Uncle Mostafa

I don't know what to even say. I don't believe it, actually. Are you really gone? I feel like you're not. I feel like you're still there. I feel like you're still around. Why did this have to happen?

Intentional Finances

Finances and the future has been on the brain quite a lot recently. You could even say I've been obsessing over it. I don't think it's a bad obsession. Let's just say that I've made an intentional decision to be wiser with the money I make. I think it's good. I want to make more intentional decisions with my money. Time to start using the brain I was gifted in a more productive way, by practicing what I preach, and making life more pleasant, because there's no reason I should be unhappy -- I'm actually very happy in my life, and I think I just need to start saving for my future freedom to complete the package. I know this isn't ground-breaking, but it's worth writing to myself, so I can reflect on this feeling someday, just in case I need to remind myself about what's important to me.

Dazed & Confused

You came in swinging like Apollo
I'll be feelin' it tomorrow
No, I ain't seein' straight, hyperventilate
Knees begin to wobble
You cut my brakes and hit the throttle
I couldn't stop it if I wanted
Just your silhouette, makes me break a sweat
I'm in trouble
Oh, I've been dazed and confused
From the day I met you
Yeah, I lost my head
And I'd do it again
Either I've seen the light
Or I'm losing my mind
There's something 'bout you
That's got me dazed and confused
Dazed
Dazed and confused
Dazed
I bet you know just what you're doing
You're not the type that's used to losing
First, you build me up, then with just a touch
Leave me here in ruins
Something 'bout your eyes
I can't even walk in a straight line
Under the influence
Oh, I've been dazed and confused
From the day I met you
Yeah, I lost my head
And I'd do it again
Either I've seen the light
Or I'm losing my mind
There's something 'bout you
That's got me dazed and confused
Dazed
Dazed and confused
Dazed
I don't know if this is real life, real life
What happens if I open my eyes, my eyes?
Will I ever get my head right, head right?
I don't know if this is real life, real life
Oh, I've been dazed and confused
From the day I met you
Yeah, I lost my head
And I'd do it again
Either I've seen the light
Or I'm losing my mind
There's something 'bout you
That's got me
That's got me dazed and confused
From the day I met you
Yeah, I lost my head
And I'd do it again
Either I've seen the light
Or I'm losing my mind
There's something 'bout you
That's got me dazed and confused
https://youtu.be/Nel_hT0ZQHA

MakeDamnSure

It's 2019, but the emo high school songs still hit.

And we lay, we lay together just not
Too close, too close (How close is close enough?)
We lay, we lay together just not
Too close, too close
I just wanna break you down so badly
Well I trip over everything you say
I just wanna break you down so badly
In the worst way

Getting older

I think that in the last few days, I've started to realize that we're not invincible. Well, I've always known that, but I think that as we're all getting older, we all need to start planning for the future of all of us and I think family is more important than ever. I think I need to stop chasing the personal pursuits and start focusing on planning for the future.

Been a minute

Hey there blog,
Well, it's a Friday, and it's been a minute since I've had the chance to come back and have a chat with you, and say something that I don't know if I'll regret saying at some point in the future... I literally spent the entire Summer just playing. yes, well, playing. I sort of spent the summer living a life without regrets, without boundaries, without second thoughts... there were many times where I was just like "Is this really happening right now? Is this being too wild? Is this irresponsible? Am I playing with house money?"

And well.... The answer to that question is debatable, depending on who you ask. When I ask myself, I can't really say yes or no, but I can say that when my mind has second thoughts, and I still choose to ignore them, there's a bit of gray area there, which I just don't care to dwell on too much. I constantly have that anxiety where I'm thinking about what I'm doing with my life and if I'm headed in the right direction.... you know what always ALWAYS grounds me back down? Human connection... and I don't mean that in any single one sense or right way or wrong way... what I mean is just having a relation with another human being... that's what makes me say, 'oh yeah, there isn't a right or wrong answer with what I choose to do with my life, but instead, it's to make the people around me happier, make their lives better, share thoughts / ideas / feelings, and in general, share positive human feelings with others.

I guess that's something that I've really started to get in touch with in the last few months to a year.

