All posts in: Questions

Life
23 Feb 2019

Why It’s Okay To Slow Down

This week has been a particularly trying week for me. For the last 5-6 years working in tech, I’ve always had this sense of urgency looming around me. It’s something that I’ve also discussed on Yow Yow! from time to time. Even when I’m not working, I could always be working. On the weekends, I have to actively make myself stop. It’s not a concept that people outside of the Bay Area are familiar with – those people tend to think I’m crazy. Those working in tech though battle with similar complexes.

As of late though, that sense of urgency has lessened and while this is a good thing for me both emotionally and mentally, my brain had a hard time registering. I was able to leave work early this week. Somehow, I managed to beat rush hour – something that never happens! I made dinner at home with plenty of time to spare. And I had more than enough time to write on Yow Yow! but I didn’t use it all. Instead I started my bedtime routine early, fell asleep to a podcast and got more hours of sleep in a night than I could last remember on a weekday.

But why couldn’t I be satisfied? There were several moments in this evening where I remembered sitting dumbfounded and wondering what to do with my time. Was I bored for the first time? Why couldn’t I be happy having the extra time? Was there a particular reason why I felt like I needed to work even after returning home from the office? I figured, there MUST be something wrong with me.

tl:dr there’s not; but there is a reason for this. For the last few years of my working career, work has been non-stop. In the past, it has run my life. What this is is a blessing in disguise. This bubble that I live in tells people like me that you are only successful if you continue to give your life to your job. I have felt guilty in the past choosing myself over work. It will take me a couple of weeks (hopefully just one week) to get used to this feeling and to explore what could be my new routine. In the meantime, I know that things can pick up any moment. During this period, I’m excited to give more time to Yow Yow! I also planned my first vacation that is truly just for me since I’ve been a working woman. Next up? Taiwan this spring!

Culture
12 Jan 2019

Blog Roundup

  • 6 Powerful People On How They Manage Their Imposter Syndrome [Thrive Global]
  • How To Get Your Music Posted On Websites [The Fader]
  • The 19 Trends That Will Define Men’s Lives in 2019 [InsideHook]
  • Is Listening to A Book The Same Thing As Reading It? [The New York Times]
  • I Had My First Date at 28 [The Cut]
Ozkan Bilgin / Anadolu Agency / Getty
  • The Ubiquity of Smartphones, As Captured By Photographers [The Atlantic]
  • Joan Graves Is The Woman Who Determines The Rating Classifications For Films… Until Now; She’s Retiring. [The New York Times]
  • 9 Women Share Why They Wear Fake Engagement Rings [Brides]
  • Why It Makes Sense That Airlines Overbook [Cheddar / YouTube]
  • Private Bus Company Chariot Going Out of Business [Curbed]
  • Co-Working Space The Wing Is No Longer Just For Women [The Cut]
  • AT&T Park Is Now Called Oracle Park [Curbed]
  • How To Get Back A Few Hours Every Week [Fast Company]
Design
20 Jul 2018

Instagram Questions – Ways To Use It

photo cred | Taylor Lorenz – The Atlantic

There’s a little bit of anxiety when it comes to using the Instagram app. It is, no doubt, my favorite of all my apps, but comes with so many features not all of them being that intuitive until you’ve become a pro. Whenever Instagram unveils a new feature, I like to jump on it pretty quickly – polls, music, GIF, questions. I want to familiarize myself with it before it gets overused and I want to try and understand how people are using these features and if they make sense for my account – not all of them always do.

The appeal to questions is very clear to me. It’s your own personal “AMA” and human nature has taught us all that we love to talk about ourselves. While I received a handful of questions, I couldn’t imagine it being as engaging for my followers. Some of my responses felt pretty short and mediocre. It didn’t seem like good content. As a follower of other Instagram accounts that did the same thing, I also found myself disengaged. Then I noticed another Instagrammer using the Questions feature in another way. Instead of asking for questions so that they could answer, they used it to solicit suggestions from their followers. It makes this feature more of a 2-way exchange. The answers that I received on how I should spend my time off were much more satisfying than for me to answer questions about myself that took me back to the days of Myspace surveys.

While complicated to understand these features at first, I like that over time, we can see users applying them in different ways. They don’t have to be intended to be used in only one way. I had been feeling this way about Questions for a few days, but Taylor Lorenz’s article in The Atlantic brought it full circle. The Questions feature doesn’t have to be annoying. However, there’s a right way and a wrong way to using all of Instagram’s features.

Life
12 Oct 2017

Why Do We Still Use Courtroom Sketches

I’ve actually been wondering the same thing for several months now so when I came across this Vox video on Doobybrain it was almost like magic. We live in a world where technology is everywhere. Our phones can take the best images that we’ve ever seen (of course I’m over here still using what looks like an iPhone 4, but whatever) and yet there is still someone sketching these drawings in every courtroom. It’s a fascination for me to begin with because of several factors – the level of detail, speed, why, what it’s used for. It’s true though what Christine Cornell says in this video… the sketch do capture another kind of emotion that photographs don’t.

