The "Right" to Snootiness

I got a phone call today from a very rich lady.

I sent out a few emails last night to those who were looking for an English tutor. So, this lady called me to have me tutor her 8-year old daughter. She already had an English tutor who helped her with reading and writing so she just wanted me to have conversation with her. Then, she told me she lived in Chungdam-dong which is where all the rich people in Korea live. She asked me where I lived and I told her I lived in Yeonhui-dong, which was kind of far. She then told me that tutors who live far away don't continue with their tutoring for very long. I asked her how long it takes to get there and she didn't answer. That's when I realized she hung up on me. It totally took me off-guard so I thought maybe we got disconnected so I called her back. She didn't pick up so I knew she hung up. I was flabbergasted that she didn't even have the courtesy to say I wasn't what she was looking for and hang up in mutual consent. Then, I thought about what made her think that her behavior was justifiable. Because she was rich? Probably.

People have different ways of measuring their superiority depending on what they are good at or what they have. Like tall people think they are better than short people, smart people think they are better than dumb people, hot-looking people think they are better than ugly-looking people, and rich people think they are better than poor people. I believe many people think they are superior from others in at least one way--even if they are poor, ugly and stupid. They could get on a high horse and criticize people for screwing up the world or preach about morality on the pedestal of self-righteousness. (If nothing else, they could be the king of righteousness.)

I think our need to feel superior comes from a hole inside us that wants to suck in all that seems to validate, love and makes us feel special whether that is money, looks, smarts, talent or power. And I think the less we feel whole on our own, the more we seek to fill that void with a sense of superiority. (Or fill it through other means like drugs, alcohol, food, sex, and violence.)

It's really fascinating how people think and function.

How to be happy--proven by science!

This New York Times bestseller, written by Jill Bolte Taylor, offers a fascinating insight into how the human brain functions and how that affects our lives and sense of reality. Taylor was a Harvard-trained brain scientist who suffered a massive stroke that damaged a part of the left hemisphere of her brain which impaired her speech, linguistic comprehension, ability to do math, and decipher physical boundaries and lines. Because her left side of the brain was damaged, her right side of the brain "felt" free to dominate her consciousness which left her feeling deeply at peace, connected to the universe while the constant brain-chatter and the looping of past stories stopped completely. It took her 8 years to recover completely and she shares her insight about life and the human body as she chose to selectively recover only those neuro-circuits that were helpful to living a good, happy life. She chose to leave the circuits that contained emotional baggage of the past, fear, and pain and how we too can have control over which neuro-circuits to run, thereby change our perception of reality and eventually change the quality of our lives and become happy.

I highly, highly recommend this book.

Here is Jill Bolte Taylor giving a talk on TED.

The Funk of Life

Yes, I am still alive and kicking. And yes I do feel a little bit guilty for neglecting my blog. I feel I have to explain myself for being "cyberally" absent except that I don't really have a good excuse. But the important thing is that I am back.

I have transferred to a different program at work. I no longer work for a talk program "Heart to Heart." Now I am part of a team that is preparing for a Korean version of the "The Apprentice" except that it will also be in English and my job is to translate the script and questions from Korean to English. (And also to interview the contestants and test their English skills before they are selected to appear on the show.) Anyway, since we are still in the preparatory stage, I only check into work twice a week to attend meetings. So, I have had a lot of time to lounge around and rest (which I really needed) but this "vacation" time has really thrown my sleeping schedule up for a loop. I have been going to bed at 4,5 am and getting up at noon or 1 pm. This must change soon.

I am also looking for a part-time job since I won't have to go into work everyday for this new job. But the thing about staying home and being lazy is that it's very hard to get out of this funk. So mostly I have just been *thinking* about getting a part-time job and "practicing" the law of attraction for money to just come and sit a while in my bank account. I hope that some of the readers of this blog are experiencing the same thing so I don't feel completely guilty alone.

I am realizing now that I probably should have blogged about my funk earlier because there is some connection between putting stuff on the Internet and a sense of accountability. Even as I am writing this, I already feel social responsibility as a cyber citizen to get my life together, put on some lipstick and go conquer the world.

But before I do that, I should go look for a part-time job.

My New Year's Resolution

I have been thinking about this for a long time now. Ever since I moved to Korea, I feel I have gotten much more critical, irritable and impatient. I think it's because of my working environment and the people I closely work with. A year ago, pre-Korea, I was a much nicer person and it is my goal to become a better human being for the year 2011. I have two main goals and other follow-up goals to help accomplish my main goals: I want to be more selfless and humble. In order to accomplish my goals, I will read the New Testament with a supplemental guide (An Introduction to the New Testament by Raymond E. Brown, recommended by a friend and has excellent reviews), go to the temple more often, and pray more fervently for help (not for humility because if I do, the heavens will open and pour down tragedies upon me). Another friend also recommended me a book called Fear No Evil: The Pathwork Method of Transforming the Lower Self by Eva Pierrakos and Donovan Thesenga and that' also on my reading list.

Speaking of reading, I am back to reading a book a week since my school applications are in and I have my life back. :) I am going to make this year the best year of my life yet!

Happy New Year!

For new year's eve, my friends and I went to dinner,and then to a bakery (Paris Baguette) where my friends bought me a cake and sang happy birthday and came back to my apartment and watched "The Sound of Music" wrapped in our cozy blankets. A few minutes into the movie, we started talking about our respective managerial abilities in the romance department. I stayed mostly silent about my "managerial abilities" but listened and commented on their love problems and occasionally stared at the paused-face of Maria after she met the von Trapp family children. It was a low-key evening with a few good friends which is my kind of new year's eve. (No crowds, no traffic)

Then the morning of the new year, I had to go down to my aunt and uncle's house to pay respect. My cousins from the States were also in Korea so we all gathered, ate, and hung out for the first time in a long time. It was a good start to a new year. :)