The box was closed. The box of chocolates, that is.

But this morning when we marched up to the kitchen counter, Chris yelped in surprise and pointed in horror. A moving black line stretched from the box down to the hardwood floors, along the baseboards, and moved under the kitchen table…and beyond.

Ants.

“Don’t worry,” I said.

“I was always worried because you were eating chocolate all over the place,” Chris said.

I ignored his exasperation. He was experiencing a panic attack with lack of cleanliness and things not working. I directed him. Discard the box into the building trash. Vacuum the ants. Wipe down the trail. Empty the vacuum contents. (Snapshot the contents, because it will be a mini ant farm!) Done.

And done it was within 30 minutes.

Chris added a bit of insecticide near the opening where the ants entered.

“Wasn’t that easy?” I said.

I believe that if you tell the world that you want something. Like really want something that the world will respond. That if you set a goal for yourself. That if you tell other people about your goal. That if you prepare yourself in preparation. That if you do all of this, the world will respond.

But then I thought, is that a prayer? In a religious sense?

I abhor the idea of religion. Not because of religion itself. But the way that it’s misconstrued. That it’s people blindly following a faith, especially around “appropriate” behavior. Religion at its worse is about making people fear about doing the wrong thing and shaming others who seem to be doing the wrong thing. Why is it about fear and not love?

And so, I thought about my belief.

Because the fact is: a prayer is about sending a message to an entity. At least for the religions with spiritual beings. It’s waiting for that entity to respond through actions and messages. It’s entrusting that some being will grant the wish. Like magic.

That’s not what I believe. I believe that if I prepare myself, if I ask for help, the world opens opportunity. Because somehow the threads that I throw out—the call for action—want to be connected and so they connect. Entities don’t exist like that. The connection is within ourselves.

For the past few years, I wanted to be a writer. So I worked myself up to be one. Doing everything that I could: classes, workshops, writing groups, reading writing books, applying for fellowships, networking with other writers. This year, I wanted to rework my novel. I talked to everyone about my ideas. I wrote a few down. Then a writing coach popped up. And so then I found the pathway.

“…he’s the most interesting man in the world.”

Bragging, if I may, I have always wondered why people suddenly say that I am interesting. What does that word mean? I use that word when I am at a loss to describe something that makes me feel uncomfortable or cause dislike. I hold the negative adjectives back and say “that’s interesting.” People catch on and know what I really am thinking.

But to say someone is interesting. I wonder what it means, because is it that person has chosen to do interesting things? Or that the person has caused envy of things undone?

“If you see something that you want to do, you just go and do it,” a friend said once to me. “Not many people like us do that.”

To me, I question if it’s really that fact that I choose to do things. Rather, it’s the fact that once long ago, I decided to stop saying no. I realized that nobody was paying attention. That the only person to lose was myself.

But maybe that’s other people’s definition of interesting.

The most fascinating people to me are the ones who are self-aware. They question life around them like I do. They are the ones that exude empathy and believe passionately in what they do and why they do it. They are the thinkers of the period—the ones who write with integrity and awareness. Most of all, they say what they mean. I find those people interesting. And do I find people who are charismatic interesting? That’s the problem that I am aware of—in the moment, I am drawn, attracted like a fly, but afterwards, the connection is barely present and I realize that I was lured in like a bug.

Interesting people are those who outlast the burning cool light.

Once awhile ago, I would run across an old acquaintance. Perhaps a classmate. Perhaps we met at a mutual friend’s party. Perhaps it’s an old work colleague. Perhaps it’s someone I met at a networking event. Or something even more unusual like at the scavenger hunt years ago or the blogging community.

Whatever the case, at one point in time, we knew each others’ status (and maybe fate). But now years and months have passed and so now we stand (or sit). We assess each other. Job situation. Happiness level. Living situation. So then someone inevitably asks the question “so…what have you been up to?”

It’s a way to catch up. A quick way.

I would dismiss the question quickly once upon a time with a “oh the usual, nothing new”. More to focus on what Dale Carnegie insisted was essential to any conversation—focus on the other person. Or more often, it’s because I don’t have anything interesting to say—no accomplishments, the work grind that wasn’t pleasing to talk about, the general life frustrations.

But now, despite having learned skills to make small talk go on and on, I have a better answer.

