It’s a great Tuesday morning in Salem, Oregon. We are still without electricity (since Saturday AM) and the city is still recovering from the massive ice storm. There are trees and lines down in every neighborhood. PG & E are not able to give us any update as to when power will be restored. As Joni Mitchell once sang, “You don’t know what you got till it’s gone”. We rely on the seemingly insignificant things (like electric) without a second thought. But your work world and home life is disrupted when it’s suddenly gone. The experience is making me think about what are the other seemingly insignificant items I take for too much for granted? #salem #salemoregon #icestorm2021 #icestorm #campingathome #takingthingsforgranted #noelectricity #pgande The cell phone coverage is spotty and no internet. I guess we have to get used to camping in our living room a little while longer. Stay safe! And don’t take the little things in life for granted (like a hot shower!). (at Salem, Oregon) https://www.instagram.com/p/CLXQ8sLgzTw/?igshid=rn7lzzbha8a4

WHAT’S TAKEN FOR GRANTED WILL EVENTUALLY BE TAKEN AWAY. #repost @suthan.arumugam Learn to appreciate what you have-before time makes you appreciate what you had. #bethankful Beware is destination addiction-a preoccupation with the idea that happiness is in the next place, the next job and with the next partner. Until you give up the idea that happiness is somewhere else, it will never be where you are. #wantingmore They say you don’t know what you have until it’s gone. Truth is, you knew what you had, you just thought you’d never lose it. #takingthingsforgranted Never let the things you want make you forget the things that you have. #stoptakingthingsforgranted The things you take for granted, someone else is praying for. #appreciatewhatyouhave Don’t ever be so comfortable with your blessing you start to take it for granted. #desiringmore GRATITUDE TURNS WHAT WE HAVE INTO ENOUGH. #becontent It takes sadness to know happiness, noise to appreciate silence and absence to value presence. #appreciatelife WHAT WE TAKE FOR GRANTED, IS WHAT GRANTS US WHAT WE DESIRE. #thankful The happiest people don’t have the best of everything, they just make the best of everything. #thankfulforwhatihave #bethankfulforlife Enjoy what you have rather than desiring what you don’t have. Just dreaming about nice things is meaningless-like chasing the wind.- Eccl6:9 #losingfocusonthingsthatmatter Be thankful for what you have, you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough. #bethankfulforeverything Don’t let your ice cream melt while you’re counting somebody else’s sprinkles. #thankfulforwhatyouhave Take the time to think about what it would be like if the things you appreciate most in the world became scarce or went missing. Take the time to think about what you might be taking for granted. Not only will it give you a greater appreciation for those things, it’ll remind you that there are people and places in the world where those things no longer exist or never did. #goodineverything For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.- 1Tim6:7-8 (at Mount Juliet, Tennessee) https://www.instagram.com/p/BxA3nJglDev/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=19egvi08ffp4z

Recycled plastic bags, big topic. #wastage #fifoinspo #recycle #plastic #environmentallyfriendly #minimizeplasticbags #bigtopic #environmentalhazard #cleanup #damage #lovefmgsolutions #plasticcontainers #fifoworld #fifolife #takingthingsforgranted #forthenextgeneration #eliminateplasticbags #carryfood #foodbag #beresponsible #guiltyconceince #savetheworld (at Fmg Xmas Creek) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bus9HXLh6A5/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1ndos4w23xh3z

#CurrentMood #TakingThingsForGranted #ThinkBeforeYouSpeak #WishICouldTakeItBack #FeelLikeShit

Little things such as buying a water bucket took two MRT trains, a couple of escalators with a stroller, about 30 minutes of walking and getting lost, a stop at 7-11 for some AC/cold drink, a few warm and flaky buns, and 2 whiney and sweaty kids. #adventureoftheday #summer2019 #adventuresintaiwan2019 #takingthingsforgranted

walk About

Took the “Wellness Trail” through UCLA’s vet clinic-section of the hospital in West LA, near the war cemetery. Heard someone calling out, look up and see a man laying on his side, in the lawn, w/ his middle finger held high while looking directly at me. 

I respond, “Is that all you got?!”

He says, “I got a 357 in my bag, you want come see..?!”

I stupidly say, “Only if it’s for sale.” (What a whitely thing to spit out.)

I keep walking, contemplating the 50% chance he’s telling the truth, and then stop. I cannot help but feel confrontational. I take a chance and turn around to stare him down, Waiting... He never looks up. I realize he’s not talking to me at all. And I’m felling certain he has in fact shot someone before, in defense of this country... 

Nearly home, a ball bounces off a slowing car, some horns honk and I see the thing rolling right in front of me to a dead stop. 

