Category: Thoughts

I’ve never been one to do any Chinese New Year shopping because I honestly don’t think that just because it’s a new year, you need new clothes. You only need new clothes when your old clothes become unwearable, there’s no other reason. If you want new clothes, that’s another story, but you never need them.

Anyway, I haven’t been shopping for new clothes in a while, so I took advantage of the CNY sales going on to do some shopping today. I managed to get myself a couple of T-shirts and shirts for reasonable prices at a warehouse sale. One thing I’ve learned about purchasing clothes is that while something might look nice hanging from the rack, it might not look good on you. I discovered this a while ago while going through photographs of myself.

I used to have a bright orange shirt that I enjoyed wearing but I don’t anymore – I think I gave it away. The problem with that shirt was, while I thought it looked good, it clashed with my skin tone. I think I’m too tan to pull off a bright orange shirt look. However, I only realized it after wearing it for a few years. Since then, I have never bought another bright orange shirt.

Today I discovered a new color that looked good on me – mint. Prior to this, I didn’t own any mint-colored shirts, so I was pleasantly surprised by how it looked in the fitting room mirror. I picked up a red T-shirt as well, because everybody needs a red shirt for Chinese New Year, and two smart shirts because why not?

While writing this post I came to a realization that I’m no good with words when describing clothes. I guess that’s why I haven’t spent a lot of time describing them in my stories. I tend to write from first person anyway, so it’s not a big deal. But I guess I could do a better job of describing what characters wear. Definitely something for me to work on.

I still need to get a pair of new sandals but that should be an easier task than picking out tops. Later this year I’ll probably also need to update my jeans selection. I might give blue jeans another go.

Also, why do people tuck in their T-shirts? Honestly, I have no idea, but I see it all the time, especially by older people. Unless the T-shirt you have on is over-sized, I see literally no reason to tuck it in. It’s like, people who tuck in their T-shirts are actively trying to make themselves look worse because as far as I know, your T-shirts don’t tuck themselves in automatically. Maybe it’s a fashion statement. Or some trend I’m missing. I probably should work on my own dressing before I comment on what other people do. Fashion is confusing. Regardless, it’s almost as bad as popping your collar. Brr.

Also, catch me wearing these someday:

Seen on Reddit

To those of you who have yet to do your CNY shopping, have fun!

One of the funniest things about the karaoke is the generic videos they create for songs that don’t have official videos. These generic videos usually consist of white people (usually attractive girls) running around beautiful scenery, doing random moves and maybe looking into the camera or staring into the distance. They never have anything to do with the songs, so it makes you wonder how such videos were conceptualized in the first place.

Who thought those videos would be a wonderful idea? I’m pretty sure a lot of people thought they were good because they caught on. If they weren’t successful, there wouldn’t be so many of them around. Somebody definitely thought – hey! that’s a wonderful idea. They’re easy to shoot, and can be applied to any music video. And so the trend was born.

After doing some digging, it turns out that these karaoke videos were commissioned by companies to circumvent copyright. Initially they were even weirder videos of random shit, but they were eventually replaced by the stock footage kind I was talking about. They were mostly low-budget and done by young, aspiring directors. Interesting read.

Anyway, I don’t know why I decided to write about karaoke music videos today. I have a story idea about karaoke music videos though. It’s about a guy who goes karaoke singing one day and sees this extremely attractive girl in a karaoke music video. He falls in love with her and goes on a mission to find out who she is, so her can track her down and ask her out.

I’ve always told people who asked that I intend to leave this world when I’m forty. I figured that at that age, I would have experienced everything I would have wanted to experience and it would be a good age to go. But when I first started saying it, I had a long way to go. It hit me recently that forty isn’t too far away. Eight more years, that’s less than a decade.

I still think it is a good age to go, but I was recently asked – what if you’re really happy and successful when you hit forty? I really don’t know. My plan at forty would be to do all the life-threatening activities like bungee jumping and skydiving and hoping one of those activities would kill me. But if you think about it, people don’t die that often doing those things. There’s probably a higher chance of my body developing cancer from smoking or my liver failing from drinking too much alcohol before that.

In case you’re wondering, I’m not planning to kill myself. I just don’t want to be old, sick and a burden to people around me. Also, I’ll save a lot of money for people who plan to take care of me. I won’t have to let them decide if they should pull the plug on me. I’ll be too young to develop the usual old age debilitating illnesses. They can also save even more money with no funeral!

Insurance. Why are people so comfortable with partaking in a business that is predicated on its customer being ill in order to reap any benefits? It’s kinda crazy if you ask me. For the longest time I didn’t bother with insurance because I thought it was a waste of money. I mean, it still is a waste of money – if you live the remainder of your life without being treated for anything major, you’ve essentially given away thousands for nothing. If you do end up using the insurance, it’ll be worth it. But it’s pretty much a gamble – like playing the lottery, instead you put your health on the line in order to win it. Anyway, I still have an insurance plan, but at least it has a savings component so I can get some of that cash back even if I don’t fall sick. I just have to be old enough to withdraw it.

Today, I went to visit my grandmother in the hospital. She’s not doing too well. I’m not sure what’s going to happen. I hate jumping to conclusions but chances are high that she’ll be parting this world soon. She’s had a long and good life, and this may be a heartless thing to say – but she’s going to be happier when she’s gone. I hope she has a speedy recovery or passes away painlessly. Love you, grandma.