TIL:

The ADA (American Dental Association) notes that there are gum products that can be touted as cavity preventing because:

"chewing...20 minutes after eating, stimulates saliva flow, which helps to prevent cavities by reducing plaque acids and strengthening teeth."

Whoa sleep-deprivation-induced-Epiphany

Prepositions.

An English staple. It's definitely a cog in the machine that is English grammar that I appreciate. Some things, I do not: British versus American spelling. I, for one, do not need the extra "u" in color. I suppose that's another distinguishing factor of my nationality asides from the obvious: citizenship, accent, nomenclature of common items(LINK).

Back to prepositions.

In grade school, my wholesome education used a generic tree to exemplify the wonders of the preposition. Now, as a free-thinking adult (or something like that), I've stumbled upon an epiphany.

Most prepositions can be applied to anything/anyone in relation to another anything/anyone.

Like people! Until you arrive at certain specific details. Such as biological mechanics...

Some applicable, common prepositions:

Around
Behind
Above
Beneath
Inside
Concerning
Following
Near
Through
Toward
With
Outside

Gender exceptions:

Inside...

Hello 2011. What can you do for me?

As it does year after year, the eve and the 1st have come and gone. New Year's Eve, one of the only nights in the year when drunken debauchery is expected; a night full of expectations; a night riddled with reflections and projections. Then of course, New Year's Day: that second-born twin that gets its spotlights stolen. The lesser remembered day of the occasion; filled with inquiries of new hopes and resolutions.

Resolution: that thing people try to do to make themselves "start the New Year off right"; also that thing that rarely comes to fruition.

I've given up putting stock in new year resolutions. First of all, they're rarely formulated as goals: an actual goal containing metrics, milestones, reward system, consequences etc.

For some reason, the oncoming and arrival of 2011 has been anticlimactic. Quite frankly, 2011 and I have yet to become friends; I'm giving it the cold shoulder. I wouldn't call it separation anxiety from 2010; it was just okay. There isn't much to look forward to in 2011.

If anything, a new year resolution lends itself to a look-forward into the year; allows one to project a purpose. However, I do have a hard time understanding why there is so much significance to a change in number. Unless you deal in the financial industry, what big difference does it make? It's hardly a tabula rasa start to anything.

A present

It's Christmas, and on the note of a somewhat momentous time of year, I feel something akin to a tug of obligation to post an arbitrary ramble.

To be honest, I've been a scrooge for most of the day. Let's just say the "holidays" paint a different picture for me than for a good many. So I've allowed the majority of the day to slip away and fade into the anonymity that is most of the other 360ish days in a year. However, here is my redeeming moment!

Tonight, I've stumbled upon a file of coveted quotes from one of my all-time favorite reads. If you ever find yourself in conversation with me over books, this title will be revealed to you: Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts. Pick up a copy, and thank me later.

Roberts and his almost divine way with words will charm you. Not with his perfect instinct for the rhythm and flow of his writing; not with his ability to completely entrance and enfold you into this story-telling; but with the pure wisdom he writes with. This is a wisdom gained through life. A life full and filled with pain, loss, love, you name it...this man has lived. He's lived probably two more lifetimes than I'll ever have the chance to experience.

If you want to feel and be floored by the moments of clarity stumbled upon through literature, read this book. **PS - try to purchase the more colorful cover (click on the link); it's worth it

The Update

To my alienated readers and the stumblers-on: Happy Thanksgiving from the coasts of...America, to put it easily. A post meant for a simple catch-up from my last post, a mere eight months ago, is about to careen into a ditch of a jaded poli-ticked mind. Perhaps for a later "update."

Veering back to today's chosen path:

A quick reflection of the past eight months brings to realization of a rather tedious list of happenings to detail and share. Perhaps an outline format? No, I'd be depriving what little compositional motivation I'm currently reveling in; I wouldn't want to deprive myself of that. So to first explain this lack of motivation, one must understand the avenue which now commands my words and thoughts; work, perhaps the one thing that legitimizes "employment" (AKA adulthood). The culprit: Emails mostly. A demanding, fervent need from a virtual box, whether accessible or not, every now and then tickles me; I must diligently tend to and monitor, least it wither and implode on my watch. My corporate jugular beats strong, and at times it's dangerously simple and easy to immerse one's self into the deigned noble cause of whichever corporate entity one happens to resign oneself to. In all fairness, I continue to enjoy my work-laden self. The challenges keep me...well, challenged, and the landscape of my weeks constantly change. The travel helps, but no need to expound on this note: trust me, I go nowhere exciting.

On a more personal note: weddings, marriage, love and all things eternal and beautiful was a rather gargantuan theme these past few months. My involvement: purely as an attendant and observer; however, I did catch at least one bouquet. So...updates later? An exuberant shout-out to the lovely Katheryn Hawkins Salazar, Jerri Ann Jacob Yeh and to my sister Diana Shen Meek. In an attempt to not submit to my instinct for contemptuous, snide remarks in the face of all things love-related and eternal: I declare my well wishes, as sincere and genuine as any wish I've wished.

Without mention, everyone should know that a fall without note of NCAA football is a fall with a gap that needs filling; however, I shall bypass this notice and leave it fairly unspoken of: in hopes of a more redeeming season next year.

