Wish List

It's the time of the year again. It's the only time of the year that requires a wish list. Christmas is a time of giving and sharing. People give for many reasons and sometimes receiving isn't always as pleasant as giving. I spend countless hours trying to figure out what everyone needs and wants. I'm sure they do the same. And how often do we get gifts that are of no use to us. I feel that if we are to give a gift to someone it should be of great significance to them. That is the reason why a sincere wish list is of great importance before Christmas.

Wish lists are getting shorter but more complicated to figure out. Some wish lists have limits on the amount and other wish list do not have a limit on the amount of the gift. I know I look forward to the wish list every year because it saves a lot of my time figuring out what everyone wants. Having a wish list means it will make shopping easier but it doesn't guarantee that the process to making the decision of purchasing the gift will be easier. This year we decided that we will not set a limit on the gift and instead of buying gifts for each and everyone in the family, we would participate in Secret Santa.

Many of the time we focus so much on what to buy and what to get the other person that we forget about the little things that matter, the fact that the family gets to spend time together and or the smiles and joy the holiday brings. The holiday is more meaningful when people are honest about what they what. Sometimes it's the little things that matters a great deal to the other person. For example my girlfriend's father wants help with fixing the broken patio door and her mother would like help cleaning the chicken house and the nest pads. I'm sure getting the pati0 door fixed would matter more to him then getting a flat screen TV. It can be the most expensive item on the list or the least expensive, it all comes down to the process behind the gift. It's not the gift that counts, it's the thought that counts. When people can be honest about what they want then every day is a gift. Such as receiving this wish list is gift because it brought a smile to my life.

Thoughts: Goals and Dreams

Dreams and goals? No matter what age we are, or at what stage of life we find ourselves in, we all need goals and we all have dreams to chase after! We all have dreams and goals because we need direction, we need control, we need motivation and energy, and we need decisions in order to become a better person and to be able to give back and contributed to the community.

Goals provide us with directions because we know what we are aiming for, we take control of our life and not controlled by the situations, but by what we want to achieve. Goals also motivates us because we know that the end results will be rewarding therefore we gain more energy that's why we tried so hard to achieve what we are shooting for. The most important thing about having goals and dreams to chase after is becoming a better decision maker. We spend so much time thinking about what we want but we can't decided what we really want with our life because there are too many things we want. To finally take that step and choose what's important to us and approached it is the first and most important thing we can do in setting up goals with a plan behind it to reached that goal.

Some people have big goals and dreams and some have small goals and dreams. Some wants to be doctors, lawyers, president, etc. and some just want to work a simple job all their life. We constantly chase our dreams and work so hard to reached our goals everyday. We sometime we forget to live life and enjoyed life. What we all need to remember is that no matter what our goals and dreams are, we should not forget about the little things. Live life and enjoyed life because when time is gone, it is really gone.

Tai

Sheboygan Hmong New Years

The last couple months, I've been really excited about going to the Sheboygan Hmong New Year held at the Sheboygan North High School on the 26th to the 28th of November. I've never felt this way for a long time. Back in my younger years, I can't wait to go to the Hmong New Year every single year. Hmong new year is a time for every to gather and come to celebrate together in the three day event to meet love ones, meet old friends, make new friends, showcase their artwork (which is through the clothes that was worn to the new year), cultural dance, Hmong fashion show(showcase Hmong clothing from different regions of the world), dance competitions, ball tossing, and basically enjoying the long hard year that just past and hoping for a better years to come.
Since there are so many Hmong New Years in different part of the United States that's going on at the same time, one of the bigger Hmong new year nearby is in the St. Paul, MN which usually have a turn out of about to 120,000 people in the three day even compare to our own Sheboygan Hmong New Year which have only 10,000 people turnout, which is okay.
The reason I've been so excited about this year new year is because I haven't attend the Sheboygan Hmong New Year for the last seven years. I always go out of town or state to participate in other cities' Hmong New Year in different part of the United States in the past seven years. So this year I have decided to stay here and participate in some of the events held during the Sheboygan Hmong new year and showcase my newly design Hmong clothing that I design for my girlfriend and I which we worn to the new year. Our clothing which is a mixed of the modern clothing with the Hmong traditional design on it, mine matching her as well.
It was a fun weekend overall at the Sheboygan Hmong New Year and a great success because a lot of people gave us a lot of positive comments on our clothing. But the most important of all is that, this is a time for us to come together and celebrate who we are, what we are and where we came from.

