The moment we got back (7 girls) to the hotel a few weeks ago in New York, three girls immediately pulled out their cell phones and started talking. I remember thinking how absurd the scene was. Three Asian girls sitting on the beds talking with a boy on the line. Twirling their hair around their thumb and talking about their day to a voice.

But isn\’t that life I am supposed to be destined to lead? My sister said one of her friends commented to her that I wasn\’t into makeup, clothes and things like that. I am not, but I am surprised that I am expected to do so.

My roommate got me to watching What Not to Wear and I find myself trying to figure out which of the four skin tones I am. (Summer, apparently.) Then my romp with watching the Hills where eyeliner is key for ditsy days.

Point is that we get sucked into thinking that looking good is the key to a good life.

I have more than eight different passwords I use every day. Usually consisting of an illogical string of numbers and letters. Every so often, I get to the login page and can\’t remember the password. I would try everything. The one that I got from a song? The one from a dictionary? The one with a swear word? The one tainted with geekiness?

Then about 6 or 7 hours later, I would suddenly remember.

A true mind burp.

Then it makes me wonder, would I be carrying these passwords to the grave? Or better yet, what would happen if I suddenly didn\’t have a great memory as I do now?

Thanks to Jeff, I have been nearly a regular reader of iwillteachyoutoberich, a blog of a young entrepreneur with great financial and life advice. Although he\’s cocky and arrognant, there were some \”duh why didn\’t i think of that!\” tips.

But what I like is the entire philosophy which is: Save more than you spend, but do not be afraid to seize opportunity.

In other words, carpe diem. With due diligence.

I am a hypocrite, because like many people, I am stifled by fear of failure. Fear of embarrassment. Fear of intrusion into places not mine. Fear of rejection. But it\’s overcoming that fear that new opportunities appear.

A friend of mine is visiting the Bay Area this Friday. I probably won\’t see him for more than 6+ months and I barely know him. I am starting my new job Tuesday and can see work extending into long hours. San Francisco is nearly an hour commute from my house. My first reaction to his visit was I will be too tired there will be too much work i\’ll be busy. But I realized I could lose out. Sleep is not an obstacle when there are opportunities for the future.

When I am 30, I don\’t want to look back and think that I was too lazy. Or worse yet, I was too fearful.

Next: submit something for publication

Because of my homeboundness (which is supposed to end tomorrow), I started a free trial of blockbuster online of 3 out a time. Yes, a ripoff of Netflix. But it made me think how can I optimize my movies each month?

I came across a guide. But seriously how can you watch three dvds in one day and ship it to the post office? Even if the mail center is one mailing day away, a new dvd will take two days from the previously sent dvd to arrive. Plus my mailbox is a 2 minute walk from my house. Sorry, but I am lazy and only go out there when it\’s not hot and unbearable.

After some calculation and much wasted time, I figured out a realistic plan (if Blockbuster Online is as accurate as Netflix). Watch at least one movie per day. Mail it out the following day. The dvd will not arrive at the The goal is to have a movie every day of the week.

Monday: Receive 3 dvds. Watch 1.
Tuesday: Send 1. Watch 1.
Wednesday: BBO receives 1 and ships 1. Send 1. Watch 1.
Thursday: BBO receives 1 and ships 1. Receive 1. Send 1. Watch 1.
Friday: BBO receives 1 and ships 1. Receive 1. Send 1. Watch 1.
Saturday: BBO is closed. Receive 1. Send 1. Watch 1.

This cycle assumes that you watch one dvd and send it out the next day. With this cycle, one can receive approximately 6 dvds per week still amounting to 24. I got a lot of watching to do then!

Crash a private bash (sponsored by a vendor)

Remember those \”great\” parties during conferences sponsored by a tech company. (Minus that experience in Montreal where the hotel had a fire alarm and people fled the scene. And my friend got yelled at when she began making a white russian herself because the bar and room were empty…ahem, another story).

From time to time, I see myself attending a party by myself and having a blast. But in truth, how can we attend parties without knowing anyone? I don\’t have the personality to walk into a group of strangers and make those connections.

But it would be awesome to attend the Google Dance.

I started looking at craigslist listings for apartments in San Francisco. Mostly in the Mission and Potrero Hill. I paid around $400/month for my own room in Pittsburgh and it\’s almost startling that I may have to pay triple that to get a nice place.

But I don\’t want to live at my parents\’ house. I don\’t want a 45 minute BART ride every day. Most of all, I want to separate myself from cars and have everything within walking distance.

Slightly out of date neighborhood list

My mom got an electronic scale recently and has left it downstairs in the living room. Its presence makes me step on it nearly every day out of curiosity. Especially now that I am housebound.

This morning, I stepped on it and saw that I had lost 3 lbs than yesterday. Then about an hour later later, I had gained an lb. Then 30 minutes later, I gained a quarter of a lb. Then 3 hours later, I got 1 more lb. 20 minutes later, I lost about an eighth of a lb. And by the evening, I gained the missing 3 lbs back as if nothing happened.

Even as trivial as it is, I get to choose the job title for my new job!

It\’s definitely a sign of a new company, but hey! I\’ll be the go-to person for all usability and user experience design!

Any suggestions? From the extreme to the most pedestrian?

My grandmother called me twice yesterday when she heard that I was left home alone because my dad was away on a business trip and my mom was working. Yes, I am housebound for a bit but not bedbound.

\”Make sure you lock the doors!\” she warned me, standing in the middle of a kitchen in full-on suburbia.

\”Did you eat it dinner?\” she asked. I replied that it was only 6 and that I didn\’t really have an appetite.

\”How are you?!\” she asked.

\”It\’s hot,\” all I could muster about my current well-being in the 90+ degree heat in my broken Chinese. \”I am fine. I am 24 years old!\”

\”Ok…\” she sounded reluctant. Then told me to close all the windows and doors, lock them. I agreed, knowing she still saw me as a kid. She said to take care of myself. And I did.