So I'm losing whatever steam I had at the start of this post. The major bullet points have been noted. The undertow to any productive year is (and was) ever present in 2010. Friends gained. Life lessons tripped over and internalized. Old friendships strengthened and cherished.

In spirit of the holiday, albeit almost an entirely commercial one, it is important to give thanks. A convenient yet shameful thing to do: to take things for granted in life. Especially things one allows one to feel entitlement towards. There are very few things in life that a single being has the right to; these nature dictates and after that, society oft decrees what counts and what does not. Speaking on a personal level, we (the people) have an ugly habit of feeling entitled to the simplest of things; things that make quite a difference when gone and lost. Every now and then (not just on Thanksgiving), consider what's more worth your time: an hour given to commercials and a TV program or time given to catching up with a friend. I know that I am a forever evolving form shaped by my experiences and memories, the life lessons learned from those experiences and the people who inspire me to laugh, cry, hate, ponder, try new things, be myself.

So thank you people.

Where there's demand; there shall be supply!

Not quite a revolutionary call, but it certainly gives this post a running start:

Last summer guided by culinary guru, Jessica Lin, I became entranced by the French macaron. As French as any other French pastry, the macaron remains elusive to the American palate; with its precise measurements and instructions, the macaron's recipe proves to be more of a challenge than most bakeries are willing to handle. Elaborate and excessive in its all-too-complex directions, the process sets itself within thin margin of an art process. Magnificent in it's construction and thrilling in its versatility to embody flavors and colors, the macaron is by no question, French.

Kansas City is not France. Texas at least has a Paris. Missouri is sorely lacking of most thing Parisian. Not to be dampened by the lack of spirit, in true revolution fashion, I joined forces with a seasoned baker and fellow cohort, Sarah Connole. Last Saturday, a true enlightenment blossomed in a humble Missourian kitchen: with a harrowing leap and ferocious battle cry, a near-perfect macaron was born out of a noble quest.


O yes, thanks to Food and Wine mag, issue Dec 09'. Without the published recipe, we would've had to do conversions...not cool.

A Translation

I've lost the original train of thought, but I suppose the train is rarely the interesting part. The meaty part.

This may be life changing. I haven't experimented with it yet, so there's no telling. However, there's that feeling; the one that tells you, "you're on to something."

I'm returning to economics. I posted a somewhat related post two months ago. That one was theoretic, of no consequence. This one, I'll let you guys decide.

||Concept 1:

Money: a bill, a coin, is a form of value. A dollar bill, a twenty is but a piece of paper. A coin is but...a coin. Remember Pogs? The game revolved around trades. A game of barter, a game of economics and values, it taught you what individuals valued, and what that meant for your game, your strategy. Slammers are worth more than your average pog. Some people took liking to particular styles, colors, pictures, themes.

Specific items hold varying values for each individual, because each individual's sense of value and worth is not inherent; it's learned, and everyone's experiences are different.

||Concept 2:

This part may be per opinion, so I think: for the average human being, the world's most limited resource is time. And almost everyone has a concept of how much their time is worth. You weigh it by deciding what to do with your time; you weigh it by deciding how much you're to be paid for a profession: a set of skill(s) and time utilized for the operations of another entity's gain.

||The Why Question:

If the ultimate limited resource is time, and as a consumer, currency is the translation of that resource for purchases in return for a good or service, then why is time not the primary metric for value instead of money? A dollar amount is but the translation of what you're actually expending for your purchase.

||The What Question:

Is time a better method of measuring how much something costs than money? Currency is but a translation of the time spent to earn the money. If the time spent to earn money was the primary metric used to understand what a good or service is actually costing a person, would people have a better understanding of how much something is costing him/her?

||The Example:

The consumer, Average Suzy, is paid $10/hour. She works 40 hours a week (for this example, we'll simplify and ignore taxes). Average Suzy pays $100 a month for her cable plan. She can't live without her programming. With her wage, Average Suzy must work 10 hours a month in order to pay for her cable. Of course, since the utilization of cable tv can be measured in time spent watching television; it's easy to say that Average Suzy gets her money's worth if she watches more than 10 hours of programming each month. That doesn't sound too hard, but what if it was something else like a pair of jeans? How do you compare the worth of an article of clothing to the worth of the time you spent working for that equivalent dollar amount?

Let's do some more math: For this example, there are 4 weeks in a month. In a month, Average Suzy works 160 hours total. Out of all that, 10 hours are spent purely for the reason of being able to watch cable television. In other words, 6.25% of her work month is utilized to pay for this good. This number may seem inconsequential, and it'll come down to your sense of value of 10 hours as compared to the value of a month's worth of televised programming.

Consider how much time it would cost to buy a car. When measured using time instead of currency, would the valued difference between a decent car and a luxury car be worth it? If the difference is priced at $5,000.00. That's 500 hours of work for Average Suzy. That difference calculates to a little over three months time at work for Average Suzy. By the way, that's not the cost of the car, that's just the hypothetical price difference between two cars. Of course, people usually take years to pay off a car, but time is time. It's the world's scarcest, most limited resource. You don't get any more of it than you do. The worst part is that no one knows how much of it you get.
_____________________________________________________________________________________

So does it make a difference? This translation.

If anyone can answer my questions, please do.