Given the small size of San Francisco’s Japantown, they manage to throw down an annual grandiose cherry blossom festival, celebrating the coming of spring and giving the Chinese New Year festivities a run for their money. Sui and I had wanted to check out this party years prior, but this time we finally went with like-minded individuals; thanks to Jeff for organizing the trip.
(For those unwilling to read through my usual event-oriented rants, you can go straight to the pictures)
A few days ago, Sui linked me an inspiring lecture by Randy Pausch on Time Management, and I think it’s worth a watch. A little background: Randy is a professor in Computer Science (automatic + points for me) at Carnegie Mellon with only months left to live after being diagnosed with terminal cancer, and became famous after contributing to CMU’s figurative “last lecture” series with his own literal last lecture. (1)
While that speech is famous for its own right, I found his subsequent talk on time management interesting and resonant with my own experiences:
It was a once-in-a-lifetime event. The Olympic torch’s solitary North American stop was San Francisco, so carrying the flame through our city symbolized our embrace of the Olympic spirit, save that one minor detail concerning the host country of this year’s competitions. It’s sad that having the games held in China has overshadowed the actual athletic contest (thus far), and activists are using the controversy as a launching pad for their own little soapboxes.
But no, all I wanted was to see someone tackle a runner.
Our office was a scant two blocks away from the official route, so we took a stroll down to the waterfront to catch a glimpse of the action. It was, as expected, a sea of crazy: banners and signs everywhere, people shouting incomprehensible slogans, and clashes between pro-Chinese supporters (much more than I had expected, although reports say the Chinese consulate shipped them in from elsewhere) and free-Tibet-now demonstrators.
More pics can be found in the album. (I’d post them here but a recent software upgrade broke parts of the site)
Note: The following is a rant provoked by some truly douchebag neighbors I’ve been living next to for the past year. Not that any of this will change seemingly ingrained behavior, but It is pleasantly therapeutic.
Ever stop to wonder how considerate you are to the people around you - strangers and acquaintances alike - and what kind of an opinion they have of you?
I think of consideration as a kindness scale. One end is total selflessness: making others happy is the goal and others’ well-being is the priority. Totally opposite is complete selfishness: being aware and taking advantage of situations, disregarding feelings and opinions others may have.
Essentially, doormats and douchebags. The rest of us are (hopefully) somewhere in between. I’m guessing that, much like driving ability, we see our own personalities as the perfect balance between d&d.