2012: Travel

How did you travel in 2012? How and/or where would you like to travel next year?

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.

In 2012, I did the unfathomable:

  • Las Vegas for CES
  • A four week trip to Ireland, England, Germany and NYC
  • A brief rendezvous to Pointe Reyes
  • A business trip to NYC
  • Ice cream research trip #1 to Vancouver and Seattle
  • Ice cream research trip #2 to Columbus, Ohio and the greater area
  • Ice cream research trip #3 to the Philippines and Taiwan
  • Ice cream research trip #4 to Argentina (and a short trip to Uruguay)
  • In 2013, will my ice cream research bring me to Italy? Will that include Milan, Rome, Naples, Turin? Turkey? Austria? India? Certainly another trip to NYC. And a trip to LA. And a hopeful trip to Portland. And will I be impulsive to go to a conference in Toronto, Austin or elsewhere?

    2012: This year’s 5 minutes

    Imagine you will completely lose your memory of 2012 in five minutes. Set an alarm for five minutes and capture the things you most want to remember about 2012.

    2011 5 minutes and 2010 5 minutes

  • Going to CES with Greg and inviting Chris along to spend an oddly joyful moments in Vegas
  • Seeing O for the first time in Vegas
  • Planning on my monthlong travel to Europe and New York, collecting advice and connecting with friends of friends
  • Anti-Valentine’s day dinner with Daniel and his housemates in London
  • Getting to know Martin better; someone who I only met on Facebook and only introduced because we both loved Foster the People
  • The consecutive Airbnb experiences in Europe
  • Interviewing at Foursquare and realizing that NYC was not my thing
  • Taking the layoff package from Palm and…moving on
  • Going on an overnight bike tour to Pointe Reyes and staying at the Marconi Conference Center (the former location of my high school AGATE program)
  • Enjoying the experience in Drakes Bay Farm with oysters and the like
  • Realizing how tearful and frustrating an experience can be on a bike ride can be
  • How my contract at Barnes & Noble as an interaction designer…truly…really changed my life
  • Meeting another Jenn at bike party
  • Realizing that nature really is not for me and sticking to it; rejecting an opportunity camp outside of Yosemite
  • Starting my ice cream travel guide project
  • Visiting Vancouver with Shipra and Jeff
  • Doing my ice cream research in Vancouver and Seattle
  • Continuing ice cream research in Ohio…and telling my family about my current endeavors
  • Spending a night with a dairy plant owner and his family outside of Columbus, Ohio
  • Taking a “sabbatical” from user experience to allow for flexibility for my project (but allowing opportunities for freelance projects)
  • Rediscovering my love of writing through various writing workshops and classes
  • Traveling to Taiwan, Philippines, Argentina and Uruguay with various important people in my life
  • Watching more movies than I ever have this year
  • Making ice cream (from my 31 flavors project) and delighting friends with the results
  • Letting go who I thought was an important person but who really was a burden on my soul
  • 2012: Letting Go

    Let Go. What (or whom) did you let go of this year? Why?

    In 2010, it was a person. In 2011, it was an idea.

    This year, 2012, I let go of a person. Or at least a person who had become a symbol of angst, discontent and self-rejection.

    Over the past year, I have made multiple attempts to let go. Whether it was courage or other, I finally let go in late November.

    To my surprise, as much as it smarted early on, the pain subsided. Unlike other painful moments, this one healed very quickly.

    I can only surmise that it was a wound that festered around a foreign object. Once the foreign object was removed, relief was a delight.

    Ever since then, I am lighter. Previously I felt weighed down by an indescribable black cloud of indecision, dissatisfaction and dragged my feet to every decision I made, every moment I thought would yank me out of my unhappiness.

    Year 2011

    2011 was a year of change. There were the years 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009. And in 2010, I was frustrated that everything was completely the same. But 2011 changed…everything—some by my choice and some not.

    2012. Is it the end of the world? Is it change? Is it rebuilding? Thankfully, the sun always rises and we can look forward to…the future. I haven’t talked to a fortune teller yet, but only time will tell.

    Continue reading

    Year 2010

    What was 2010 when it was supposed to be the beginning of a new era? In doing reverb10 (which I have found—are the questions not great or is it because there isn’t that much to say about 2010 for me?)