I pick it up and look over to hear “Where’d it go?” Multiple little faces press up against a fence. 

“You want this? I’m throwing it over!”

“Thank you!!!”

“Later gators.” I smile. 

^^All strangers. Nothing strange. 

I’m A Sydney Girl I don’t suppose it’s fair for me to call this series ‘Picture-A-Day’ anymore. I’ve not got to a very good start with blogging regularly, have I? I just want to make sure that if I do, I’m giving each blog the right amount of effort and not half-assing it. When was this taken? 6th June 2014 Who were you with? Gal pals Why is the Opera House so colourful? Vivid Sydney! More below.

Anyhow this was taken at Vivid Sydney, which is an annual event when the city gets all dressed up with pretty lights. The buildings have amazing light shows projected on them and it’s a fun night out. It makes for great pictures if you have one of those fancy cameras which weighs a ton. As you can tell from the above, I am not an owner of one of these cameras. 

I think this was the second year the girls and I went to what we just refer to as ‘vivid’ and this year it was really wet and muddy. And it being the beginning of June meant it was probably quite chilly too. I remember I wore my cowboy boots out (because yee-ha) which I hardly ever did, because they were, well, cowboy boots. Even then the mud managed to get in and soak my socks. Not ideal at all. 

You can’t see, but even the giant light bunnies got their paws muddy:  

It’s funny how (actually more ironic), when circumstances change, you begin look at something in a whole different way. The Sydney Opera House, as iconic as it is, always used to be ‘just the Sydney Opera House’ to me, because it was just always there for me - I could have seen it whenever I wanted. Now, given my sort-of-new-surrounds, it’s a symbol of home which reflexively makes me feel a bit homesick every time I see it. It represents a place I took for granted. 

I took a ton of pictures of the Opera House that night, a few good, most of them bad. But I chose this one because, looking at it now, it was so vibrant and colourful and reminded me of all the things I loved about the city. It was a place where I was truly myself. 

I used to have immense difficulty telling people where my hometown is. I was born in Kuala Lumpur (which is where I am now); I spent some of my childhood in Auckland, and I spent my formative years in Hong Kong and Sydney, which is where I’ve spent the most years of my life, so far. I have feelings attachment to all those places, different as they may be but the next time someone asks me where I’m from, I think I’ll say with ease, “Sydney.”

Taking Things for Granted

I don’t think many of us take time to just stop, appreciate, and say thank you. I know this is a hard one for me. As we sit around our dinner table my mom prompts us to go around and say something that we are thankful for. Some days I know exactly what I am thankful for and others I cannot think about anyone but myself and then that results in me going to my fall back response of “this lovely food.” So lame and cheesy, trust me I know. 

Another thing I take for granted is the beauty of the world. Now a days especially in Orange County, we are all in such a hurry to get places which results in the inevitable road rage but tonight when I was driving home with my windows down listening to some country I realized that I am rushing and taking the beautiful evening for granted. And why was I rushing you ask? So that I could make it home faster and continue binge watching Mad Men in bed. 

I also think I take for granted the relationships in my life. When I went away to school at The University of Missouri, I met this wonderful guy and despite what I may tell people now, I still believe he is an amazing person. We dated for a year and a half until something went wrong in my mind and I took him and our relationship for granted. I tried dating again recently only to get screwed over and end up broke as I have said before. There isn't a day that goes by where I don't think about the guy that I truly did love and knew I would marry him someday and now I look at my lonely love life and remember not to take my few friends and family for granted. 

With that being said, I am in this long confusing process of having to accept what is in the now and not take it for granted and I think we can all benefit from that life lesson. 

It's amazing how we can take things for granted when we think it'll be around for a long time. When the reality is, we don't know how long we'll have the blessing of it's presence.

Taking Things For Granted - Solved

People take things for granted all the time, in England, such as a seemingly unlimited supply of drinking water, or the ability to use an arm, hand, and fingers to dunk a kit-kat chunky into a cup of tea and then use it as a straw. It’s the same with scenery, when you go skiing or anywhere scenic, the first few sights of the surroundings are distinguished and important, but after a fair few sightings, we just get used to the sights, and perhaps don’t appreciate them as much as we should – we take them for granted. Something needs to be done about this, and I think I know what.

Many say the sweet doesn’t taste/feel as good if there is no bitter, this is a simple analogy, but I will explain it with another; when you really need to pee, or you’re really thirsty, and there are no toilets for hours/miles, and no possibility of a drink, you will appreciate your next pee/drink so much more than a standard pee/drink, because you have endured the bitterness that is badly needing a pee/drink.

