Today someone asked me if I was happy. I was like sure. They told me I should smile more. Frankly, this is not the first time that someone has told me that I should smile more. In fact, I’ve heard that comment many times. Do I really look that unhappy? I mean, other people don’t go around always smiling, it doesn’t make me think they’re unhappy. Do I really do it that often that I actually appear unhappy? Going around with a smile on my face just sounds odd. How can I look more happy?
Author Archives: The Yellow Forest
Where’s Your Baby?
The neighbors down the street were having a little gathering. A bunch of young fathers stood around while their kids played on the street. I passed by these kids while walking to my car. As I walked past this little girl that was probably around 5 years old, she greeted me.
Little Girl: Hi!
Me: Hi!
Little Girl: Where’s your baby?
Me: LOL, I don’t have a baby!
I’m sure my face was like “what the…” I turned and looked at all the fathers and they were just chuckling.
Ahh..little kids. Good laugh good laugh.
Same Shirt, Different Color
Have you ever bought one shirt in many different colors? I’m picky and I have a hard time finding something that fits comfortably when it comes to clothes. So when I do find something I like, I often buy the same thing in different colors, especially if its a shirt. I’m not sure if people notice or not, but I have A LOT of shirts that are exactly the same but just different in colors. Is that weird? Does anyone else do that?
To Each His Own
I’m aggravated, I’m annoyed, and I’m tired of it because it’s so draining to be around people that are so cutthroat. People should be able to communicate freely, to work together, to not feel pressure, to not put others in awkward positions. That’s how it should be.
Instead, people are out there purely to get each other. People have no problem throwing each other under the bus or dragging you right along with them. Instead of people genuinely helping you for the sake of helping, they help you because it makes them look good, it makes them have an extra person on their “side” to fight against the opponent. People begin to live in this world of secrets and lies, only looking to protect themselves. Pushing anyone and everyone out of the way. If you aren’t helping, if you aren’t for them, then you are one of the others. People place everyone else in this awkward position where you are stuck between trying to decide who’s right and who’s wrong and which side to pick when in reality, they are all wrong. People constantly blame each other at an instance. As long as they aren’t the one causing problems or the one that’s wrong, then its okay. To each his own.
No one should be placed in this type of situation of awkwardness, this situation of sides to pick. Unfortunately many people are stuck and it creates a very uncomfortable place to be in.
Free Pick Up Stix
Want free food? Who doesn’t? I’ll tell you how you can get a completely free combo meal from Pick Up Stix. All you have to do is sign up for their email promotions. Just use a junk email address. Sign up and you’ll get an email from them either the same day or within 24 hours for a coupon for a free combo meal. Make sure you redeem it fairly soon after as I the the expiration date is kind of short (dependent on the date you sign up).
Here’s what you get in a combo meal (it’s a decent amount of food too):
Main dish (chicken or beef, maybe shrimp)
Appetizer (cream cheese wontons, egg roll, or potstickers)
White rice, fried rice, or noodles
Drink
Fortune Cookie
All free! I’ve tried it, it works! Enjoy! :)
Thoughts of Late
-Things that make me smile: Watching a 3-year old little boy on one of those plastic tricycles rolling down the ever so slight decline screaming “Weeeeeeeeeeeeee!” at the top of his lungs.
-I think one of the best parts of retreat was just jamming on the guitar really really loud with people who know what they are doing.
-Sadly, people have no problem throwing each other under the bus
-I like watching the olympics
Breaking into My Own Car?
I was about to drive to church on Sunday morning when I encountered a bit of an incident. I was trying to unlock the car with my remote but it just wasn’t working. I tried for about 5 minutes and it wasn’t working. So I was thinking, “what can I do?” The only thing I could think of was that I would put my key in the door, the alarm would go off, and I would turn off the alarm manually. Ok, that was my only idea since I had somewhere to be.
I stick my key in the door and my alarm goes off, I go to turn off the alarm except it doesn’t turn off! So now my car alarm is going off very loudly, I have the keys in my hand, the door open, and am basically helpless. I try pressing all sorts of buttons, but the alarm is just BLARING. At one point, I somehow I got the alarm off. So I proceed to stick my key in the ignition. BAD IDEA! BEEP BEEP BEEP BOOP BOOP BOOP. Next thing you know, some people who live down the street get home and they’re just standing outside their garage watching me. They probably thought I was breaking in the car. So I use large motions to show that I am trying to press the buttons on my remote. So then I just look at them and shrug. The lady goes in the house but the man just stands about 100 feet away staring at me. I wonder what he was thinking. Maybe he was wondering if I was breaking in or maybe he was wondering if I needed help. He finally left.
