It was a year of change - the most I had ever had in my life thus far. It was a year that, down the road, I'll be able to pin-point as the beginning of something new; of my quest to become, well, me. It was 2012, and it's ending in a day.
Holidays this year seemed to have a greater impact on me this year. I'm sure the increase in gratitude toward my family, friends, and current situation, as well as my acknowledgement of the amazing pouring of blessings that rain down on me every day by me simply living, is due to the amount of changes I went through this year and also the recent Sandy Hook tragedy. May those angels rest in peace.
It's funny how tragedy and death always put life into perspective; how the leaving of another's soul causes us to make the selfish - but necessary due to its reflective nature - examinations of our own souls. Though I underwent many life changes this year, Sandy Hook will always be a 2012 marker for me; the lessons I took away from the anguishing story are so on par with everything else I learned this year from all my changes.
IMPORTANCE OF FAMILY. This was my biggest lesson this year. You never know when life will be taken from you. I went through "hard times" this year, emotionally, due to some career stress (truly #firstworldproblems, if I am being honest, for having woes within a job is a "good problem" to have), and I leaned on my parents so, so hard. I think the job stress I went through was for me to emerge on the other side with a greater appreciation for them. I've always loved them, of course, but going through what was one of my more difficult periods, with them by my side, meant the world to me. I'm so insanely fortunate to have two parents who, despite our quirks and quips, love me unconditionally. This lesson has made me re-examine how I approach companionship in my life.
CARE WHEN IT MATTERS. Don't sweat the small stuff, or don't sweat when you don't actually care. Does that make sense? Again, life is too short to dwell. We'll make mistakes, we'll have to deal with the consequences. I did a lot of things this year that, in my heart, I didn't think through 1000%. I didn't know what the end goal or outcome would be, but I did it, expounded probably too much of my own energy, got worn down, bounced back up. January to May of this year were the most hellish of my life; now, I'm happier than ever. I've learned that we can't control or know everything now, so when faced with decision-making time, make one, don't turn back, and deal with it if and when any issues arise. No use wasting energy on things that don't happen.
GET ONE GEAR TURNING. My friend told me her Mom's anecdote on life: we have many gears that we need to turn: a career gear, a romantic relationship gear, a family gear, a friend gear, a personal gear, etc. etc. It's not just hard -- it's nearly impossible -- to get more than one or two gears turning at the same pace at once. If you can get one gear turning, consider yourself blessed. Work hard to get that gear turning as quickly as possible, and appreciate that gear as being the positive force in your life.
PATIENCE FOR THE PEOPLE WHO MATTER. Going back to the lesson on family, I learned patience. It's easiest to get upset with the people who are closest to you, and ironically, these people matter most. So I learned to be patient. Similarly, I learned to be patience with the person who matters most to me: myself. As a member of Gen Y, I expect success instantaneously. I work very hard, sure, but beat myself up over where I was going in life, what I had or had not accomplished, etc. But maybe that's the beauty of my story: my journey is one of self-creation; there's not a Point A, Point B to my beginning and end of success. When consoling me one day through my quarter-life crisis, my Dad used Daw Aung Saan Suu Kyi as an example: she had to be under house arrest for 12 years before really getting recognized acclaim from Burma. Now, how should I expect success tomorrow if she, one of my heroes, clearly had to wait?
HAVE SOME FUN EVERY DAY. Sometimes I can be very serious and pensive. When I'm in a moment of introspection, or when I'm focused at a task at work especially, or home, I get very serious, seemingly tune others out, and put a game face on. I'm learning to see the humor in these situations now, and am trying to laugh more at the little things. It helps that my roommate is probably one of the wittiest (and sweetest, kindest, most wonderful person) women I know, so it's rubbing off one me!
"MY ONE FOR TODAY". This was a brief project of mine this year, to tumblr one thing I learned or was gracious for that day. I was so easily getting sucked into negative thought as I wallowed about how lost I seemingly was - but I pulled myself out by remembering that there's always beauty in the day. There's always a lesson. Plus, my "problems" are very, very insignificant compared to other real problems in the world. I'm very blessed.
When looking back at 2012, I see a year where I took a job half-heartedly, got my energy zapped, changed my persona in a negative and toxic way, made a quick decision to move cities with a half-secured plan, and bounced back to enjoy life again. To live out my goal to visit one new place a year, I visited many US cities for work: worked Superbowl in Indianapolis, IN, saw Detroit, visited Kansas and Missouri; then toured Eugene and Portland, OR and Seattle, WA with college friends. Pretty good, for also exploring my new home city!