Design
03 Jan 2017

A Barbie Salad

Would you eat it?! People come up with the funniest things on the internet, but this one sort of takes the cake. It’s sort of interesting and creative, but gross in a way! I’ve included the recipe at the source if anyone is willing to try this out, but does anyone else find this hard to actually consume? Secondly, does this even taste… good? Please, please, please won’t one of you construct this?

[Source]

Culture
30 Aug 2016

Nick Viall is the Next Bachelor

Screen Shot 2016-08-30 at 10.00.48 PM

WOW. We didn’t see that one coming! ABC is really stepping up their game to deliver on the surprises. Here’s why this is so unexpected:

  • This guy has been on TWO seasons of The Bachelorette. He was the runner-up on both of them and currently he’s on Bachelors in Paradise (a place for the rejects to find love on the spinoff series) I mean… hasn’t this guy had enough chances?
  • Uh… totally thought it was going to be Luke. What happened there?
  • Nick is currently seeing Jen on Bachelors in Paradise (I realize this isn’t in real time) but they seem pretty happy and moving in a positive direction.

It clearly didn’t work out with Jen and Nick, but geez – what a spoiler announcing that he’s the next Bachelor now when there’s still a season finale to watch next week! I was actually rooting for the Jen and Nick thing so I’m somewhat disappointed that that didn’t last. We’ll have to move on from that so here are the questions I want answered in watching Nick be The Bachelor next season.

  • WILL Nick finally find love? Dear god, please say yes.
  • Will we find out how Nick continues to make women on the show feel so desirable?
  • Will I ever stop looking at Nick like he’s the long lost brother of Spencer Pratt?

Serious questions here, y’all. Also, do you remember when we all hated him for two seasons? It’s like the producers of this franchise have been planning this all along by turning him into the good guy on Bachelors in Paradise and essentially setting him up for success to be the next Bachelor. Nice work!

Uncategorized
03 Jul 2016

Sleeping on Airplanes

How do people do it? I feel like this is something I should have mastered by now as an adult, but I really haven’t at all. After getting 3 hours of sleep last night and having to wake up at 5:00 AM to get ready for a 7:40 AM flight, I was pretty much counting on getting some sleep for my 2-hour flight to Seattle. But when that flight came, I was completely unprepared and I’d love to know how people do it? I’ve heard that some people take sleeping pills, CBD or cannabis to help them sleep better. However, I’ve never tried that. My friend always tells me that traveling with marijuana doesn’t have to be dangerous, especially if you have a medical condition for example. Maybe I’ll have to look into that and see if I’d be able to travel with cannabis.

Although I’m told there are a lot of other ways to fall asleep on a plane, but there are so many factors on a flight that I think can deter just about anyone from getting some sleep so here are my thoughts on that and maybe some things I’ve probably been doing wrong.

  • How do you get some sleep when there are… natural odors around you that might prevent you from sleeping because you’re trying to find another way to just breathe normally?
  • There’s a child behind you. They can’t seem to get their feet firmly planted on the ground.
  • Every time we take off, I’m afraid to close my eyes because I fear that someday I’m going to be that one person that is sitting next to one that doesn’t realize they have motion sickness and that is my WORST fear.
  • What if you’re in the middle seat (like I always am – I realize that this is sort of my own fault though) and the person in the window needs to get up and use the bathroom?
  • You don’t want to miss the flight attendants when they come by with snackies and beverages
  • I listen to my music on low when I’m on a flight with my eyes closed. Does the changing of a track affect me from sleeping soundly? Probably and then there’s that whole thing about wanting to switch songs if you don’t like it so you have to open your eyes for that too.
  • If you’re in the middle seat, do you just sleep completely upright? These are things that I think about.

Oh man, I really hope I’m not the only one that has these thoughts.

Music
28 Feb 2016

Fifth Harmony – “Work From Home”

I can’t believe that we’re making an entire post for this, but we have to talk about this song and this music video. I watched the video for the first time on Friday night after being woken up to this song Friday morning as my alarm and at first, I had no idea what I was listening to. A lot of thoughts raced through my head. “What kind of song is this?” “What is this song about – is it really about working from home or is like sexualizing work from home?” I still don’t really know the answer. Here are some other questions/thoughts I have though:

  • Why does this music video take place on a construction site? This is the last place that you can work from home.
  • Why doesn’t Lauren have any lines in this song?
  • Doesn’t the beginning beat of this song remind you of “Take You There” which was on the soundtrack for Rugrats and sung by Mya, Blackstreet, Mase, and Blinky Blink? (Who the hell is Blinky Blink, you ask? That’s another question for us too)
  • Is it just me or do all the girls struggle with lip syncing?
  • Also, why is this music video so sexual? I feel so uncomfortable knowing that most of them are just around 18 years old!
  • Poor Ally, she’s the most awkward in the group for sure. She really doesn’t need to be moving so quickly through her part and I think if she had slowed it down, it would’ve looked better and made sense with the pace of the song.
  • The choreography for this is pretty good.
  • The girls dancing on the stairs during Ty Dolla $ign’s part is also uncomfortable. I don’t think HE even know what’s going on when he walks in to that room.
  • I can’t lie to you – Camila singing all the rifts at the end is totally one of my favorite parts in the song and the part I’m always belting out.

