Category: Slice of Life

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Slice of Life

Lately.

Been playing around with photography a bit as well.
Been playing around with photography a bit as well.

I’ve been taking things a bit easily lately. NaNoWriMo has been going along fine, although I have hit a wall with my writing and finding the story deteriorating badly. Well, maybe I will get to 50,000 words, or maybe I will just scrap this and go back to revising Novel 1.

Been catching up on some online workshops I had fallen behind on due to my focus on the GMAT the past couple of months; also have been working on reorganizing this blog. Over the years, I’d used the blog categories as tags, more or less, so I have been working on streamlining the categories so they’re more relevant. I just had a chuckle reading through my Hot Dog Days archives: ah, those days of 2008 working at that hot dog stand.

Still unsure what to do next with plans for the next couple of years: school? Huh? My entrepreneurial spirit has been biting at me to get going with finally setting up Hashtag Hustler and get things rolling.

Looking forward to the holidays for some great food and wonderful family time. I miss my family.

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Slice of Life

One quarter into the year

Downtown Denver on a sunny January day.
Downtown Denver on a sunny January day.

Well, that blog schedule I listed in my previous post hasn’t surfaced. Oops.

I find that this website here has had a severe identity disorder. I first started helenekwong.com back in 2009 to get my writer platform running; since then, this blog has evolved and gone all over the place. I am not sure if I am ok with that.

However, I suppose this describes the changing seasons of my own interests. My brand, Helene Kwong, has seen a lot of change in interest, passion, etc. since 2009. Some passions dialed down a few notches while others flared up; some disappeared and some exploded into reality.

Anyway: I will be getting back on a regular posting schedule next week. I find my posts about highlighting local businesses (or small businesses in general) are the most helpful for those businesses. My posts on the job hunting process were a hit last year: perhaps I will evolve this topic once again.

We shall see.

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Slice of Life

Ideas & Execution: Great Minds.

Maybe your idea is not ready to be launched today. But perhaps in a few weeks/months?
Maybe your idea is not ready to be launched today. But perhaps in a few weeks/months?

I’ve had quite an eventful week … as usual.

Today I spoke with two dear friends/colleagues and I found myself so intrigued by how our brains are so similarly wired: ideas. IDEAS. IDEAS! Ideas were flowing like honey during our conversations and….I kept thinking, “Come on! We gotta EXECUTE on these ideas!”

And that seems to be the hardest part to move towards–execution. Analysis Paralysis sets in as we simmer on our ideas and just..don’t…make…a move.

It happens to the best of us, the worst of us. Throughout the morning and afternoon, I pondered upon this thought and wondered why, with such brilliant minds around me, we oftentimes get stuck in the idea phase.

The three of us, and I’m sure many others, are like this: we have a ton of ideas. We want to get them all going but…but! Which one to start with? Which one sounds most feasible?

I had trouble with getting TAOpivot conceptualized. I worked hard with my friend Young B. Kim, aka Ideavist, for a few months before we finally popped the rock out and got TAOpivot. It was an amazing moment…so a-ha!

But, as you can see from the previous paragraph, it took a few months for that idea to get shined down into something concrete. Dealing with all that mush in my mind was tough–I thought we’d never hatch something out of our discussions.

But, we did. And I’m confident that my friends Ian Harwick and Brandon Waloff will also get their ideas up and running soon enough. We all have to hit a wall sometime; but, we’ll eventually break through that wall and feel that a-ha moment.

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race Slice of Life Thought of the Moment

Scars in Humanity.

Kitty looking out the window.

This weekend has been tough to get through, all because of two incidents that occurred yesterday:

  • A young man outside of an eatery came up to me and asked me, “Will you please buy me a drink? If you do, ‘me love you long time.'”. I was right by campus and just strolling to Starbucks when this happened. The comment brought up childhood trauma over when other kids would make fun of me for being Asian. I cannot believe that people still say stuff like this in the present day. I was shaken up by the comment and felt that, no matter how hard I try, that injustice will still follow me throughout my life. How can you judge me by the way I look? I thought we’d all worked past this already. I am American. I can only be what I can be.
  • Last night, I was making soap in my kitchen when I received a knock from the apartment advisor. He showed me a note that somebody in the building had left him, saying that my cat was a bother. So he asked me to “Please get rid of it by next week”. I closed the door and the tears of anger came forth: what has Kitty Softpaws done to deserve this? What have I done to deserve this? Kitty is solely an indoor cat and is a mere 4-5lbs. She doesn’t make THAT much noise. And…well, really, who could have done this to me? I know nobody in the apartment building aside from a few first-floor residents. Is this a malicious act against me?

These thoughts continue to swirl through my mind today as I wonder what wrong I have done to have this happen to me. It all wouldn’t bother me, but it’s a week before finals and I’m already stressed out from schoolwork/company planning. Why now?

I question humanity when things like this happen. I know there will always be evil in the world, there will always be low points in life; yet, why this? Why now? The racist comment was enough to set me off yesterday, but then the notice that I’d have to “rid” of Kitty.

Do people believe that pets are easy to just “get rid of”? Throw them away, like they’re a worn-out clothing item? Do people believe that denying happiness to an individual is acceptable? I tell you, I have Kitty Softpaws to keep me company and keep me sane. Last quarter was rough for me to stay all alone in the apartment: a lot of emotional roller coasters and overanalyzed thoughts. Don’t I deserve this spot of happiness in my life?

I know we can never see things from “the other side”, as hard as we may. But I feel that we can all benefit if we just take a step back from the situations we face and see things more objectively. Insulting someone on their ethnicity is not right: would you want someone to call you a racist name in return? Why do you think it’s ok to hurt another individual because they appear “different” from you?

Too much on my mind. I know this too shall pass, but right now it’s hard to move forward without a trace of anger.

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Denver Life Slice of Life

Re-surfacing Update

My parents & I (and our shadows)

Man oh man.

If you had a chance to tune into my podcast from this past Wednesday, you’ll already get a hint of what all I’ve been through in the past two weeks or so.

Mainly, this past week has been all unpacking/cleaning/organizing/etc. My parents and sister left Denver on Tuesday and….I’ve basically been doing the same thing since (cleaning & organizing), with the occasional walk around the vicinity to check out shops/run errands.

Around two weeks ago, when I arrived in Montana, I received two review offers from Twitter friends: one to review a new book and the other, to review a new album.

I do truly appreciate offers like these, because I do enjoy giving my honest (yet kind) opinion about music, books, etc. (Hint hint: if you want me to review something you’ve made/written/etc., let me know!)

So far, am enjoying the tranquility of having the apartment to myself. I enjoy the plentiful sunshine, the clean air, and lots of trees! Not just trees that are artificially put in or plants that are stranded in a concrete island (like in some other cities I’ve been to). Granted, where I’m residing in Denver, it is more suburban than the downtown area. So I can’t say too much about the more hustle-bustle parts of the city yet!

Will try to stay on top of updates throughout this first quarter; see how the pace of all the schoolwork works with me!