I learned that you can fall in love with a city, and the feeling can be as real as falling in love with a person. I sincerely love San Francisco. It's magical, and the friends I've made up here, the memories I'll forever keep, are for the books.
It was a year when I - the girl who was always seen as independent by others - finally felt independent for myself. 2012 marked the beginning of me becoming a true me. I had no idea I'd be where I am now, but I'm so grateful for my life and everyone in it. 2013 will be great.
Blessings to all.
Monday, December 31, 2012
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
50 Quotes on San Francisco
Taken from someone else.
1. One day if I go to heaven…I’ll look around and say “It ain’t bad, but it ain’t San Francisco”. (Herb Caen)
2. San Francisco has only one drawback - ’tis hard to leave. (Rudyard Kipling)
3. You know what it is? (It) is a golden handcuff with the key thrown away. (John Steinbeck)
4. San Franciscans are very proud of their city, and they should be. It’s the most beautiful place in the world. (Robert Redford)
5. If you’re alive, you can’t be bored in San Francisco. If you’re not alive, San Francisco will bring you to life. (William Saroyan)
6. Of all cities in the United States I have seen, San Francisco is the most beautiful. (Nikita Kruschev)
7. I prefer a wet San Francisco to a dry Manhattan. (Larry Geraldi)
8. The cool, grey city of love. (George Sterling)
9. I never dreamed I’d like any city as well as London. San Francisco is exciting, moody, exhilarating. I even love the muted fogs. (Julie Christie)
10. I don’t know of any other city where you can walk through so many culturally diverse neighbourhoods, and you’re never out of sight of the wild hills. Nature is very close here. (Gary Snyder)
11. San Francisco is 49 square miles surrounded by reality. (Paul Kantner)
12. The ultimate (travel destination) for me would be one perfect day in San Francisco. It’s a perfect 72 degrees, clear, the sky bright blue. I’d start down at Fisherman’s Wharf with someone I really like and end with a romantic dinner and a ride over the Golden Gate Bridge. There’s no city like it anywhere. And, if I could be there with the girl of my dreams, that would be the ultimate. (Larry King)
13. Leaving San Francisco is like saying goodbye to an old sweetheart. You want to linger as long as possible. (Walter Kronkite)
14. There’s no question this is where I want to live. Never has been. (Robin Williams)
15. San Francisco is one of my favourite cities in the world…I would probably rank it at the top or near the top. It’s small but photogenic and has layers…You never have problems finding great angles that people have never done. (Ang Lee)
16. When you get tired of walking around in San Francisco, you can always lean against it. (unknown)
17. You wouldn’t think such a place as San Francisco could exist. The wonderful sunlight here, the hills, the great bridges, the Pacific at your shoes. Beautiful Chinatown. Every race in the world. The sardine fleets sailing out. The little cable-cars whizzing down The City hills….And all the people are open and friendly. (Dylan Thomas)
18. In all my travels I have never seen the hospitality of San Francisco equalled anywhere in the world. (Conrad Hilton)
19. Your city is remarkable not only for its beauty. It is also, of all the cities in the United States, the one whose name, the world over, conjures up the most visions and more than any other city incites one to dream. (Georges Pompidou)
20. It is a good thing the early settlers landed on the East Coast; if they’d landed in San Francisco first, the rest of the country would still be uninhabited. (Herbert Mye)
21. What fetched me instantly (and thousands of other newcomers with me) was the subtle but unmistakeable sense of escape from the United States. (H.L. Mencken)
22. The City of San Francisco (the metropolis of the State) considering its age, is by long odds the most wonderful city on the face of the earth. (G.W. Sullivan)
23. You have in San Francisco this magnificent Civic Center crowned by a City Hall which I have never seen anywhere equalled. (Joseph Strauss)
24. Every man should be allowed to love two cities, his own and San Francisco. (Gene Fowler)
25. Of all American cities of whatever size the most friendly on preliminary inspection, and on further acquaintance the most likable. The happiest-hearted, the gayest, the most care-free city on this continent. (Irwin S. Cobb)
26. No city invites the heart to come to life as San Francisco does. Arrival in San Francisco is an experience in living. (William Saroyan)
27. God took the beauty of the Bay of Naples, the Valley of the Nile, the Swiss Alps, the Hudson River Valley, rolled them into one and made San Francisco Bay. (Fiorello La Guardia)
28. I always see about six scuffles a night when I come to San Francisco. That’s one of the town’s charms. (Erroll Flynn)
29. San Francisco! – one of my two favorite cities. There is more grace per square foot in San Francisco than any place on earth! (Bishop Fulton J. Sheen)
30. I don’t think San Francisco needs defending. I never meet anyone who doesn’t love the place, Americans or others. (Doris Lessing)
31. San Francisco is Beautiful People wearing a bracelet of bridges. (Hal Lipset)
32. San Francisco is the greatest…the hills…fabulous food…most beautiful and civilised people. (Duke and Duchess of Bedford)
33. I love San Francisco. It would be a perfect place for a honeymoon. (Kim Novak)
34. Now there’s a grown-up swinging town. (Frank Sinatra)