So with no idea what to do, I call my roommate and wake him up to ask for help. He says he’ll come out and look at it. I tried clicking the remote again and it worked! Whew. Car unlocked. Alarm off. He said my battery was probably dead. I thought so too. But he went and checked the battery and it was fine!!
Sheesh, all that trouble for some mysterious reason? Dang, I hope that never happens again. It was quite nerve wrecking!
Oh the Life of the Young Ones
At retreat this past weekend I was “dorming” with 5 soon to be 8th grade girls and two other “adults”. Observing junior high conversations made me think about how great it is to be a kid. Granted that some junior high kids to high school kids do have a lot of drama, these girls were still 12 (only 12!) and very young. Their minds weren’t worrying about this and that. They worried about silly things, like how come those girls don’t like us, but mainly, they just had a great time with each other. They were in the moment all the time.
It’s funny how much that changes as one grows older. We look at children who just sit around doing nothing, having joy just rolling a ball around – ah, the simple days. Then you get to elementary school where you just play all day. Junior high – who likes who? High School – who likes who still; trying to balance a life of extracurricular activities along with academics; college prep tests. College – what should I study; what do I want to be. Post-College – where is this job taking me; where do I want to live; is this what I aspire for in life. And on and on it goes.
We have to handle more and more things as we get older and so we often look back and admire the wonders and innocence of youth.
Can we be kids forever?
For the Second Time, Do NOT Stand on the Toilet Seat
Oh man, did I get a kick out of this when it was sent around to all the women at work. Yes, they had to hand-pick each of the names to mail to.
—–
These memos are never easy to write, but a recent incident warrants the necessity of sending this message to all of you.
As you may have seen lately, signs were posted in the second floor women’s restroom stalls reminding everyone about the need for keeping the restrooms clean and free of injury.
Thank you for your cooperation. Please continue with the good housekeeping rules.
However, a recent incident in the restroom, which caused a toilet to separate from the wall, prompts the importance of this e-mail and a reminder that we must be aware of our own actions and how it can affect others as well as the company.
The repair to the toilet and bathroom wall will be costly. This is a cost we can avoid if we can properly utilize the toilet seat. Sit, do not stand on the toilet seat. Toilet seat covers are provided for your use if you choose to use them.
The restroom is a common area shared by many. Please be considerate of others and let’s keep our restrooms clean and free from injury and damages.
—–
In hindsight, I guess I did recall that the restroom was out of order last week and also that there has been a sign on one of the doors saying it was out of order. Out of pure curiosity, we had to take a peek at what was in the locked out of order stall. I expected to see part of the toilet hanging off the wall, maybe cracked or something. To my amazement and what was definitely unexpected was the whole toilet COMPLETELY broken, on the side, and on the floor. I wish I took a picture of it because honestly it was quite hilarious.
I’m still curious as to how they know someone STOOD on the seat. And WHY would anyone STAND on the seat? This is not grade school where you are standing on the seat to hide or mess around. This is an office building with adults.
Simply hilarious. It was some well needed humor after a long day.
I Don’t Really Know You
For most of us who are out of college and in the business world, we find ourselves spending at least 40 hours a week at the office. We go there Monday-Friday and see and interact with the same people for 5 days a week. Many people spend time with these work people more than they spend time away from work awake.
In being around these work people (almost) daily, I find that I don’t really know them that well. I’ve come to realize that none of us really know much about each other. It seems difficult for people to invest in relationships in the office. People are there to work and work only. It seems like no one has the time to care about you and your personal life. Sure you can have one or two really good work friends, but how well do you know them?
Do you know about their family? Do you know about the things they like? What do they do on the weekend? What are their passions? Their beliefs? What troubles are they dealing with? Personal problems? There is so much that makes up of a person that its hard to get to know someone fully. The point is that each person has so much to them, so much more to them than just their existence in the office.
I think sometimes we need to remember that a lot is going on in people’s lives. That sometimes people aren’t always “there” because they have so much more going on. Some people may always be in a bad mood, others always joyous and it may make us wonder about them. But I guess we shouldn’t forget that there’s more to life than just the office.