match inside the fire pit. The logs caught a big fire instantly and went strong for a couple of minutes, and then the flames went out leaving only the smokes rising from the blackened logs. He took out some of the bigger logs and chopped them to smaller pieces, and added some more Cedar wood because Alderwood is harder to ignite. After rearranging the stack, he tried lighting, aided by lighter fluid. All ended with the same result. "What happened?" I was just asking, not questioning. "I know my shit. I have done this a thousand times". He said. I know my math: many = 0; 100 = 10; So do the match. 1000 times is equalevant to, say 100 times. That's a lot even after the deductable. "Have you?" He asked (questioned). "Many times. I invented fire" I replied. I know my math as well as my history (I = We: Chinese).
We finally decided it was either because the logs were too wet, or there was too much moisture in the early spring air, there was no chance we could light a fire in this damn fire pit this afternoon.
We transitioned into the house. While settling tonight on the comfy sofa inside the house, I relived the short-lived flame in my mind, feeling the heat over my cheeks and ears against the cool air, watching the fire burning until the dying embers catching up with the stars in the starry night, and listening to the sound of the fire crackling, mixed with the coyotes' howling in the distance.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Nose knows...It's Spring!
Washington State had the mildest winter this year. We only got a few hours of snow for a couple of days the entire winter, during which time the snow flakes didn't even stack into any measurable snow. In early February, it started to look like spring, which is very unusual. Now, spring is showing its signs of full arrival: spring bulbs blooming into flowers, new shoots growing out of the trees, green grass breaking from the ground, and humming birds slapping their wings around their feeders...It's official: Spring is here!
Nose knows it too. My nose gets itchy, stuffy and running as we enter into March. Washington is the evergreen state. The thick evergreen landscape and the blooming floras bring up heavy pollens in spring. I'm so blessed in spring than in any other season. "Bless you" comes in double, triple and multiple every time I step outside.
So do eyes. They know it too. My eyes get dry, itchy and red. Forget about eye makeup in spring. The second I finish putting on wet mascara, I sneeze. They always happen in perfect sync. The mirror reflects a new eye shadow effect that resembles a pair of panda eyes. I hope one day a fashion forward designer should integret that effect into spring eye makeup fashion. Since I can not single-handedly start a new fashion trend, I have to face the world with my bare eyes. The only eye makeup kit I need in spring is eye drops. Burn ban is not in effect yet but be prepared to switch your song from "Smoke gets in your eyes" to "Pollen gets in your eyes" on every outdoor attempt. Gazing upon the flowers, I "cry me a river". Why so sad? You ask. Coz I'm so in touch with the nature. Eyes can't lie.
My mom in China told me some trivia about sneezing one time. She says at the moment when you sneeze, your heart actually stops beating. She also says the violent act of head shakes from frequent sneezing affects memory. No wonder I'm getting forgetful. It's a relief to know my short memory is caused by my sneezing, not by Alzheimer’s disease or mad cow disease as I suspected. My mom is not a doctor but she reads a lot of magazines and papers in her post-teaching retirement in China. I usually dismiss her source of information as being Chinese folklore. However, I believe she might be right about sneezing. I even want to add to that trivia: sneezing can cause deaf. My sneezing produces the sound of ear-shattering thunder which can rupture the eardrum and result in hearing loss. If I missed your phone calls, it was because either I was busy sneezing or I didn't hear the phone rings. God's truth.
Can't smell; can’t see; can't hear; and can’t remember. Spring, as a season of new life, turns me into seasonal disability. When I finally seek treatment in hospital, the doctors tell me: There is nothing wrong with you. It’s just spring fever. The symptoms come with spring season for some people. Funny I also came with spring - I was born in spring. On one spring day in old China, I broke out of my mother's womb. I smelt, saw, heard, and remembered (ok "remembered" is a stretch. Who knows, maybe subconsciously I remembered being slapped on the bottom at birth and that's why I have had an urge to strike back with sneezing every Spring ever since).
There is no need to check a calendar. I can tell Spring is here. My nose knows. I just love Spring - a season that I can feel with all my senses. Yeah, I have the Spring fever.