“Well, a few years ago, I decided to quit everything. I thought about moving to a different country. To Berlin, London, and New York. I visited each other those places. Whether it was unwelcoming social environment, visa issues, or culture clash, no cities worked for me. Bay Area turned out to be the best. After all, it’s where I grew up and where parents still are. But I had left, because I thought that I didn’t want to do user experience. So while I figured that out by freelancing part-time, I started to explore the passion that I had as a child: writing. I decided to write a book about ice cream around the world. I visited over 60 ice cream shops to interview the ice cream makers. I also had a kickstarter for that project. I finally just finished that book. Now I plan to write a novel based on my grandfather’s life. And addition to that, I also started a thriving freelancing practice.”

Maybe not that eloquently. Probably with more bubbling insecurity and anxiety. But there’s part of me that is glad that I can say something with pride. Where before I was stuck tumbling over words of a job that I didn’t necessarily love nor gave pride.

At least, it was better than the blank stares that I would receive when I said that I created lots of fun videos, which resulted in winning a scavenger hunt. And eating 100 things you must try before you die in San Francisco…in less than 3 weeks…getting in second place.

Perhaps all the dental work has led to the jaw pain. Or maybe it’s simply bad posture and lack of upper body strength.

Whatever the actual reason, I look forward to travel, but I do not look forward to the carrying bags part. For the past few trips, I have had pain following trip in my shoulders and back. Usually it last for a week or so and subsides.

Even walking around the city and even with all the buckles tightly bound to my body, I can feel after 100 feet that my shoulders are sinking and fear sets in. Will I be struggling with pain? Will I constantly rub my shoulders and neck? Will I be unable to do the things that I want to do?

There’s an impending fear that has increased the last year as I worked in healthcare. I invite participants to tell me their stories of their lives and their motivations. They always start with the fact that they’re healthy. “Healthy,” they repeat. “I don’t want people to think that I am sick.”

It’s so ingrained in everyone. Because being sick means weak. Being weak means helpless, useless. Incompetent. Shameful. Bad.

But then they bounce right up and say, “I am fine now. No big deal.”

Some struggle to push themselves up to walk. They can’t run. They can’t see clearly. But they will make it from the room to the front door with cash in hand. But they’re alive and very human.

I am afraid of being like that. And so any quiver of my body failing at me even though it’s highly unlikely at my age, I wonder and start wondering and worrying. How can I be like that?

So to relieve any pain, I walk without a bag. My body cannot be betraying me.

When does it mean that we’re happy with the discomfort?

To that end, I was thinking about this yesterday.

Is the goal to always be comfortable? Does comfort mean happiness? Or even further, is happiness achieved when the value perception supersedes the cost perception? By a significant margin?

I think about the fact that I absolutely do not take cabs of any sort in the city. That includes Lyft or Uber. The highest level belief is that I believe that it adds to the congestion on the roads and that the fares are outrageous. Other reasons include that it’s highly unlikely that I’ll ever feel incapacitated that I need someone to drive me and that I rarely feel unsafe in the areas that I frequent. Furthermore, I believe that careful planning will eliminate any need for cabs, because isn’t the reason that many take cabs is due to laziness, time prioritization, and energy. Then there’s the financial cost: I already pay insurance for my car every 6 months, pay for a garage spot, own multiple bikes, and have a clipper card for public transit. Yet why would I take it?

There are a few cases: business is paying for it (because simply put, I realize that cabs do minimize the time that it takes from point A to point B), when I am absolutely lost (only in foreign cities), when I am absolutely tired (this happened only once late night in New York City at least 10 years ago), and when the requests of friends supersedes my own.

It’s the latter reason that drives me crazy. Because every single minute that I spend in the cab is a feeling that I am wasting money. But then the friendship matters to me, so I have to bury the resentment deep inside me. I’ll voice my concern yes, but guilt sets in. How can I ask a friend to feel unsafe for a walk that is over a mile long? How can I ask a friend to walk in three-inch heels? The only way to leave this is to depart quickly before anyone says anything so that the reasoning is gone. Or better yet, I’ll drive there so that I am the cabbie that am paid in friendship rather than cash.

There’s still discomfort in all of this. It’s the boundaries that I set. And no matter how any of those methods to eliminate waste, it’s all an effort to decrease the burdens that we carry everyday on our shoulders. But the hardest part of this—especially as it pertains to cleaning the things you own—is the discomfort that remains.