I also listened to this song all the way up to the city yesterday so it’s safe to say that it has grown on me. We’re looking forward to seeing how much of a hit it becomes though. Initially the song was just going to be “Work,” but with Rihanna already coming out with “Work” they decided on “Work from Home.”

Design
07 Feb 2016

Proud Owner:

Screen Shot 2016-02-07 at 9.11.58 PM

When looking ahead to 2016, I mentioned in a previous post that I wanted to start buying candles. I had always felt a little bit behind knowing that all the guys I ever dated had candles on their desk or bedside table whereas buying a candle for my home had never even crossed my mind. Candles are sold everywhere, Rite Aid, Bed Bath and Beyond, Target, Safeway – but if I was going to get serious about this, I wanted to do my research. I wanted the best of the best and Mandi let me know that the only place to buy them was Anthropologie.

The same day that I landed back in California after spending the holidays in Seattle, I came home, dropped off my luggage and drove straight to Anthropologie. Since this was going to be a new hobby/collection, I thought I would start off small and purchase 1, but after sniffing almost every candle in the store, limiting myself just didn’t seem like a good idea. Instead, I bought the three pictured above. Three different sizes – all different scents and in three different tins so that they could be re-used. More on that in a future post though!

I realized though that when it came to candles, I was kind of a n00b. I had a lot of questions – all of which Mandi answered for me:

  • Should you light more than one at a time?
  • How do you know which two to light together?
  • What am I supposed to feel when I light candles?
  • Will they set off my smoke detector after I blow them out?
  • Do you put the lid on top of the candle afterwards? What purpose do those lids serve?
  • Do people light candles during the day?

Also, this is embarrassing to admit, but continues to prove how much of an amateur I am with candles – the first night that I lit them I got really close to smell it and a piece of my hair just breezed right on through into the flame.

Thankfully, I was unscathed by this incident, but I can’t believe that it happened in the first place. It could have been a lot worse, especially if the candle had interacted with something else, like my curtains or sofa. As this is now on my mind, I may have to get in touch with somewhere similar To Aardvark Electric, Inc. so they can come and test my smoke detector, just so I know that it works if anything should happen regarding my candles. I hope it doesn’t, but you can never be too sure. And I think that this will be the right thing to do going forward, particularly as I had a close shave with a major incident myself.

With that being said, I purchased these candles at the beginning of January – happy to announce that I have since returned to Anthro to buy two more candles! We’ve got a problem here. I think it’s going to be an expensive collection to keep, but at the same time it’s so nice and relaxing to light them at the end of a work day while I’m writing late night emails or blogging. They also make my apartment smell 110% better!

Culture
29 Nov 2015

The First Two Episodes of The OC

This photo above is not from the first season, but we love Christmakah so much that it seemed like the perfect picture to include. Mandi and I were all set to have a night out yesterday in the city, but after settling in after a weekend of Thanksgiving festivities and a home cooked meal, we #optedinside for a viewing of the movie Dope and the first two episodes of The OC! Yes, the classic television series is now streamable on the CW Seed. We didn’t know what that meant either, but it worked and if we didn’t have an early morning today, we probably would’ve gotten through half the season. It’s been years since we fell in love with this series and now watching it when we’re much older and not pre-teens we seem to have noticed a few things we didn’t recognize before.

  • Seth and Ryan are the cutest best friends
  • As much as you kind of hate how dramatic and silly Marissa Cooper can be, you kind of love her. You root for her because she’s so troubled.
  • Summer was awful in the first two episodes. Terrible lines, terrible personality and she left Coop laying at the front of her door blacked out
  • Sandy Cohen was the best chracter on the show that was a parent.
  • Why does Seth think that he can sail to Tahiti on Summer Breeze?
  • The pool house is better than Seth’s bedroom. Ryan had it made.
  • Did we ever see the Cooper’s dog again after the first episode?
  • When Seth throws Ryan under the bus and outs him for his Chino past at the party – that was a lame thing for him to do.
  • “This is how it’s done in Orange County!” Classic.

Mandi is originally from Orange County and I just got back from there for Thanksgiving so we were having a moment, clearly.