Lists, lists, lists

Last night I got home from work at 1AM. As I was opening the front door to my apartment building, I looked up at the sky. It was a clear night, everything was so peaceful. The street was quiet except for a few cars passing by. A slight breeze passed by, making the leaves on the tree in front of my apartment tremble. I thought “This moment is precious”. In the morning when I left for work, the street has woken up. There was the honk of cars, the chattering of people walking and talking on their phones, the noise of dogs barking. The sky was a beautiful blue. I could see the sun shine on the old prewar buildings, creating this funny separation as if half of the building was a bright tone and the other half was a darker tone of the same color. The shadows of the trees on the sidewalk also created these beautiful lively patterns on the ground. I couldn’t help but smile.

Those of you who know me well know how much I love making lists. I make lists of everything everyday. Ha ha ha… So I am going to share with you some of my lists.

Things I will miss when I go home (besides friends):

§ Playing poker

§ Drinking and staying out late. At home, my curfew is 11 PM L

§ Walking along the river. Sông Sài Gòn or Hồ Con Rùa are not very romantic.

§ Window shopping in SoHo, on 5^th and Madison Avenue.

§ Watching old classic films from Netflix.

§ Talking freely on cell phones without afraid of wasting money.

§ Road tripping and wasting gas.

§ Good pizza

§ My beautiful apartment

Things I will NOT miss when I go home:

§ The late nights at work or the all-nighters in college. My parents will probably kill me if I don’t go to bed at home.

§ The cold winter

§ Spring allergy

§ Bagels

§ The high rent

§ The rumors and gossips among the Vietnamese circle in the US

My self-improvement list:

§ Be more hardworking. Nothing can replace patience and persistency.

§ Do not have high expectations for people. Just accept them for who they are (you don't have to love them). Also try to look at things from different perspectives.

§ Try not to become too cynical or jaded and lose faith in guys or love. That's why I'm still trying to read novels and watch chick flicks.

§ No matter how hard you try, you can't make everyone like you. And who cares if someone does not like you? It's their loss anyway, ha ha...

§ Do not beat yourself up for things that cannot be undone (I always beat myself up and feel bad forever about my mistakes). If you make a mistake, apologize sincerely, learn from the mistake and move on.

§ Do not fucking care what other people think, only your real friends and family matters. My problem is that I pay too much attention to what others think of me and suffer needlessly for this. People who hate me think I’m “tự cao, chảnh, ghê gớm”, people who like me think I’m “có cá tính”, the few people who really understand me know that I’m “nhát như thỏ dế, afraid of people, vulnerable and extremely insecure”.

§ Do not let others dictate how you feel. The funny thing is when I was small, I used to be a bully. But now I let others bully me all the time. Maybe that’s the price I have to pay.

§ Be consistent in everything you do. I am changing my actions and thinking all the time and that's not good.

§ Do not gossip (or spread rumours). Ever. It's fun to gossip about others but not fun when you're the one being gossiped about.

§ Do not judge anyone.

§ Control my temper. Take everything with a grain of salt.

§ Be nice. But honest. Always.

§ Do not make any decisions or take any actions (I tend to have very radical ones) when drunk/panicking/angry/hurt/sleepy/desperate/under someone's pressure.

§ Watch your mouth before you say anything. I often shoot myself in the foot for this.

§ Take risks but weigh the outcomes. I am always either too scared of risks or taking reckless risks.

§ Trust your intuition. Know when to not take bad advice. Trust people, but learn to trust the right ones.

§ Be less crazy and try not to make too many stupid jokes. Sometimes they're not funny to some people or under certain circumstances. My wild imagination and creativity has put me in trouble so many times…

§ Pray.

§ Last but not least, improve my flirting skills. You never know what you can get in life! Ha ha ha…

Disclaimer: My blog is for entertainment purposes only, please do not take it seriously or personally. Thank you!