“As I set out for Ithaca, I had a long road indeed, full of adventure, and full of discovery…” — There are various translations, and each one provides a slightly different feel, but the meaning nevertheless remains the same. The road to Ithaca was indeed how it is described above.

Today, as I read through each line and verse, I understand it on a different level. It rings as though it were a new creed to live by. Perhaps it should be.

No matter what walk of life you are in, it can have a unique meaning for you too. I hope that you enjoy.

Ithaca
by Constantine P. Cavafy (1911)

Yesterday, the bottom shelf (and the largest) of my bookcase contained an entire row of books and materials for the GMAT. This was even after I had donated three books to a friend. I had books from two different test preparation companies, an extra set of Official Guide books, general admissions books, and finally — the six notebooks that had documented my problem sets, practice exams, tutoring sessions, and everything that you could imagine related to the exam. These notebooks were of great importance in my life for the last two years. This leads me to have some sort of emotional attachment to them, as one were to view old pen pal letters. Well, it may not have that same type of sentiment…Nevertheless, countless hours were put into these notebooks as I toiled through problem after problem, especially through some of the toughest times of my life. Each notebook itself was not the vehicle to get me through 2008-2009, but I still clearly remember it as my outlet and motivation to move forward with things.

Now that I am deciding which belongings go in the Keep or Toss piles, I don’t exactly have the heart to put my notebooks in the Toss pile. Before my exam (and even immediately after), I casually mentioned that I would dispose/burn/recycle/sell anything related to it, but now that I am at that decision point, I choke a little.

From a practicality standpoint, I will most likely never reference them again. Then again, I will never reference my old school work (K-12 and college), yet I still have those at home in California.

What would you do?

With all that said and done, welcome to my new dwelling at selinaang.com using WordPress. It’s always nice to have my own domain name

On a recent client project, I got into a discussion with client resources about recycling, and they seemed to have a mission to set me straight. They sent me a link to a Penn & Teller video clip that basically spells out to the audience that recycling is evil. The URL sat in my inbox for quite a few days, partially because I was quite busy with work, and also because I didn’t want it to ruin my week. Seriously. I grew up in an environment that embraced the theory of recycling and I still walk-the-talk and live that theory to set an example. Because I knew the nature of this video (plus other articles that supported the anti-recycling concept), I pocketed the link for the weekend to avoid making my work week purely miserable. It would have potentially had the effect of telling a child that Santa Claus did not exist, or figuring out that the Tooth Fairy was a mother sneaking quarters under a pillow. My twenty-plus years of existence would have almost been a fallacy if I was truly doing something horrible for the earth. Maybe I am a creature of habit.

So I ended up watching the video clip. I wasn’t as disappointed as I thought I would be. The video hosts, Penn & Teller, were honestly a variation of Michael Moore multiplied by two. Maybe ten. I can see how people can get sucked into their arguments if further analysis wasn’t part of the equation. Their claim to fame is that recycling is bad because the cost-benefit analysis of recycling screams negative. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) supposedly launched a marketing movement in 1989 that skewed everyone’s beliefs. Turns out that recycling is costly. Well, obviously, right? There is an entire manufacturing process involved, which comes from tax dollars and waste management utility costs. Yes, it is more expensive, but how do you weigh that with what’s better for the environment? This article will even further counter my own belief.

There are choices. We all make them. I value my own health. When I shop for salmon, I prefer wild caught salmon because I don’t want to intake mercury and other chemicals that farmed salmon contains. So for my own health, I may choose to have a food product that emitted a higher carbon footprint to reach my dinner plate. At the same time, I truly appreciate locally grown products. What does one do?

I understand that going green and battling climate change goes beyond recycling; it extends to the way people consume and live, whether at home or in the office (or the way we get to an office). It’s how manufacturing processes are handled. It’s product packaging. Energy consumption (yes, turn off those lights when not in use). It can also be building construction.

On a side note, the previous client facility I worked at did not have a recycling program. I was upset at first, but I got over it because I simply brought my goods home to recycle. I was able to handle the luggage back and forth. What irritated me even more was that they left everything plugged in, especially the toasters. Sadly I unplugged them whenever they were in sight (obsessive-compulsive nature in action? Yes). If every person in the U.S unplugged their toasters or any other appliance when not in use, there could be a huge savings in energy consumption. Yet we might not be at that level because we are still, and may always be, creatures of habit.

I really want to be a person who helps change this — to spark behavioral change, and to sustain it.

While I have been thinking about my age lately, sometimes humorous happenings occur that make me wonder if they are coincidental signs or what not. You know, one of those moments where you think, “Did that just really happen?” I had one yesterday morning.

Now, many of you know that my favorite color is white (and the other being green!). I love white because it reminds me of snow, mountains, vanilla, simplicity, and elegance. Despite my fondness of the color white, there is a white that we all dread…

I was brushing my hair in front of the bathroom mirror as I was half awake, feeling like I’d rather be back in bed. After all, it was 6:30 AM. And then I saw it (after a double take). Practically out of left field, lo and behold! A glimmer of white caught my eye. It can’t be! But yes, it was. It was a single strand of white hair precisely in the middle of my hair part. I have never experienced any white hair in my life, and here I was, thinking about my new age for the last few weeks and then getting my first white hair, right then and there. I knew friends that have had random white hairs since middle school, so that made me feel a little better. This is obviously not a life catastrophe, but it just happened to be one of those moments that coincided with some recent thoughts about life.

Well, at least I can say that I always have my identification checked, my university card still works for the movies/museums, and I have been asked if college was in my near future plans

Last week I watched a 9/11 documentary with real footage taken by a guy shadowing one of the major firehouses near the World Trade Center. The cameraman, along with the entire fire squad, were all in the main lobby as the first tower collapsed. It was incredible and emotional.

This week I couldn’t take my eyes off the media coverage of Virginia Tech. Not only was it terribly disturbing and tragic, I just wanted to read and watch whatever/whenever I could. I don’t know why, but I felt like it was the only thing I could do to understand what it was like to be affected.

After a long and pressing week at the office, I just took my weekly dose of escape from the world to yet experience more emotion and drama with my favorite TV series, with this week’s episode being “Time after Time.” Even though it is fictional, there were certainly a lot of real life type of issues that struck me as powerful and heartfelt.

Regardless of culture, I think there are two things (not the only two, but just ones that I thought of at the moment) that bring people together: food and life challenges. Food is a way of life because it is a necessity for survival, it serves as a means of celebration, and it is historical, carrying thousands of years of tradition along with it. With life challenges, humans thrive on social interaction with one another because it provides support and an outlet. Whenever there are difficult times, families and friends gather, thus strengthening the relationships with one another.