I have cleared our my clothes. But the problem is, that doing so, I got rid of many of my sweaters. And now I am freezing. But there’s a problem: I have rules set in place not to buy clothing at all unless it is incredibly below market value at a local store, handed to me, or most frequently, that I decided to purchase it abroad. What’s more is that I don’t like many sweater designs. There’s this belief that I will make it work if I really want it to work. And so I stood accused of being happy with discomfort. Is that really the case when I sit at my desk and am frozen like an icicle because I don’t like the heater being turned on at all? Because the latter is in itself a waste of fossil fuel? That the greatest relief I have is to visit a place where I know consciously that I am not paying for anything at all.

I am most happy when there’s no judgement on how we should or should not live.

Naturally due to my personality type (INFJ), I am obsessed with differing personalities. I am curious how people interact, the decisions they make when they interact, and how different styles work or don’t work.

When I learned about myers-briggs personality types, I first thought that it was bogus. But as I learned more, it revealed to me that there are very distinct types of people. At the very first glance, there’s the type of people who respond to my questions and thought exercises—”what if we never had that childhood incident, how would our lives be different?” or “why do we choose to be attracted to some, but not others?” Then there are those who respond to questions of the every day—”what is the fastest way to get from the Mission to the Marina?” or “how does one make gnocchi?”

To me, it’s these personalities. When I was lost at the age of 21, I sought a counselor. Really he was more of a student counselor and gave me the MBTI test. I sat in a room and took the 100 question test. The results returned that I was an INFJ, which interestingly is the rarest of all the types. The special unicorn and the dolphin. I have the combination of wanting to change the way in an idealistic positive way, a desire to connect with people, and a soul that is so sensitive to criticism that we all crumble in pain.

That’s wholly me.

Then there’s Chris who after multiple personality tests (that I of course forced upon him) is an ENTJ. What kind of personality type is that? It’s one that many presidents inhabit. From the negative POV, it’s the personality type that mows down people in order to establish efficient order, because that’s what the personality values. This personality comes off insensitive, authoritative, and unemotional. It gets a bad rap.

An INFJ and an ENTJ should not be attracted to each other. And yet, here we are. An unlikely pair.

This morning, I came across article about casual racism from an Asian American woman. I have been trying all day trying to wrap my head around it—understand it from my perspective as an Asian American and whether my response is simply unacceptable in the world of microaggressions.

But then I realized that I am very different. Because surely, we all come from different places.

There’s this paragraph:

The social pressure on people of color to keep the peace, not get mad, just make sure everyone keeps having a nice time — even when we hear these remarks in public, at our workplaces and schools, in our own homes and from our friends’ mouths — can be overwhelming, bearing down on us in so many situations we do not see coming and therefore cannot avoid. What does our dignity matter, what do our feelings amount to, when we could embarrass white people we care about? When our white relatives or friends or colleagues might experience a moment’s discomfort, anxiety, or guilt?

On Facebook and Twitter, it’s one of the most quoted passages. It’s the essence of should we speak up or make sure everyone is having a nice time? Shall we be the wet blanket or just grit our teeth and smile?

So for me. My response to someone making an off-the-cuff comment like “You look like so-and-so”, I would immediately jab back with a smile, “Are you saying all Asians look alike? Sometimes I have trouble telling apart white people too!”

I caught myself before posting that on Facebook, because at its core, there’s something racist about that too. I do honestly have trouble telling apart white men and white women. I watch a TV show or movie…and sometimes I wonder (especially if the hairstyle is the same) whether I just saw the same person twice. Why do the two lawyers look alike? Balding with glasses? But then I realize that one is taller than the other and that one has a low, growling voice. I just don’t pay attention to those things. But I am fully aware of that fault. So in the case that I am obliviously compared to Asians in the media, I will share my own failing.

But there’s another side that I would want to address. My sister and I have always looked very different from each other. She wears makeup. I don’t. Her face is longer than mine. My face is round. My skin is darker. Her skin is light. etc etc. It’s quite common for someone to say, “You don’t look like sisters at all!” I agree. I simply look like my dad, and my sister looks like my mom. But the only people who say that we look alike tend to be non-Asians. Because at a glance, we both have the Asian eyes, the soft nose, and the dark hair. And I do notice that the non-Asians do try to study our faces to look for similarities. But that’s pretty much looking at Julianne Moore and Jessica Chastain…then declaring that they’re sisters because they both are redheads.

