How to Live on 7$/hour paycheck

I am sitting, after my usual evening "Will & Grace" show (which happens to be the only sitcom that I can sit through) and pitter-pottering around the apartment, and wondering what else to do. The evenings are cooler now (thanks to Ophelia?) and since I have the mandatory late night phone call to make, I have a lot of time to kill. Well, that makes me think why is that phone call "mandatory"? Umm...that's another issue
I am reading a book called "Nickel and Dimed" . The author, a substantially educated (Ph.D.) middle-aged Caucasian woman has undertaken a mission to probe welfare reform...to see for herself how America survives on poverty-level wages. She takes on the life of a typical American, trying to make ends meet literally, working as a housemaid, a WalMart "associate", a waitress, nursing home aide, or hotel maid across Florida through Minnesota, living out of cheap decrepit lodgings. It's a very interesting read; so is her insight and her laudable courage in leaving her comfortable cocooned life for this eye-opening experience.
However she might, she'll never be able to relive the exprience of the people she's trying to empathize with. She knows that whatever happens, at the end of this true-to-life journalistic foray, she'll be back to her usual life dotted with a habitable home with an understanding and supporting family, a stockpiled fridge, warm food on the table and most of all health insurance. She has the backup support that she can leave behind this persona and home into her comfort zone... however, for the millions of Americans who are in this predicament of a lack of life support system (emotional, health as well as financial), where can they escape to?
Anyway, reading her book has been an eye-opener, though at times she has been stoic at the best in the face of the circumstances she faced (which is good because I am sick of tear-jerkers that end with "happily ever after" tag lines). I recommend this book to all who want to know more about what is happening beneath the glitzy outer sheen of the society.

Closer/Farther

Well, here I am again ... writing blogs. I thought I will be loyal to this one profession I have discovered, namely, blogging for some time now!
Speaking of loyalty, I wanted to put my thoughts down about a film I watched recently..it's called "Closer". I am sure many people have watched it by now, what with all the plethora of the accomplished cast of the movie. But all that the movie left me was a feeling of bitterness, a feeling of immature selfishness and that of temptation on the loose. Is it really impossible to love without being selfish? By "being in love", I'm encompassing a wide range of emotions, including close friendships (and not necessarily "romantic love"). I have heard many cynics saying that when people are in a relationship (or "in love"), they are actually satisfying their own egos; "being in love" is another expression of their love for their ownself, their attempt at up-holding their own self esteem through the emotions of the one they "love". Well, I am digressing (as usual :))...the cynicism of the director is all too evident throughout the movie. "Dan", the man who wanted to love was the loser..he lost the one who loved him and also the one whom he loved...the classic loser so to say. But, somehow I couldn't sympathize with him, even though I could see him trying to get back the broken pieces together. Am I too turning cynical? Maybe.. But, I realized that I still naively believe in retribution (remembering Alice/Jane's tearful pleas and innocent love making). What a contrast it was...a naive and innocent Alice/Jane against the sophisticated and independent Anna. By the end of the movie, I felt how easy it is to deceive and manipulate; however, to me, deception is akin to bartering away a piece of your soul (strong words, huh!?).
Well, it wasn't a very positive movie on love and relationship; I, however, think that many people might think this is the future of all relationships to come. Maybe, I am a terribly old-fashioned monogamist; maybe, I still believe that trust and faith are the two infallible pillars to any relationship. And maybe, I am a sucker for losers!

Passing by

So much for being "addicted" to blogging! Well, at least this time around, I remembered ny login and password :)...
Well, I was going through a friend's blog and likewise ruminating on the fact of being a single Asian female in a not-so-culturally-sensitive American city. Thinking that "nothing much" actually sums up my daily doings. I sometimes think what can constitute "SOMETHING". Work, talking to friends, reading for recreation, reading for education, relating to people, volunteering for charities??? What will give me the sense of achievement...sometimes, I wonder whether I have set a bar too high for me to get at and is that why I tend to be inherently unsatisfied. And to think that I think myself to be quite optimistic (compared to my "friends" in general).