35. I don’t like San Francisco. I love it! (Dorothy Lamour)
36. Two days in this city is worth two months in New York. (Robert Menzies)
37. I’m just mad for San Francisco. It is like London and Paris stacked on top of each other. (Twiggy)
38. San Francisco is poetry. Even the hills rhyme. (Pat Montandon)
39. I love this city. If I am elected, I’ll move the White House to San Francisco. Everybody’s so friendly. (Robert Kennedy)
40. I like the fog that creeps over the whole city every night about five, and the warm protective feeling it gives…and lights of San Francisco at night, the fog horn, the bay at dusk and the little flower stands where spring flowers appear before anywhere else in the country…But, most of all, I like the view of the ocean from the Cliff House. (Irene Dunne)
41. We’re crazy about this city. First time we came here, we walked the streets all day – all over town – and nobody hassled us. People smiled, friendly-like, and we knew we could live here……Los Angeles? That’s just a big parking lot where you buy a hamburger for a trip to San Francisco……And the beautiful old houses and the strange light. We’ve never been in a city with light like this. We sit in our hotel room for hours, watching the fog come in, the light change. (John Lennon and Yoko Ono)
42. San Francisco is a city with the assets of a metropolis without the disadvantages of size and industry. (Jack Kenny)
43. San Francisco is one of the great cultural plateaus in the world….one of the really urbane communities in the United States…one of the truly cosmopolitan places – and for many, many years, it has always had a warm welcome for human beings from all over the world. (Duke Ellington)
44. No visit to the United States would be complete without San Francisco – this beautiful city, center of the West, very well known for its beauty and the place where the United Nations was born. (Queen Sirikit of Thailand)
45. To a traveler paying his first visit, it has the interest of a new planet. It ignores the meteorological laws which govern the rest of the world. (Fitz Hugh Ludlow)
46. Cities are like gentlemen, they are born, not made. You are either a city, or you are not, size has nothing to do with it. I bet San Francisco was a city from the very first time it had a dozen settlers. New York is “Yokel”, but San Francisco is “City at Heart”. (Will Rogers)
47. This is the first place in the United States where I sang, and I like San Francisco better than any other city in the world. I love no city more than this one. Where else could I sing outdoors on Christmas Eve? (Luisa Tetrazzini)
48. San Francisco is a city where people are never more abroad than when they are at home. (Benjamin F. Taylor)
49. It’s the grandest city I saw in America. If everyone acted as the San Franciscans did, there would be hope for settlement of the world’s difficulties. (Frol Zozlov)
50. To this day the city of San Francisco remains to the Chinese the Great City of the Golden Mountains. (Kai Fu Shah)
1. One day if I go to heaven…I’ll look around and say “It ain’t bad, but it ain’t San Francisco”. (Herb Caen)
2. San Francisco has only one drawback - ’tis hard to leave. (Rudyard Kipling)
3. You know what it is? (It) is a golden handcuff with the key thrown away. (John Steinbeck)
4. San Franciscans are very proud of their city, and they should be. It’s the most beautiful place in the world. (Robert Redford)
5. If you’re alive, you can’t be bored in San Francisco. If you’re not alive, San Francisco will bring you to life. (William Saroyan)
6. Of all cities in the United States I have seen, San Francisco is the most beautiful. (Nikita Kruschev)
7. I prefer a wet San Francisco to a dry Manhattan. (Larry Geraldi)
8. The cool, grey city of love. (George Sterling)
9. I never dreamed I’d like any city as well as London. San Francisco is exciting, moody, exhilarating. I even love the muted fogs. (Julie Christie)
10. I don’t know of any other city where you can walk through so many culturally diverse neighbourhoods, and you’re never out of sight of the wild hills. Nature is very close here. (Gary Snyder)
11. San Francisco is 49 square miles surrounded by reality. (Paul Kantner)
12. The ultimate (travel destination) for me would be one perfect day in San Francisco. It’s a perfect 72 degrees, clear, the sky bright blue. I’d start down at Fisherman’s Wharf with someone I really like and end with a romantic dinner and a ride over the Golden Gate Bridge. There’s no city like it anywhere. And, if I could be there with the girl of my dreams, that would be the ultimate. (Larry King)
13. Leaving San Francisco is like saying goodbye to an old sweetheart. You want to linger as long as possible. (Walter Kronkite)
14. There’s no question this is where I want to live. Never has been. (Robin Williams)
15. San Francisco is one of my favourite cities in the world…I would probably rank it at the top or near the top. It’s small but photogenic and has layers…You never have problems finding great angles that people have never done. (Ang Lee)
16. When you get tired of walking around in San Francisco, you can always lean against it. (unknown)
17. You wouldn’t think such a place as San Francisco could exist. The wonderful sunlight here, the hills, the great bridges, the Pacific at your shoes. Beautiful Chinatown. Every race in the world. The sardine fleets sailing out. The little cable-cars whizzing down The City hills….And all the people are open and friendly. (Dylan Thomas)