But back to the article, it’s the fact that I always say something when something even remotely racist pops up. Especially when it’s targeting Asians. I personally lose sight of the value of the participants in the conversation and will overreact. Because in the moment, I am swayed by the fact that someone needs to be corrected. In the past, I have rubbed people the wrong way when I reacted to “Where are you really from?” even though it was an important networking moment.

Some may say that they’re innocent. But I remember the last instance. She really wanted to know where I was from. So after dodging the answer for several minutes and raising a fuss about how insensitive the question really was, I answered that my parents were from Hong Kong. “Oh,” she said. “I spent some time in Taiwan. My boyfriend is Taiwanese.”

What’s inherently wrong with that response is the assumption that she spent some time with Taiwan would make her feel more connected with me. The fact that an Asian like country must be similar, must have some relevance to me. What’s true is that I did visit Taiwan, but I don’t speak Mandarin and barely can read the language. So to me, Taiwan is like any country I have visited like Turkey or Italy. I don’t bond beyond that.

I remember making a similar faux pas when I was Brazil and meeting some Dutch guys. I said, “I may be visiting Finland soon. What’s so special about the Finns?”

They blinked, and I realized my mistake. Just because they’re from Europe does that mean that they know anything about a non-neighboring country. A country that is more than an hour flight away. They didn’t say anything rude, but they said, “Come visit us in Amsterdam.”

And then we continued the conversation.

What was the best moment that could serve as proof that everything is going to be alright? And how will you incorporate that discovery into the year ahead?

In 2014, it was when I wrote a well-crafted piece (that I read to a live audience 11 months later). In 2013, it was when light shone in the face of despair. In 2012, it was when I stood up for myself. In 2011, it was a moment of clarity, sincere belief and friendship. In 2010, it was an action of commitment.

In 2015, it was the moment that I realized that I could finish Ice Cream Travel Guide. I am not sure if it was the moment that I put the last words to the page (perhaps on the Caltrain). Or was it the moment that I finished the layout and found myself super motivated to finish the layout. Or the moment that I found out that the hardest part was over (the writing). The easiest part for me was the design, the layout, the website, tech management, logistics.

I remember what Steve Almond once said. He hates writing all the time, especially during. The best part of writing for him is when he finishes. That’s the best part for me too. When I look back and say, hey that’s amazing.

But the fact that I was able to finish all the writing, the editing. That this year, nearly all off it, I gave up all the fears that I had about the book. I was afraid that people would see me as a bad writer. That fear paralyzed me so much that I didn’t do anything. But oddly enough, I forced myself to read many books. In a mixed way, I realized that many writers are pretty bad. So I couldn’t possibly be the only one.

After all, it’s supposed to be about “good enough”. Am I proud of the book? Yes. Could I have done more? Absolutely. But the moment that I accepted that it was “good enough” was the moment that I stopped being afraid and the moment that I knew everything’s ok. After all, a bad book doesn’t kill anyone, right? Although one of my nightmares the last few years was that I would die before the book was published…and that would be the worst thing ever.

Everything’s ok.

How did you travel in 2015? How and/or where would you like to travel next year?

In 2014, I went on multiple weekend trips, increased business trips, and found a destination for ice cream and writing. In 2013, I finished off the bulk of the travel for the Ice Cream Travel Guide. In 2012, I started the journey of a life and went to what I thought was unfathomable (in my life) — six domestic destinations and eight international destinations — for professional and personal reasons. In 2011, I went on one international trip, one domestic…and one super local. In 2010, I went on one international trip and multiple domestic trips.

This year, I aligned all my goals to my travel, and it really did work out that way. I didn’t even go to Tahoe!

In 2015, I traveled to:

In 2016, I already have a Finland/Sweden planned for a conference (where I am speaking!) and fancy restaurant reservation. There’s my sister’s wedding in Los Angeles. Then there’s a plan potentially for her casual fun time in Portland. Potentially, I promised a friend that I would do a super casual cycling trip in Italy in the fall. There’s also the Seattle to Portland bike ride that I want to do in July. Then there’s unknown business trips. Who knows what will come? Will I have an ice cream book tour? Or will I limit myself until the second printing or picked up by Amazon?