So to conquer the problem of taking things for granted – not just everyday things, but even special occasions – and to fully appreciate what we have, we need to introduce a bitter. Let’s talk about arms:

Some people don’t have arms, and therefore, they can’t do simple things like the majority of humans - who do have arms. I can’t ever remember waking up and thinking, wow I’m glad I have arms. But they’re really quite useful, we use them to do everything – how do you clean your teeth without arms – you’d probably need ridiculously strong neck muscles, and be prepared to get dizzy each time you brushed - messy. You probably wouldn’t be able to dunk and ‘straw’ a Kit-Kat Chunky into a tea, and if you really wanted to punch someone, you would probably have to head butt them instead.

So I propose a “No Use Of Arms Day”; so for one day a month, you can’t use your arms - for the whole day.  This may cause some problems, but on the whole, a good solid idea. Here are some problems and how to deal with them:

1. Trips and Falls: If you trip and you are falling, you will just have to tuck your arms in a fall like a tree – even if it’s down some stairs.

2. Swimming: try to avoid the deep end

3. Kit-Kat Chunky + Tea: Kit-Kat Chunky dunking/’strawing’ is generally a no go, but if you really want to give it a go, use a standard two fingered Kit-Kat – four fingers may prove too much.

4. Pressing buttons: Use your nose for small buttons, if it’s a really big button use the top of your head.

5. Showering: Get the bottle of shower gel in your mouth, go to the shower and squeeze the bottle – with your mouth – and spray the shower gel generously covering one of the shower walls. Now turn the shower on – with your nose or head (depending on size of the button) - get a bit wet, and then start to gyrate in slow motion up against the wall, making sure to make contact with the wall/shower gel with all parts of your body. Do this for a few minutes until completely covered, and then rinse.  To dry yourself, lay your towel out on the floor – carpet ideal – and start to roll back and forth over the towel, like a log, until you are dry.

So here are just five points to help you on the advent of ‘No Use Of Arms Day’. I really think this will help people appreciate their arms, making them realise how useful and dynamic their arms really are. Naturally, the day after ‘No Use Of Arms Day’ will be the day that most think about how great their arms are, and as the weeks go on they will probably begin to take them for granted again. But if we do this once a month, at least we will be appreciating our arms on a monthly basis. Once ‘No Use Of Arms Day’ has been mastered, we can move on to either other body parts – even hair (lack of, or too much), and also move onto things such as drinking water, milk, and other such luxuries.

Speak up!

I think bilingual people are really cool. There’s no doubt a fairly large portion of Vancouverites who have that advantage of speaking a second language. Unfortunately, I’m one of those people with the first world problem of speaking English only, although my native tongue is Chinese. After having grown up in a predominantly White, English-speaking community from a small town in Connecticut, the thought of speaking another language just didn’t occur to me as important. But Vancouver has completely changed my perspective of that, and I find that the diversity of languages spoken in this city is incredible.

But you know what’s even cooler than that? Well, it’s not like I discovered a rare specimen or anything of that sort, but it is something I do not encounter often in my life. This was actually the first time I witnessed it. I was on my way home from school on the bus, and at one of the bus stops, a handful of people got on and I noticed out of the corner of my eye a man and a woman who both chose to sit at the front of the bus where the seats are facing parallel to each other, but they sat across from each other. It wasn’t their choice of seating that struck me, it was more so that when I noticed the woman waving her hands at the guy as if to get his attention, he looked up immediately and started moving his hands too. I realized she wasn’t just moving her hands to get his attention, but she was speaking to him in sign language. And from that moment on they were just smiling and laughing while their hands moved so effortlessly and swiftly from one gesture to the next.

There is something really heartwarming about realizing that these two people didn’t need voices in order to enjoy each other’s company. I don’t think I was the only one who was enjoying this moment either, because I noticed another woman sitting close by who was also watching and smiling. I can’t even begin to imagine what it would be like if I couldn’t hear my own voice let alone not have my voice heard by other people. It’s the ability to express myself through voice and to connect with others through conversation that keeps me sane. Yet, I’ve come to realize that half of the time my voice is lost through text messages. Text messaging is undoubtedly an easier but lazier form of communication, and it more often than not saves you from that awkward phone conversation. But when I think about people who can only use sign language to communicate, I wonder how many times they’ve wished they could just simply pick up their phone, talk to someone, and be able to listen to a voice on the other line.

Do we take our own voices for granted?

And if that question isn't enough food for thought, what do you think about LCD contact lenses that can display text messages in your eye?

Yeah. I can't even comprehend how that one would work out while driving. 

The best things in life are usually forgotten

Jap711