Nose knows it too. My nose gets itchy, stuffy and running as we enter into March. Washington is the evergreen state. The thick evergreen landscape and the blooming floras bring up heavy pollens in spring. I'm so blessed in spring than in any other season. "Bless you" comes in double, triple and multiple every time I step outside.
So do eyes. They know it too. My eyes get dry, itchy and red. Forget about eye makeup in spring. The second I finish putting on wet mascara, I sneeze. They always happen in perfect sync. The mirror reflects a new eye shadow effect that resembles a pair of panda eyes. I hope one day a fashion forward designer should integret that effect into spring eye makeup fashion. Since I can not single-handedly start a new fashion trend, I have to face the world with my bare eyes. The only eye makeup kit I need in spring is eye drops. Burn ban is not in effect yet but be prepared to switch your song from "Smoke gets in your eyes" to "Pollen gets in your eyes" on every outdoor attempt. Gazing upon the flowers, I "cry me a river". Why so sad? You ask. Coz I'm so in touch with the nature. Eyes can't lie.
My mom in China told me some trivia about sneezing one time. She says at the moment when you sneeze, your heart actually stops beating. She also says the violent act of head shakes from frequent sneezing affects memory. No wonder I'm getting forgetful. It's a relief to know my short memory is caused by my sneezing, not by Alzheimer’s disease or mad cow disease as I suspected. My mom is not a doctor but she reads a lot of magazines and papers in her post-teaching retirement in China. I usually dismiss her source of information as being Chinese folklore. However, I believe she might be right about sneezing. I even want to add to that trivia: sneezing can cause deaf. My sneezing produces the sound of ear-shattering thunder which can rupture the eardrum and result in hearing loss. If I missed your phone calls, it was because either I was busy sneezing or I didn't hear the phone rings. God's truth.
Can't smell; can’t see; can't hear; and can’t remember. Spring, as a season of new life, turns me into seasonal disability. When I finally seek treatment in hospital, the doctors tell me: There is nothing wrong with you. It’s just spring fever. The symptoms come with spring season for some people. Funny I also came with spring - I was born in spring. On one spring day in old China, I broke out of my mother's womb. I smelt, saw, heard, and remembered (ok "remembered" is a stretch. Who knows, maybe subconsciously I remembered being slapped on the bottom at birth and that's why I have had an urge to strike back with sneezing every Spring ever since).
There is no need to check a calendar. I can tell Spring is here. My nose knows. I just love Spring - a season that I can feel with all my senses. Yeah, I have the Spring fever.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Shrimp Spaghetti
In an effort to avoid such confusion in the future, I thought about putting together a home cooking recipe book - my kitchen Bible that contains all the food recipes I've tried and loved. So next time when I need inspiration in the kitchen, I can resort to that Bible to take me out of Egypt. Eventually, I need to have a separate site for my food recipes.
Here is a dish I have cooked many times before. Each time I changed the ingredients a little bit depending on what I had to work with at the time. They all turned out delicious. How could you go wrong with spaghettis as long as you don't use the usual red tomato sauce? No offense if you are a ketchup person. Ha-ha. I just like white sauce in my spaghettis. That attached photo was taken from the dish I made yesterday.
Ingredients:
- 1 lb thin spaghettis
- 1 pound raw headless shrimp. Skin off
- 3 teaspoon olive oil
- 1/8 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon half and half milk
- 1 tablespoon white wine
- Four cloves of garlic, chopped
- One green pepper, chopped
- 4-6 mushrooms, sliced
- 3 green onion
- Cilantro
- 5-6 Sichuan pepper (prickly ash), optional
- Grounded black pepper
- Salt
Directions:
- Heat 1 teaspoon olive oil in a pan. Add chopped garlic and green pepper, stir until carmelized
- Add Sichuan pepper (optional). Add shrimp. Cook until shrimp turns color
- Add sliced mushroom.
- Add green onion and cilantro
- Put all the cooked shrimp mixture in a bowl
- Meanwhile, in a separate cooker, boil water to boil and add thin spaghetti.
- Cooked spaghetti to almost soft (about 10 minutes) in medium heat. Dump the cooked spaghetti in a drainer in the sink. Spray with cold water. Let it drain.
- In the empty pan you used to cook the shrimp, heat 2 teaspoon olive oil and butter, half/half milk and white wine under medium heat until simmering.
