Happy 2011!

Happy New Year to one and all!

I realize I have not blogged in a good while, but I was not feeling it these past few months. Between Facebook, Twitter, and every other social media site, it feels like we are both connected and unconnected, all at the same time. I recently met up with a friend that I had not seen in over a year, but it seemed impossible because I read his Facebook updates so regularly. I knew where he’d been, what he’d done, and who he had done it with whereas he did not know the same information about me because I’m not a frequent poster or check-in-er on FB. There’s such a sharing of information between texts, Facebook posts, check-ins, and tweets, but at the same time most of it seems so mindless. Nothing personal, but do I need to know that you’re hungry? Do I need to know that you’re watching Glee? The advantages definitely outweigh the disadvantages, don’t get me wrong. It is great for family members to be able to see family photos and videos in almost real time provided one has an Internet connection. But the chatter can become overwhelming and I was feeling like I did not need to add my silly rants to the cacophony of ‘Dave likes Ice Cream!’ or ‘Susan is feeling SAD :(’.

Things are going really well for me. I finished off my first two classes at East Bay last semester with 2 A’s. I am taking three classes this semester and they started this week. Pretty decent, two Latin American studies courses and then a course in hotel and restaurant marketing for my minor. I feel like the marketing course is going to be very educational and very beneficial to me. Work has been good; we had a nice holiday season and it looks like we will be starting over with a new round of trainees in the next few months. The two that we had been training did not cut the mustard; one is gone and the other will likely follow in her path very soon. I have to admit, it has been a strange transition in becoming a supervisor these last few months. I do not take myself very seriously, but I am almost forty years old. One of my co-workers told me that she thought I was very intimidating to some of the new people. I had to laugh, I do not see myself that way at all. But I do tend to be a perfectionist and I like things to be done a certain way. So I am working on letting go a bit and not being so OCD. This may be a harder challenge than I thought though. Wish me luck.

I am planning a trip to Southeast Asia in March, looking forward to getting back to some of my old haunts. I hope to visit Hong Kong, Bangkok, and Saigon this trip. I have not been to Vietnam before, so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I realize that one could easily spend a week or two in Vietnam and that Hanoi is supposed to be a lot more historic than Ho Chi Minh City, but I figured I would get my feet wet this trip and then revisit in another few years. I have not been to Bangkok in six or seven years which is stunning to me. I used to try and go once a year to shop and relax, so I’m really looking forward to seeing it again.

Hope you are all doing well and had a wonderful holiday season.

Cuidate.