Day 341: "It's a small world after all.."

They say that we are only separated by six degrees of separation.

The other night at my friend's birthday dinner I found two connections. There is my friend's friend who I see once in awhile. The last time I saw her was about 6 years ago. Since then she got married and got her masters degree abroad. She was talking about her husband and where he works. She told me he works at SFU in downtown as an event planner. She told me his name and his name sounds familiar. I deal with event planners and caterers around town. His name sounded familiar to me. She told me that the person who I deal with is her husband. What a small world!

My friend's cousin walked in and she brought her date for the night. When they walked in, I said hi to her and her date. I actually know her date. It was a bit awkward. I actually met him about 10 years ago during my clubbing days. We were acquaintances for many years. In 2006, we worked together at the casino. Last year, we dated for a short time. I guess some people get around..hahaha. Ok, that is quite mean. Oh well, it wasn't very nice of him to break up with me. Yes, he hurt me when he broke up with me. He wanted to be friends right away. But I was very bitter and hurt and didn't want to be friends with him. It would be a few months before I was civil to him. I chatted with him on MSN a few months ago. He was talking to me about who he was dating and I was talking to him about who I was dating. I saw him at one of the Canucks game when I was volunteering. We didn't talk much then. One of my supervisors was right there and he was kinda in a hurry to find his seat. At my friend's birthday we got a chance to talk for a few minutes. I asked him about the girl that he dated when we chatted on MSN. He told me they broke up. That's when I realized that my friend's cousin and him were in the early stages of dating. I got a chance to talk to her about my relationship with him. I guess it's up to her to decide if she wants to continue to date him.

Day 40: 15 years

I finally redeemed the Eccotique gift card my friends gave me for my birthday a few years ago. I used it towards the Caribbean Therapy spa service (http://www.eccotique.com/btherapye.php). My masseuse's name is Maria. She was a very nice lady. She is half Peruvian and half Chinese. We chatted while she was providing me my spa services. She said she heard that it takes 15 years to achieve your dream from the moment you have it in your mind to the moment it comes true.

I believe what she said is true. It may be a good time deadline for me to accomplish the items on my bucket list. As long as I don't loose focus I will be able to achieve them. If I work on something on my bucket list for the next 15 years, it will be completed. If I dream about something today and not work on it for 15 years, I can't expect it to happen. If it does happen, it will be a miracle. I should have bigger dreams and see how long it would take me to complete them.

Day 38: Time to Splurge

After working so hard on my bucket list, it's time to splurge. I feel I deserve some time to relax. My friends got me a gift card to Eccotique a few years ago for my birthday. After so many years, I thought I may not have any balance on it anymore. I just checked on the website and it still has the complete balance.

I have the day off tomorrow. With my days off lately I have been going out (ie. Cultus Lake) and haven't really been able to relax and rejuvenate yet. I have never been to one of those spas before. It will be a good way to just relax and get my mind off things. I am not sure if I have to make an appointment or I can just drop in.

I think it is good to splurge once in awhile. It can be expensive. If I only do it once in awhile its ok. I splurged by going jet skiing at Cultus Lake. It was an expensive experience. They way I think of it, I will be doing it once in a blue moon. If it was something I would be doing on a regular basis, I would be more cautious on the price of the activity.

You only live once. I grew up in the ghetto in East Van. We didn't grow up with expensive things. Our wardrobe consists of hand-me-downs and shopping at Army and Navy. We walked to Army and Navy because we lived close by.My parents taught me that I have to work for my money. I found a job at 15, the legal age to work. Yes, I have to admit I can be thrifty at times. I just don't see the value in buying expensive brand name things (ie. Coach, LV, Gucci). I get it from my parents. They are very cautious on what they spend their money on. These few years I have been making more money than I was before. I have paid off all my debts. I don't have any bills with outstanding balances. I can afford more things than before. I can splurge a little bit at a time. My excuse for not doing anything or buying anything before was because I didn't have the money. I can slowly eliminate that phrase 'I don't have the money' from my vocabulary. Now it is about enjoying what I want.

Day 32: Use It or Lose It

Use it or lose it! Cheesy saying..but absolutely true! There are many aspects of my life which this saying is true.

Gift card
My friend gave me a gift card to Metropolis a few years back for my birthday. Every time I head to Metropolis I forget the card at home. Finally tonight I remember to bring it. It had $30 on it the last time I went shopping. I read on the back of the card today that it takes out $2 for every month it isn't used. I went to use and wanted to see how much money I had left on the card. The sales associate told me I had $8.25 on the card. I didn't use it for about a year and I almost lost all the money on it from the maintenance fees.

Muscles
I am still trying to get myself to go to the gym regularly. I do notice that when I don't go to the gym my muscles tense up. I am thinking if I don't keep up with going to the gym or doing any kind of exercise regularly, my muscles will get weak and I won't be able to use it to my fullest potential.

Memory
I know my memory is declining for both short term and long term recollections. I can blame my age. I can blame my parents. I have to stop the blame game. I will not be aging backwards. I don't think it is fair to blame my parents. I have to recognize that I have a bad memory and take action. I am not sure how to improve my long term memory. I have Nintendo DS with Brain Age 1. Hopefully that will help me with my short term memory. I know if I don't work on it then I may be looking forward to really empty old age. I would like to tell my grandkids what happened when I was young and what society was like.