My Own Commentary On The Daily Life Of Raymond Mar

Blogger's note: Today's blog is posted at both Finding Raymond Mar and Innovating Common Knowledge blogs. The self-commentary blog entry is written with limited editing for grammar and content.

How Do You Prepare Your Day?

I eat breakfast. It's very important for me to start my day. I fail to understand people waking up without eating breakfast. How can people function on an empty stomach? I read my Tweets or the newspaper while eating breakfast. I brush my teeth after breakfast. I shave every other day; however, when I start working, I shave every day.

What About Searching For A Job?

I alternate days job searching. One day I take an online class to refresh or to learn new job skills. Another day I search for a job. Fridays and weekends are included. Job searching and online classes are a high priority seven days a week. I can't sit around doing nothing. I can't sit on a chair watching TV eight hours a day. I have to do something to move my life forward.

You Can't Job Search All Day Long.

That's absolutely correct. I have a life regardless of my job status. I have expenses regardless of my living situation. I have a social life despite living at home with my parents.

I write blogs, read books, watch anime, and workout at the gym. I also spend time playing video games, checking email, watching some television series, and listening to a variety of music. And then there's the here and there activities including paying bills, grocery shopping, buying gas, posting a Yelp review, and changing the sheets on my bed.

I keep myself busy doing something. I help take care of the house. I cook meals, vacuum the carpets, mop the floors, wash dishes, clean clothes, and contribute to the home's basic necessities. I take care of my own car including car washes, oil changes, and routine repairs. Arguably speaking, I have too much to do.

What's Your Most Frustration Part Of Your Life Now?

The most frustration part is living a life of inconsistency. I can't establish a consistent lifestyle. The best example is working out at the gym. There were weeks I worked out four days a week, including weekends. There were weeks I worked out two days a week. And there were weeks I didn't go at all.

The irony is I'm unemployed and I have all the time in the world. Something comes up beyond my control that forces me to adjust my priorities and my schedules. Lots of little bad things happened in 2013. Add those little bad things and I get behind easily. It's like I need more time as if I'm working at my job and can't meet my deadlines, and I'm not working full time.

What Is The Retail Rotation You Call It?

Like working in retail, employees have shifts that rotate. They work morning, afternoon, or closing. For me, I rotate my activities, priorities, and obligations. I mentioned earlier about one day job searching and another day taking an online class. That's an example of retail rotation. Another example is one day I read a book and another day I write a blog. For TV, I watch two episodes of Family Guy and another day I watch an episode of Justified. I do a little of something every day. It's like living in moderation.

What's Your Ideal Weekday? Describe, If You Have 100% Control, How You Want To Live Your Life?

Well, I like to work full time, lol. I don't work now. Here's my answer:

8am. Wake up and eat breakfast. Settle into the day. (This applies even on weekends if I have nothing planned.)
10am. Being my day job searching or online classes.
1pm. Cook lunch or eat lunch from last night's leftovers.
2pm. Continue job searching or online classes. Or I fulfill errands outside the house and other obligations.
6pm. Cook dinner or eat dinner from the lunch I cooked earlier.
7pm. Stretch out and prepare going to the gym.
8pm. Finish anything I didn't finish earlier in the day. I may be eating dinner after stretching out.
9pm. Workout at the gym.
11pm. Come home, shower, and prepare the sleep.
12am or 1am. Go to sleep.

Side notes: I go out with my girlfriend on Wed and Sat. I go out with my friends on Fri. My ideal schedule is flexible on Wed and Fri. Sometimes I do the above on weekends. Writing blogs and reading books & articles are spread out weekdays. I watch most of my television, including sports, on the weekends.

How's Your Social Life?

It's satisfactory. On the one hand, I have a girlfriend and a close group of friends. I spend three days a week with them. On the other hand, I like to expand my circle of friends and meet more people. The downside to the latter is I have less time for myself such as reading and working out at the gym. I admit finding some time to check my Facebook to read what the rest of my friends have been doing is hard.

I believe there is no such thing as having enough friends or knowing enough people. Social networking is a great way to keep in touch with people in your life that includes professional, long-distance, seeing once or twice a year, and close and long-term relations.

What Do You Fear The Most Now?

I fear my life changes too much. I fall behind. I fear when I work again, then I lose time on my other favorite activities. I fear I stop something--maybe stop writing blogs or stop being an anime fan. I have to make a difficult choice. The bottom line I must make a mature choice when the time comes.

How About Money?

Money has not and continues to not be a problem, at least in the continued short-term. I live a frugal and cheap life. That's good. I find ways to keep myself entertained and busy with as little money as possible.

Living at home has benefited me. As long as I help around the house and keep good relations with my parents, I don't have to pay rent.

Is 2013 A Good Year For You?

I don't like to answer questions about having a good year and a bad year. I say 2013 has been inconsistent and frustrating so far. There is still five months remaining. I take nothing for granted. If I want the last five months to be good such that I live with consistency and create big memories, and hopefully an overall 2013 good year, I must earn it.

Are You Ready For Your New Life? I Mean Finally Living On Your Own Being An Adult.

I'm ready. I need a little luck and timing in my favor.

Positives Sat July 13-Mon July 29, 2013

*Visited the Los Altos Arts & Wine Festival, Mountain View Obon Festival, and the Computer History Museum for the first time.

*Ate at Shanghai Garden Restaurant in Cupertino, CA for the first time.

*Updated my reading wish list.

*Consolidated my job search queries to reduce duplicate search results and to save time job searching.

*Cleaned the house.

*Microwaved vegetables for dinner for the first time.