Happiness

Lately, I've been asking myself long and hard, what makes me happy? It is cleared to me that what truly make me happy is that I need to feel good about myself. I believed that no one can make me happy unless I am truly happy about yourself.
Happiness is not all about having the most money or having the best job. Although these things are important to many others and including myself. The reason they are important is because these things only contributed to making a person happy, but that not necessary mean that they are happy. I know that many others may feel differently on what makes them happy. For instance, for some people, helping others makes them happy and for some just relaxing makes them happy. What I'm trying to say is that if you don't feel good about yourself then why be happy? You can be the richest person alive or have the best job in the world and still not be happy.

Thoughts

A couple week or two ago, I was feeling very upset. I was having my little own reality check, everything bothered me. I guess I can say I was at my own little cross roads with decisions, dramas, and etc.

I had a wonderful conversation with best friend, it really cleared a lot of stuff on my mind. Most of them are decisions that had to deal with me. It's been too long, I should have done this long ago. My best friend has always said, things will surly fall into place. It's just, I've realized I haven't really done my part beyond the best that i usually do. I'm content with where I'm at, but when i think about myself at my younger years, I think I've settle with comfort and forgot about how to chase after my dreams. Like really CHASE after it, and not just keep dreaming of how to get there. Maybe that's where I fall short while everyone is where they are at now. Life is really what you make of it, i have no regrets but though I live today and enjoy the wonders it bring, I cannot help but wonder and battle with myself if I've lived it well enough...

Close friends and families always tells me i think too much, do I really? I guess, 28 years has gone by so fast. It's always been a self battle and I am my own worst critic. It's just that, I just don't want to miss "A" thing.

Tai

Why Do Children Behave The Way They Do?

Why do children behave the way they do? There are a lot of things that make children behave the way the do. Friends and peer pressure does play a big part in making one's self behave the way they do. But I think the most important thing that made kids behave the way they do is the parents. Parents allowed their children to behave the way they do. Parents should be in control and take complete control of the children. Parents should teach their children to take responsibilities in whatever the children do and discipline their children if not followed by what they parents asked them to do.
Other reason is that parents are not communicating enough with each other to figure out whats best for the children. Some parents are way too busy with work and other stuff and forgets all about their children. This cause parents and children to not have enough time with each other together as a family. Parents then start to pay more attention to other things and they don't know what children wants and needs anymore. Children then go out with friends more and more because they don't get enough attention from their parents. And when they see that their friends are there for them more than their parents, then they tend to lean more toward their friends for help and then behave similar to their friends. When children behave in a way that is bad or behave in a different ways and then parents blame the children but the truth is that parents are not giving enough attention to children and worrying too much about other stuff that are not even as important as their children. So parents should pay more attention to their children by spending more time and finding out what their children needs and wants so they can provide the best for their children to be successful and become a better citizen.

Chicago Trip 10/9-10/10

I must say I had one of the best weekend in my life this weekend. I went to Chicago with my girl friend and couple of my good friends to do some photo shoot and tour downtown Chicago and other attraction sites. Of all my 21 years in Sheboygan, Wisconsin and Chicago is only 2 1/2 hour drive, I've never been to Chicago before but somehow made time to travel to other places. Anyone that had never been to Chicago and loves culture should visit Chicago at least once.

Our first stop was Chinatown, the scenery there was so beautiful with ancient building look alike, big wide open area with all twelve zodiac stones around it, lots of good food restaurants, etc. just perfect for our 1960's theme photo shoot. We must took a good 600 pictures during our time in Chinatown alone and had some wonderful tasteful food.

Our next mission was to take the subway train which is only about a few blocks away from Chinatown to the actual subway itself in downtown Chicago. I never knew how a subway looked like before, only from movies films. So I super excited too since it was cheap to ride it, $2.50 each way (I would have paid $10.00 each way just to ride it just for experience). The subway train is a whole new experience and a good experience since I've never even seen how a subway/train looked like in real life.

The best experience of all is going up the Sears Tower. Going up 110 stories was awesome and to look out from the windows of the Sears Tower for a full view of the city is priceless. What's best about the Sears Tower is the new sky box that they just built. A sky box that is all glass all around including the floor which you stand on that retract out away from the building. Experience wise, scary as heck. Overall, I had a wonderful weekend and experience a lot of new things which makes me enjoyed life so much more.