18. In all my travels I have never seen the hospitality of San Francisco equalled anywhere in the world. (Conrad Hilton)
19. Your city is remarkable not only for its beauty. It is also, of all the cities in the United States, the one whose name, the world over, conjures up the most visions and more than any other city incites one to dream. (Georges Pompidou)
20. It is a good thing the early settlers landed on the East Coast; if they’d landed in San Francisco first, the rest of the country would still be uninhabited. (Herbert Mye)
21. What fetched me instantly (and thousands of other newcomers with me) was the subtle but unmistakeable sense of escape from the United States. (H.L. Mencken)
22. The City of San Francisco (the metropolis of the State) considering its age, is by long odds the most wonderful city on the face of the earth. (G.W. Sullivan)
23. You have in San Francisco this magnificent Civic Center crowned by a City Hall which I have never seen anywhere equalled. (Joseph Strauss)
24. Every man should be allowed to love two cities, his own and San Francisco. (Gene Fowler)
25. Of all American cities of whatever size the most friendly on preliminary inspection, and on further acquaintance the most likable. The happiest-hearted, the gayest, the most care-free city on this continent. (Irwin S. Cobb)
26. No city invites the heart to come to life as San Francisco does. Arrival in San Francisco is an experience in living. (William Saroyan)
27. God took the beauty of the Bay of Naples, the Valley of the Nile, the Swiss Alps, the Hudson River Valley, rolled them into one and made San Francisco Bay. (Fiorello La Guardia)
28. I always see about six scuffles a night when I come to San Francisco. That’s one of the town’s charms. (Erroll Flynn)
29. San Francisco! – one of my two favorite cities. There is more grace per square foot in San Francisco than any place on earth! (Bishop Fulton J. Sheen)
30. I don’t think San Francisco needs defending. I never meet anyone who doesn’t love the place, Americans or others. (Doris Lessing)
31. San Francisco is Beautiful People wearing a bracelet of bridges. (Hal Lipset)
32. San Francisco is the greatest…the hills…fabulous food…most beautiful and civilised people. (Duke and Duchess of Bedford)
33. I love San Francisco. It would be a perfect place for a honeymoon. (Kim Novak)
34. Now there’s a grown-up swinging town. (Frank Sinatra)
35. I don’t like San Francisco. I love it! (Dorothy Lamour)
36. Two days in this city is worth two months in New York. (Robert Menzies)
37. I’m just mad for San Francisco. It is like London and Paris stacked on top of each other. (Twiggy)
38. San Francisco is poetry. Even the hills rhyme. (Pat Montandon)
39. I love this city. If I am elected, I’ll move the White House to San Francisco. Everybody’s so friendly. (Robert Kennedy)
40. I like the fog that creeps over the whole city every night about five, and the warm protective feeling it gives…and lights of San Francisco at night, the fog horn, the bay at dusk and the little flower stands where spring flowers appear before anywhere else in the country…But, most of all, I like the view of the ocean from the Cliff House. (Irene Dunne)
41. We’re crazy about this city. First time we came here, we walked the streets all day – all over town – and nobody hassled us. People smiled, friendly-like, and we knew we could live here……Los Angeles? That’s just a big parking lot where you buy a hamburger for a trip to San Francisco……And the beautiful old houses and the strange light. We’ve never been in a city with light like this. We sit in our hotel room for hours, watching the fog come in, the light change. (John Lennon and Yoko Ono)
42. San Francisco is a city with the assets of a metropolis without the disadvantages of size and industry. (Jack Kenny)
43. San Francisco is one of the great cultural plateaus in the world….one of the really urbane communities in the United States…one of the truly cosmopolitan places – and for many, many years, it has always had a warm welcome for human beings from all over the world. (Duke Ellington)
44. No visit to the United States would be complete without San Francisco – this beautiful city, center of the West, very well known for its beauty and the place where the United Nations was born. (Queen Sirikit of Thailand)
45. To a traveler paying his first visit, it has the interest of a new planet. It ignores the meteorological laws which govern the rest of the world. (Fitz Hugh Ludlow)
46. Cities are like gentlemen, they are born, not made. You are either a city, or you are not, size has nothing to do with it. I bet San Francisco was a city from the very first time it had a dozen settlers. New York is “Yokel”, but San Francisco is “City at Heart”. (Will Rogers)
47. This is the first place in the United States where I sang, and I like San Francisco better than any other city in the world. I love no city more than this one. Where else could I sing outdoors on Christmas Eve? (Luisa Tetrazzini)
48. San Francisco is a city where people are never more abroad than when they are at home. (Benjamin F. Taylor)
49. It’s the grandest city I saw in America. If everyone acted as the San Franciscans did, there would be hope for settlement of the world’s difficulties. (Frol Zozlov)
50. To this day the city of San Francisco remains to the Chinese the Great City of the Golden Mountains. (Kai Fu Shah)
I LOVE SAN FRANCISCO
I can't say it enough: I love San Francisco. Moving here was one of the best decisions I've made in life thus far, and when looking back, years from now, I know I'll say the same thing.