*Washed my car at a self-serve car wash for the first time.

*Purchased a pair of hiking socks from REI.

*Ate a ice cream sandwich at Cream and drank a Jarritos both for the first time.

*Finished reading Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.

*Completed the Excel online classes from Accountemps.

*Hiked at Castle Rock Regional Park for the first time.

*Celebrated my mom's birthday.

*Finished watching Suisei No Gargantia and Hataraku Maou Sama anime series.

What Happened?

Blogger's note: Today's blog is posted at both Innovating Common Knowledge and Finding Raymond Mar blogs. The Q&A blog entry is written with limited editing for grammar and content.

The question is straightforward. What happened? I want to discuss and explore the answers. I'm currently unemployed and looking for a job. I had past success such that I was on my way to living a good life. I had a job, a car, friends, and some money in the bank. Somehow, I failed to reach the next level in my life. Let's find out what happened, why, how did I screw up, when, and where.

Let's set up the discussion. Start with the year 2007.

The beginning of 2007 was great. I worked at Cisco, purchased my own new car, and started my orthodontic treatment. The exception was my grandfather passed away. The wind was blowing behind my back. Everything went well. Nothing stopped me.

I lost control of my life starting in the summer of 2007. I didn't know what I was doing. I regained control on my life starting on Sat Oct 4, 2008 at Los Altos, CA, when I realized I must grow up. My new life started.

I lost my job in Nov 2008 because of the real estate bubble and financial crisis. I went back to college to earn an AA degree in Accounting. I graduated in Mar 2011. I finished college in Jun 2011. I'm currently looking for a job.

So, what happened?

I took life for granted. I failed to earn my successes. I say at least 90% of my successes before Nov 2008 were luck and timing. It seems life caught up with me currently living with no luck and bad timing.

Most of the way I lived in the past caught up with me. I'm currently correcting the mistakes and learning from them. I'm breaking bad habits and bad lessons. I have been self-discovering and finding who I am. One lesson I learned is always meet new people and make new friends. The people I know in my life can help me when I have a problem. I was taught to do everything by myself. Wrong. To be successful, I need people to help me. In other words, nobody can live being alone.

You worked at Cisco, you owned your car, and you had some money in the bank, all in 2007. How come you didn't move out of your parent's house?

I believed in living life for the long run. I was saving money to buy at house since July 1998. The housing market continued to get more expensive. Then the dot-com bubble burst in March 2000. I had been saving money throughout my jobs with no thought of moving out.

What's the honest reason you stayed at home with your parents?

I wasn't a mature adult. I acted, behaved, and thought of as a naive person. I was immature. I was weak, a coward, and lacked wisdom for being an adult.

What about living life in the long run?

That was a bad life lesson I learned. Life is short. I must live a life experiencing new experiences, seeking new adventures, and innovating my life continuously. Live the moment.

Do you think your life is different if you moved out when you had the opportunity?

Absolutely yes. I believed I could have been a mature and responsible adult.

What do you think your life was terrible from the middle of 2007 to that day when you realized you must grow up on Sat Oct 4, 2008.

I hated the world. I hated my life because life was not the way I wanted to be. I either failed or took too long to adjust to a new career, new work environment, new commute, new co-workers, new responsibilities, and new obligations. I didn't want to change. I wanted to keep my old life.

The most disappointing part was I continued to be naive or an immature adult.

If you had a life mulligan, when do you use it?

August 1992, my first semester at San Jose State. I wanted to re-do my college years. I failed to live a good college life making new friends, joining clubs and extra activities, and doing new things. I failed to seek new adventures and experience new experiences. I should have worked part-time throughout my college career. And I didn't discover the real Raymond Mar.

Going back to college to earn your AA degree in Accounting partially fulfilled the mulligan.

It did. I was happy. The AA degree was part of the reason going back to college. The other part was correcting my mistakes and reliving my life in my 20s. I met new friends, I created memories in and out of the classroom, and I met my current girlfriend. I tried new things. Going back to school was a satisfactory chapter in my life.

How's life being a grown up?

Life is great. I'm wiser, smarter, and stronger. I don't hate the world. I consider myself lucky I realized I must grow up. I know people older than me who are still immature. I have a friendly and attractive personality.

I'm currently catching up with my life, and I'm not done. I'm experiencing new experiences and went on adventures I should have done in my 20s. I have the most friends ever and I have a girlfriend. I have new hobbies such as hiking, ballroom dancing, and playing Mahjong. I expand my interests such as classical jazz and movie classics.

How do you convince yourself, eventually, everything is going to be okay?

I continue to live my life. I continue to learn from my mistakes. I continue to live a better life. Never stop learning.

Trust what I do today for tomorrow. Steve Jobs said it best when it comes to connecting the dots. Jobs said, "You can’t connect the dots looking forward . . . trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.” The future is unknown. I know I continue to grow up, learn something new, and find new adventures. And because the future is unknown, live life in the present. Create memories today.

Trust what I do today, and with my past life, they give me a bright, successful, and happy future.

Positives Sat June 29-Fri July 12, 2013

*Caught up with D. Gray Man manga.

*Ate at Maria Maria and Shanghai Garden restaurants for the first time.

*Attended a wedding engagement party in Woodside, CA.

*Sold all my items I wanted to sell on eBay.

*Anime marathon. Catching up with Space Brothers.

*Fourth Of July. One of my uncle's family visited.

*Showered with Old Spice High Endurance Pure Sport body wash for the first time.

*Read the visual novel Planetarium.

*Ate Special K Protein cereal for the first time.