New Drive for Transit

Tonight I read an article about "New drive for transit" from the Sheboygan Press about weather the Sheboygan Common Council should take the $2.1 million federal stimulus money for the 35-foot buses and other equipments which would replace aging, polluting buses with new more efficient friendly emission buses. It was voted 8-7 at the September 21st meeting. Even though the majority is 8-7, the vote is not enough to pass for the for the federal stimulus money for the buses. It would required 11 votes or two thirds of the council to pass.

I think the council made a good decision as far as not accepting the federal stimulus money for the five Sheboygan transit buses because there are not enough people riding the buses. There are almost bus stop at every corner, but you only see like 2 or 3 people inside the buses. The busy season of the year for people riding buses are usually during the school season. But people are not really using the buses during the summer season where when school is over and students are off school during that time. Money should be well more spent on other more important thing such as hiring more teachers because we need to educate our children more than weather we should replace old buses or not that people don't use it.

On the other hand, I think the Sheboygan Transit officials should have a better routes planning before accepting the federal stimulus money using for the 5 new buses that would replace the old buses because some routes don't directly take the bus riders to the exact destinations and riders would still have to walk a short distance to their destinations. By using smaller buses or even cargo vans would to transport riders to the exact locations. This system would make more riders want to ride the buses/vans, save the city more gas money and would cost less money to maintenance the smaller buses/vans.

Living Together Before Marriage...Right or Wrong?

Lately, I've been thinking about the topic of "living together before marriage." No matter what it comes to mind, it seems like sometimes its wrong and sometime it feel so right. What is right and what is wrong? Well, that really depends on who it is your with, how strongly you feel about the other person and especially where you came from in some cases. Different cultures and ethnicity have different ways of doing things and how things are done. What seem right for one cultures might not seem right for other cultures. So its very difficult to say weather what is right and or wrong.

For example, in the American culture everyone has the right to be with any one they wish to be with and or live with them, and nothing is wrong with that. In other cultures, its wrong to live with a person of opposite sex such as a girlfriend before marriage. Why is it wrong to live together before marriage? Based on a little research of my own with a few cultures that are against it, it has a lot to do reputations and respect. Say for example, if a couple is living together and the female is pregnant, that would considered to be very bad for the both of them, very disrespecting the parents and elders and will ruin not only both of their reputations but both side of the families as a whole. That is why it feel so right for the couple but so wrong at the same time because of cultures.

In my opinion, I think people has the right to be with who they choose to be with weather living together just as boyfriend and girlfriend. Nothing is wrong with that, its actually a good thing because the couple has the advantage of spending a lot of time together over regular traditionally boyfriend/girlfriend couples and its a good way of getting the feel/know each other 24/7 before taking it up to the next step. Weather it will works out or not, that is totally up to them. Everyone has the power to control their own lives, not decided by others or what people tell them to "do" or "not do" just because its bad or good. So overall, there isn't a right or wrong when it comes down to "living together before marriage."

Today I had a really great debate with the family about the Hmong traditional ways verses the Hmong modern ways now which is more towards the American ways. I totally disagree with a few members of the family which thinks that men have all the power and rights over women to do whatever they like. For example, men have the right to have more than one wife. I think its wrong to have more than one wife period weather you are a King or someone that have the power to do anything. People should only be committed to one person and only one. If they want to be with other people they should let the other person know it before and end that relationship before moving on to the next.
I also disagree about the fact that men should make the decisions weather its the right or wrong decisions. I think that all the decisions should be make by husband and wife/kids as a whole, groups of people, decisions base on the laws and facts, etc... I'm always a believer that two is better than one, three is better than two and so on because what you see is not what everyone see. Usually, best decisions are best when you make a decisions with a group of people that a lot of people agree upon.
I disagree with most the issues that was being debate tonight because I'm more modernize than a lot of the older generations in the family. I was raised and grew up in the United States most of my life and I see both side of the traditional ways and the more modern ways. I like to mix in with the traditional and modern ways and used that to make the best decisions out of it to make it fair for everyone in the family. I can't just take one side and not the other, make one happy and not the other. I'm a very fair person when it comes to making decisions because I know and understand where everyone is coming from. That's why I disagree with some from the traditional ways and the modern ways.

Tai Lee