Murphy's Law

Imagine this scenario.

You knew the economy is not doing too well, but you're somehow still hoping to get a pay raise. After all, you had a breakthrough with the research project you're doing and you had a glowing performance review saying you Exceed Expectations. The raise would be helpful with your wedding and trip expences so you're very hopeful about it. But you came to work that day (the first pay day of the year), saw your pay statements and realized it's still the same. Being an optimist, you consoled yourself by saying you should just be thankful, you're luckier than a lot of people, since at least, you still have a good job.

You then decided to start an experiment, but for some reason, the darn lab equipment won't cooperate with you! You tried all kinds of troubleshooting you knew, but still... no luck. You gave up and decided to do something else.

At the end of the day, you're so tired, all you wanted do was go home and relax.

However, since it's the weekend, you wanted to spend time with your fiance. The guy can't drive to your house since you have a cat and he's allergic to it, so you didn't have any option but to drive to his. As you start driving, the snow began to fall heavily. Halfway through, you got stuck in traffic, driving at 5 miles per hour! You began to feel really cranky.... in the first place, you're very tired, and now, you're starving as well! On top of that, you suddenly had a very strong urge to go the bathroom (since you stupidly drank a whole cup of tea an hour earlier)! But since you wanted to get home as soon as possible (the weather was predicted to get even worse as the day goes by), you decided not to stop by at a gas station. After two hours of hellish driving (on a normally 45 minute drive), you're finally at your fiance's house. You're ready to have dinner but he's still at work, so you just rummaged through his refrigerator looking for something... anything... to eat. The darn guy, however, haven't done his grocery shopping yet, and had nothing on hand! So you sat there, watched TV and waited. 30 minutes later, he called to say he's on his way home... but was stuck in traffic! You couldn't wait any longer, so you braved the snowstorm again, and drove to the nearest Subway (which was actually just a block away, thank God!) to buy dinner! On your way home, you saw Blockbuster and decided, you might as well rent a movie! It turned out... the movie was a waste of an hour and a half of your life!

Oh yes, that was my day yesterday!

"Whatever can go wrong will go wrong, and at the worst possible time, in the worst possible way." ~ Murphy's Law.

Well, at least, today is a new day!

Just Asking

Explain to me why oil prices are calculated based on PREDICTIONS of how the market's gonna be or how the economy will fare that day, and not on how much the oil retailers bought the oil barrels, and the actual demand of oil.

Explain to me why CEOs earn millions of dollars, while factory workers earn a measly $7.00 per hour (at least in Ohio), why there's a minimum wage but not a maximum salary to keep people from getting greedy, and why in most countries, the rich keeps getting richer while the poor keeps getting poorer.

Explain to me why racism still exists in this modern world, why people still generalize people when in fact, skin color has nothing to do with someone's personality, and why people still don't believe that all of mankind were created equal.

Explain to me why US goes through a roller coaster of being a country in depression, then a world superpower, then back again to depression (well hopefully, just a recession).

Anyway, I'm just asking (",)

The Future Doesn't Shine as Brightly

When you have a significant other who passionately laments the deteriorating state of the economy and rants about the status of the government, you wouldn’t wanna nod in agreement (even though you badly wanted to) and add fuel to his fire. You’d end up creating a full-blown inferno. Instead, you try to act as a devil’s advocate (or angel of optimism?) and calm him down.

There are times however, when you feel an absolute need to vent.

So you do what I do.

Vent in a blog.

When I came to the United States to pursue graduate studies five years ago, I only had high hopes and unbridled optimism about my future. I love my country and was reluctant to leave it, but I had to pursue the path to a better life.... for myself, my current family and my future one. Coming to US feels like the answer to my dreams. It’s the land of opportunities. It’s where the so-called 'American dreams' come true. I was so sure a bright future lays ahead of me.

Fast forward to the present.

I got my graduate degree and landed a great job with a good pay. Now, I have a decent apartment, own a nice car, travel here and there, send money to my family, and shop anytime I want.

Lately though, watching the news about the collapsing economy and seeing people around me get laid off from their jobs, I can’t help but worry. I ask myself, how long will this last? Will I keep my job? Will I be able to lead the current lifestyle that I lead?

I’m usually optimistic about life (as I’ve always been blessed in many ways), but the things happening now are making me apprehensive.

How did US get into this sorry state of financial crisis?

I blame people with wealth and in power. Don’t get me wrong. I’ve come to love this country and consider it my home away from home. The love of my life is an American and our future kids will be one. And I do attribute in part, my better life to this country. But I fear that because of greediness of some people in power, misallocation of funds, misuse of resources, US is going down in depression.

And it’s extremely daunting.

Nowadays, I feel that my future doesn’t shine as brightly as it used to. I feel fear, not only for myself but for the kids that I would bring into this world. I feel fear to the point that I might reorganize my entire life and have kids a little later than I originally planned (or hoped). I’ve been though hardships in life before, and it’s definitely not something I would want my kids to go through.

The optimist in me still hopes though. Hope that this crisis won’t last long and US will get back on its feet soon. Hope that even though we’re at it right now, I’ll keep my job, BA will keep his, and we'll save enough money for our life ahead. Hope that our would-be-kids will have a bright and recession-free future in this country.

One can only hope. Here's hoping that... this, too, shall pass.