The problem with this city is that I love it too much. The attachment I feel toward this city is stronger than any romantic feeling I've had toward a person - and that is the honest truth. I love to travel and I want to see and experience so many wonderful things this world has to offer, but I almost feel like I found SF too soon. I almost wish I had moved somewhere else before finding this gem. I'm scared of how much I love it. I'm scared I'll never want to leave it. I feel like I'm ready to commit but am scared of saying the three words for fear of falling too hard.
Here, I've blossomed into my own. I'm doing the things I love -- more importantly, with people I love. New friends have found their way into my life, and for them I am grateful. I am grateful for D, my rocking roommate, who is the most positive & generous person I've ever met. The sunshine she brings to my life trumps the SF fog. I'm grateful for MA, who is a soul sister; one who will go Bachata dancing with me (newfound passion), attend travel meetups with me (there are loads here), and who shares the same love for this quirky and awesome city as I do. To L, my home base, whom I admire. Being away from home together has brought us so much closer. To W, who is kind. And wonderful. And so inclusive. The list goes on.
What I am noticing is that SF has made me a much more appreciative, gracious, fun-loving person; it has taken me back to a place of happiness that I haven't felt since college, really. I almost feel guilty at how much fun I'm having.
But that's SF. It is a city that has something for everyone; a city that unifies all the individuals who are celebrated for their uniqueness. Every night I am grateful for San Francisco. I want to squeeze every ounce of every second of every weekend. Living here has helped me to live in the present and to enjoy - truly enjoy.
The problem with this city is that I love it too much. The attachment I feel toward this city is stronger than any romantic feeling I've had toward a person - and that is the honest truth. I love to travel and I want to see and experience so many wonderful things this world has to offer, but I almost feel like I found SF too soon. I almost wish I had moved somewhere else before finding this gem. I'm scared of how much I love it. I'm scared I'll never want to leave it. I feel like I'm ready to commit but am scared of saying the three words for fear of falling too hard.
Here, I've blossomed into my own. I'm doing the things I love -- more importantly, with people I love. New friends have found their way into my life, and for them I am grateful. I am grateful for D, my rocking roommate, who is the most positive & generous person I've ever met. The sunshine she brings to my life trumps the SF fog. I'm grateful for MA, who is a soul sister; one who will go Bachata dancing with me (newfound passion), attend travel meetups with me (there are loads here), and who shares the same love for this quirky and awesome city as I do. To L, my home base, whom I admire. Being away from home together has brought us so much closer. To W, who is kind. And wonderful. And so inclusive. The list goes on.
What I am noticing is that SF has made me a much more appreciative, gracious, fun-loving person; it has taken me back to a place of happiness that I haven't felt since college, really. I almost feel guilty at how much fun I'm having.
But that's SF. It is a city that has something for everyone; a city that unifies all the individuals who are celebrated for their uniqueness. Every night I am grateful for San Francisco. I want to squeeze every ounce of every second of every weekend. Living here has helped me to live in the present and to enjoy - truly enjoy.
Fleet Week - one of the most incredible experiences I've ever had!
Giants won the WORLD SERIES! And I got to watch from Civic Center!
Sharing my birthday with new friends and plenty of old on Polk Street. I love birthdays because they bring everyone together.
One of my most favorite things to do: hang out at home in the sun, listen to Motown, and shoot the breeze with my D.
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