And also, looking back at the last year, I've been separated from my ex wife for almost 1 full year. Actually, 52 weeks ago, we were in Las Vegas on our last trip together. Am I over her? Well, if you read my last post, you can easily guess that I have some huge negative feelings about what transpired, and how I still have this black hole that she caused in my life, and well, that's what led to the avalanche of wild behavior on my part in the last year... but... despite those negative feelings, I still have some positive ones, mainly the ones where I felt like I've found a "partner in crime" and someone who "gets me". That's the type of human relationship that I would like to find with someone in the near future. I mean, it does get lonely, and I do feel like I am longing for that right person, but I'm going to remain single until that "right" person comes around. I dated several people this summer, but not one of them "checked all the right boxes" for me to even be considered gf material... I guess I've become more picky? Or just have found a bunch of unworthy ladies. :)



Meanwhile, let me tell you about the last few months of travels. There was an LA trip in May, Mexico in June, and then the crazy SFO-YVR-JKF-SFO in a weekend trip in July, and then August consisted of another LA trip and then Japan with Ricky, Sang, M/F in law, and Baby-E. It was an incredible experience. And also the lost bag! And the Conrad! and that heat, and ramen, and hooters! I'm sure there was more... but it was great fun... the only thing I could ask more for would be a travel companion that I really want to be with (i.e., gf ;-))

6/13/2019 UA 1212 Y A320 SFO PVR 1554
6/16/2019 UA 1268 Y 737-900ER PVR SFO 1554
7/26/2019 UA 1451 Y A320 SFO YVR 800
7/27/2019 CX 888 F B77W YVR JFK 2449
7/28/2019 AA 177 F A321T JFK SFO 2586
8/17/2019 UA 256 Y B737-900 SFO LAX 337
8/18/2019 AA 1768 Y+ A321 LAX SFO 337
8/28/2019 JL 1 J B77W SFO HND 5160
9/3/2019 JL 2 J B77W HND SFO 5160


13 flights, (a few not shown) and 21,475 miles flown over the summer months. It was a fun summer. Looking forward to the next things...

Looking back [Hate Post]

Looking back.

I don't regret anything I did. I can't regret it. I did what I did with the info I had in front of me. I made the right decisions at the time. Were they the right decisions in the end? That's a different answer. And well, looking back? I'm glad we're done. I'm really glad. It was inevitable. We were never really meant to make it work. Mainly because you were so useless and didn't make any effort to show me that you were the one. You weren't that smart, motivated, competent, and just not on my level. You were very self-centered. You thought you were a princess. Well I'm sorry lady, but you're not a princess. You are far from it, you know why? Because a true princess, would never disrespect her spouses family, constantly at that... You were a leech. You manipulated people. You used me. I'm so glad that I'm out of this relationship because it allows me to really find someone who does have a synergy with me. Someone where I don't have to be 99% of the effort to make things work. And I mean that. I'm so glad you are gone. It's time I found someone who's on my level. I was able to break out of that vicious cycle and allow me to truly find someone who makes my life better, not worse. You're still young, and immature... If I were to guestimate, you're still around 6 years until you're ready for a real marriage. I was ready at 26... I buckled down when you were 22 and tried my hardest, but you weren't ready -- that was my real mistake. But honestly, I don't think you'll be ready for a real marriage until you're 32... That's just who you are. Whereas I proved to myself that I was ready back in 2016, I just picked the wrong person... I'm still ready today. But maybe it's best I enjoy being single again for a year or so and then see what happens.

2019 Travels

Following trips booked: April LAS, May ONT, June PVR, Aug/Sep HND, Nov HKG, Dec MNL...
Looking at adding an SD trip in there somewhere and maybe one more LV trip... Not sure yet.

So far this year, I've been to Las Vegas for New Years, Austin, New York and Australia... It's going to be a crazier rest of this year...

Also, keep on the lookout for FMP 2020 in Thailand.

February Air

This has been the most difficult month to process so far. My heart misses you. I feel abandoned by you. I feel like I gave you what I could, and you still left. You never believed me when I said I gave you everything I could. It's like I tried my hardest and no matter what I did, it wasn't enough. I thought that marriage was a certain type of bond; for better or for worse. Things got hard, and it fell apart. It wasn't totally dead, but we killed it with our words. Now, to hear about one of us moving on... Feels like not only I've lost you for good, but that what I've done to fill my hole hasn't filled anything, but just created a deeper cut into my heart and it feels meaningless without you. I have a hard time moving on with my life... trying to fill the void left with meaningful relationships.

So free my mind, all the talking Wasting all your time

I'm sorry for wasting your time
I'm sorry for not trying harder
I'm sorry to all the people I have let down
I'm sorry for the broken promises

But, I think it's time I moved on

It's about time I start thinking about my happiness
It's about time I start thinking about my future
It's about time I start thinking about my financial stability
It's about time I start thinking about my dreams
It's about time I start thinking about my career
It's about time I start thinking about my family
It's about time I start thinking about myself

If I don't think about these things, who would have? Not you.