    This was the first year where I was not met with change. There was no job change. Same bf. There was a new roommate. But otherwise it was all the same. I did play more games and dug deeper in my creativity. I did travel to Vietnam and Hong Kong primarily on my own. I met some new people. I mentored interns for the first time. But many of the things I did in 2010, I had done in the prior years in some form. I wonder why it terrifies me because it’s the first year that I wasn’t forced into change. A lot of it was by choice.

    Yesterday at a party, I had a tarot reader read my hand. Interestingly, my takeaway was that she said…that I was the one who will bring change through creativity and by my decisiveness. I get to be in charge of my own fate now?

    At least for the tax year of 2010, I don’t have to scrounge around for more than one W-2.

    And so unlike the past years of 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008, 2009, 2010 was solid and stationary. Predictable? Not quite, but it had its adventures, surprises, but it was a steady time.

    2011? If the cards are played right, it may be the year. THE year when things will change. For better or worse.

    Continue reading

    Reverb 10: 5 Minutes

    December 15 – 5 Minutes. Imagine you will completely lose your memory of 2010 in five minutes. Set an alarm for five minutes and capture the things you most want to remember about 2010.

  • Watching TV and movies with Chris
  • The moment that I survived the Journey to the End of the Night in October
  • The experience of visiting Hong Kong and seeing my relatives that I almost never see
  • Knowing the type of travel partner I needed regarding compatibility as a result of my trip to Vietnam
  • What I seek in a career and most importantly, my manager
  • How to harness creativity
  • Realizing where my skills truly lie
  • The experiences and needed creativity for the street food scavenger hunt
  • The amazing people that I met throughout the year
  • And determining who are the true friends
  • The successful methods by which to establish conversation
  • How to park in the garage
  • How to make sweet potato soup
  • How to make corn casserole with the right times and temperature
  • Realizing that sleeping…in bed…is the best times of all
  • Watching Inception not once but twice
  • Knowing not eat from a salad bar, especially when traveling
  • How to time manage effectively when entertaining and cooking
  • Reverb 10: Action

    December 13 – Action. When it comes to aspirations, it’s not about ideas. It’s about making ideas happen. What’s your next step?

    Next step.

    Harness creativity and make it happen.

    I used to say that I enjoyed doing design…the kind of design that I do for products. The kind where the design is so integrated and seamless that it’s barely noticeable.

    Although the world has changed with the use of the iPhone, design changes people slowly. Behavior perhaps. It may solves problems.

    But the thing I wanted to strive for—to think about the world differently, to change beliefs…design almost isn’t enough.

    And so this is my next step: to do something where I can do that.

    Reverb 10: Make

    December 6 – Make. What was the last thing you made? What materials did you use? Is there something you want to make, but you need to clear some time for it?

    Beyond work and career-related things, it was a holiday greeting card of Chris and me.

    In preparation for a friend’s ugly sweater party on Saturday, I had researched what was generally considered a ugly sweater. In doing so, I ran into many “awkward” Christmas family photos.

    Suddenly inspired, I thought…well WHY NOT.

    I asked Joe whether I could borrow Jem and prepped. But then suddenly at the party, I mentioned my idea to my friend and she immediately suggested that we take the PHOTO in front of her christmas tree. Chris and I made our pose.

    Then the following day, our friend sent us the photos. I took the photo and applied several effects—soft focus, brightly colored frame, holiday decoration, and an appropriate text message.

    And now I am in the process of writing another accompanying message. To APPEAR soon on your screen!

    Reverb 10: Let Go

    December 5 – Let Go. What (or whom) did you let go of this year? Why?

    Marina. The second one.

    When I had first met her, she was different. Unlike many of my friends, she did not go to college and never graduated from high school. She was rarely interested in intellectual discourse. She was a big spender. She drank almost without apology. She was living paycheck to paycheck. She worked a menial job or was jobless. She almost never said no. She grew up in San Francisco, raised in the Mission district. She had a 6 year old son who she saw only every other week or less. She was dependable.

    We had bonded because of someone we knew mutually. That friend broke ties with me because I had chosen to be friends with her. But at the time, it did not matter. I went with what seemed best, easy, and friendly. We had the same music taste. We were born in the same year.

    But the splintering began as time passed. Although I would like to believe that there are no class differences in the US, there are. Expectations were different in my social circle. I was more comfortable with low-key activities…and had gotten slightly yuppie over the years. Money was not supposed to be a primary issue.