- Add the drained cooked thin spaghetti and mix well
- Add salt to taste
- Take them out to your serving plate
- Spread the cooked shrimp mixture on top of the spaghettis. Spread some grounded black pepper before serving.
The meal serves 4 if it's in a restaurant. At home it serves two.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
How to Decorate Easter Eggs at Home
Easter is almost here. It's decoration time! There are so many ways to decorate Easter eggs at home. If you want to paint on edible eggs, you'd better use food colorings. Otherwise any types of paint will do. Below are the photos of some of the Easter eggs I made last Easter. I will show you how. Read on.
What You Need:
- A dozen fresh chicken eggs in an egg container
- Water color paint
- Thin ribbons (easier with hard ribbons)
- A pair of small scissors
- A hair blower
Step by Step Instructions:
- Poke two tiny holes on the two opposite tips of each egg shell using one scissor blade.
- Blow air through one end of the egg using your mouth and allow the egg contents to flow out the other end.
- Let the emptied egg shell sit in the egg container to dry for at least 2-3 hours. It's very important to make sure no drips coming from the holes before you start to paint. Otherwise it will mess up your painting.
- Paint the egg shell according to the design of your desire. Some simple strap colors as a starter, or paint names on them. You can always use stenciles/stickers for cleaner and better results. They are not permanent artwork you'll have to hang in your living room all season long, or to be featured on a Martha Stewart's magazine cover. So they does not have to perfect. Just make them colorful and have fun with your hands.
- Air blow dry the painted egg. Place it back in the egg container. Let it air dry.
- If you want to add the hanging ribbons to the eggs, you will need to push the ribbon through the holes from one end to the other. Tie a cross at one end. Pull the ribbon straight and then tie the other end.
Remember the decorated Easter eggs are fragile. I find the best place to store them are the same egg container I got the eggs from.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
The Secret - Law of Attraction
One of my friends lent me the "The Secret" DVD the other day. 
Prior to watching the DVD, I was just instantly drawn to the icon image as shown on the left when I first saw it. As it turned out, my visual attraction led to the learning of the "Law of Attraction", a school of thought started from the book "Secret" written by an Australian television writer and producer Rhonda Bryne in 2006.
I still would like to read the book soon. So far, the video clips have resonated with me in the following aspects:
Prior to watching the DVD, I was just instantly drawn to the icon image as shown on the left when I first saw it. As it turned out, my visual attraction led to the learning of the "Law of Attraction", a school of thought started from the book "Secret" written by an Australian television writer and producer Rhonda Bryne in 2006. I still would like to read the book soon. So far, the video clips have resonated with me in the following aspects:
- Thoughts are energies. Energy attracts like energy.
- Every thought has a frequency. Thought becomes things. What you think about, you bring about.
- Everything coming to your life, you are attracted to it.
- What you resist persists. Always think what you want, not what you don't want.
- Feeling is the feedback mechanism for your thoughts.
- What you resist persists. Always think what you want, not what you don't want.
- Feeling is the feedback mechanism for your thoughts.
As with every school of thought, "The Secret" has its merits. At the very least, it promotes positive thinking. However, "The Secret" suggests that the infinite and resourceful universe do not fail to deliver what we want. We need not to be concerned about how it's done. Our only job is to think what we want and visualize our thoughts. I'm not convinced that thoughts alone will bring in results, as suggested by "The Secret". Maybe it's more of a chain reaction: Positive thinking triggers the attention in that direction, then further triggers the positive action, and finally the positive results. This positive chain reaction echoes three of the Buddhism's Noble Eightfold path: Right View; Right Action; and Right Livelihood. So "The Secret" is really not a new revelation since Buddhism is dated back to 6th century BC. Even in Buddhism, it calls for right action. That's more like it.
I don't know whether there is such a thing as "The Secret" from the universe (for the lack of better words, let's call it universe). If there is, I have a hunch it has to be revealed to me directly, not through a third party, such as the author and the publishers of "The Secret", who made a fortune out of the people who have believed in "The Secret".
I don't know whether there is such a thing as "The Secret" from the universe (for the lack of better words, let's call it universe). If there is, I have a hunch it has to be revealed to me directly, not through a third party, such as the author and the publishers of "The Secret", who made a fortune out of the people who have believed in "The Secret".
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