If you want me, if you need me, I'm yours

Feels like I'm waiting
Like I'm watching
Watching you for love
Dreams, where I am fading
Fading

So free my mind, all the talking
Wasting all your time
I'm giving all
That I've got

Feels like I'm dreaming
Like I'm walking
Walking by your side
Keeps on repeating
Repeating

So free my mind, all the talking
Wasting all your time
I'm giving all
That I've got

If you want me
If you need me
I'm yours
If you want me
If you need me
I'm yours
If you want me
If you need me
I'm yours
If you want me
If you need me
I'm yours

If you want me
If you need me
I'm yours
If you want me
If you need me
I'm yours

-Innerbloom

Doing this to me

This is a time where I need to decide on where I want my life to go at this point. I can decide whether to follow my heart, follow my dreams, or follow what's right... I don't know. What I do know is that there is unfinished business and things that I let go a long time ago that I need to revisit. Who knows, but the most important thing is that I follow where my life takes me, and never chase something that doesn't make sense to chase. As long as you have your youth, health, and dreams, I think whatever that road takes you to, it's worth your time and worth your love.

I really wish that I could still go back and just do things differently. But I think that's the main lesson in life is that you can't take things back, but you can always change the future with what you do today. It is a struggle, but life is always going to be a struggle... a beautiful one.

Lately I've been thinking more and more about my future. What will come in the next year. At this point, I'm not entirely certain. It is something that I will definitely need to figure out though.

What I do know is that no matter what choices I make, those decisions will be made based off of my own personal core values. Sometimes you have to make the tough decisions in life, but as long as your decisions were following your personal values, then it doesn't matter which path you choose to take. You were faced with a situation and you made the best decision you could with the information that was available to you at that point in time.

More to come,
Raymond

Thoughts on starting a new blog + the last 6 months of life (or so)

Hi there blog,
It's been a few months since I've last posted on here but I just wanted to write something here in hopes that it'll inspire me to do something that I've been thinking about doing for a while now.

but first, before I go into this, I just wanted to bring you up to date on the last few months.

In March, Gabby and I had our Shanghai wedding. It was really fun, and we even had our friends from Rose lane come to Shanghai to experience it with us.
When we came back from Shanghai, Gabby's Mom and her best friend Yiping came back with us to visit the USA for 2 weeks. Thinking back, not much else happened between April - May. At least, not much that stands out. May came, and I guess June hit before we knew it. Gabby finished her Spring semester, and I continued working at UC Berkeley in my HR position. In June, Gabby and I on a last minute trip went to Las Vegas to EDC. It was pretty fun, although I wish we had a group who all went together. I think it would have made the trip a little bit more crazy/interesting. July came around, birthdays, Vegas trips, and Gabby left to go to Shanghai in mid/late July. This left me alone for about two weeks - the longest I had been without her. For those two weeks, I felt like something was missing, and for the first time in about 2 years, I felt like I had to fill my time when I hadn't had to think about the question: "what do I do with my free time?"

We planned our Honeymoon for August, so after those two weeks passed, I was pretty excited about going to Shanghai to meet Gabby for a few days. August 3 - 6: Shanghai, China
August 6 - 8: Athens, Greece
August 8 - 11: Santorini, Oia, Greece

August 11 - 15: Prague, Czech Republic
August 15: Arrived back home :(
I wish I already had the pictures uploaded to my computer - I might save the pics for a hopefully soon future blog post. We were able to meet up with friends/family in Shanghai, see lots of historical sites in Athens (it was unbearably hot though), relax and sightsee in Oia, and take in a bit of history and city life in Prague. Overall, the honeymoon was too short... Also, we were able to take business class for a mini-round the world itinerary:

SFO-TPE-PVG = EVA Business 777 and 747
PVG-HEL-ATH = Finnair Business A350 and A320
PRG-FRA-ORD-SFO = Lufthansa Business A320, LH First 747-8i and United First 757-300

More stories about the honeymoon coming soon.

Anyways, getting back to my main point:

I've been thinking about starting a YouTube channel and travel blog. I think that the last few years and especially last 9-12 months of churning has given me a lot of perspective about what I personally have a lot of passion for - and to be honest, I'm more passionate about travel than I am HR, or at least, I think that this is my new calling. While I still like HR and I think that it'll stay as my main career path, I think that travel has become my #1 hobby and I think that writing about travel (past experience and future plans) would give me the proper creative outlet that I think that I've been missing lately...

We shall see... I'm going to say right now, that in by next week, I want to have a new YouTube account created and a new blog site created. I just read about WordPress and I've heard that it's a very popular option - we shall see. I still have a special place in my heart for you, blog.

Til next time. Good night.