    As a Christmas present last year, I told her bluntly that I would help her get her high school diploma. Whatever it took, I had said. I researched tutors. She had started studying the GED books in the library. I called a few tutors and interviewed them. Then I talked with her about the process—what it would take—the sessions she would attend. I said that I would pay for them—over $300 in goodwill and possibly more. And it wasn’t that I was trying to be a saint, I really did want to sincerely help…and in some way, help her decrease her complaints of not finding a job and being fired frequently. But when I told her what she needed to do, she immediately dropped it. And over time, I just decided to drop it too. The day that she read my Christmas present, she said nothing and closed the card. It was the last time that we spoke of my attempt to help her.

    As the year wore on, I started to feel like I was being used. I was asked by her for everything. How to submit the passport application. How to apply for so-and-so. Easy things. Things that I obviously didn’t know. Granted, I was being snotty. But it wasn’t in me to be the know it all, I wanted to compel her to figure out things on her own. Inspire. But I was too selfish all the same.

    One day, it ended. I remember what she said, “Friends help each other.” I didn’t see her helping me. Name the last time that you helped me I shot back and there was only silence.

    Or did she? To know someone who was outside my comfort zone?

    In my birthday card of last May a few weeks before the above conversation, she had apologized for being distant as of lately. She had considered me a close friend and regretted not seeing me more. It was a $5 pop-up card of a gumball machine. She knew that I had love for sweets.

    Reverb 10: Moment

    December 3 – Moment. Pick one moment during which you felt most alive this year. Describe it in vivid detail.

    Easy.

    It was a moment of discovery, challenge, fear for myself, fear for others, and success all at once.

    I described it earlier in a succint form.

    It was the Journey to the End of the Night. We (the group of people we were with) were on a bus heading west on Haight. The bus itself was a safe zone—chasers couldn’t tag us the runners. However, they were egging us on and watching our every move. In a lame attempt to throw them off our trail, I said that we would get off soon, thinking that we would get off in 10 blocks. At the last minute right at Central and Haight, Chris whispered, “We are getting off here.”

    Unfortunately, it was one block away from the safe zone.

    Chris and Jeff ran storming off the bus. I was confused and hesitated at the front bus door, surely confusing everyone else behind me. That hesitation was what saved me. Standing in the doorway, I could hear silence and see only darkness. It was perfect weather for San Francisco. Not too hot, not too cold. No rain…and the air drifted with only a slight menace on the day before Halloween.

    As I stepped off the bus…in those few seconds, I heard screams of glee that could only be from chasers. We were in attack. And then I heard it…screams of terror or perhaps disappointment from a chaser who had been tagged.

    Running down Central from Haight to Page was more dark that I had anticipated. The dim street lights were insignificant, barely lighting the street and definitely not the sidewalks.

    My adrenaline quickly built up and I knew…I just knew that I probably couldn’t do the sprint. I immediately moved left, lowering myself to the ground smelling the dusty concrete—a smell so like the city of San Francisco. A parked car shielded me from view from those in the middle of the street.

    I saw Jeff—in his bright red getup—get tagged. My black costume as a ninja saved me, blending into the darkness. In between the cracks of parked cars, I could see that the chasers were celebrating. They were dancing, almost as if around a prize. A chaser girl was bragging as she took Jeff’s ribbon. “A trophy!” she exclaimed to a fellow chaser. Then she laughed. An evil long-drawn-out laugh.

    I realized that she had no idea that I was there. She could not hear my breathless anxiety building up and up.

    But there was no time. Did Chris make it? I heard nothing…nothing familiar that seemed of his voice from ahead or behind. Was he ok?

    My tongue was dry. No time. My senses sharpened. I had to make it to the safe zone. I sprinted, but halted when I saw a shadowy figure ahead. Someone from the game? Someone not? She turned around and said, “Are you…” I dodged slightly to the middle of the street and ran ahead.

    And there on the bright lights on Fell street right near the panhandle, I saw a familiar figure. Chris. He was standing in a way to say What’s happening? Where are you? Are you ok?

    He spotted me and hesitated, knowing that I could have crossed the boundary of being a chaser too.

    “I am safe!” I exclaimed.

    I ran toward him in embrace and said, “I made it! But I don’t know if other people did…”