Into the New Year

Happy New Year to everyone all around the world. May this year be filled with blessings from above, and exciting new adventures.

I have to admit, counting down with my folks was very difficult. It was depressing actually. And ringing in the new year was even worse. I don't think I've ever cried on new year's day. It was probably the worst new year's experience of my life. The answer is obvious: M isn't here anymore. Normally he would be walking around us when we count down, or sit on the stairs watching us. But whenever I look up from the TV, he isn't there anymore. It's an empty feeling inside, like you can't move on without having that person or pet around you.

I would go to malls to walk around and let off some steam. As soon as I pass by the pet food area, that's when I lose myself. I start balling. It just brings back memories and routines. I have to avoid pet stores and pet food area at superstores for the next little while.

That is also why I found it so hard to ring in the new year. Because I felt that I was leaving M behind in 2015. But as one family member put it: you aren't leaving him behind. You have him in your heart...he will always be there, and you carry him with you into 2016 and beyond.

I need to start remembering that and also start accepting that too.

This will be a few random thoughts, so I'll start that off as a new year post.

A couple days ago, there was an Air Canada flight from Shanghai, China to Toronto, Canada and while it flew over the Rocky Mountain area, the flight experienced severe turbulence. So severe that people were thrown from their seats up to the ceiling and back down to the floor. It was really bad that they had to make an emergency landing in Calgary to usher the injured off the flight for treatment. In total, about 21-22 people had injuries that needed to be treated. The flight then took off from Calgary to continue its final destination to Toronto.

Now there are talks about making seat belts on airplanes mandatory on all flights. I would agree with that. This is how I see it: when you are in a moving vehicle (a car), you wear a seatbelt. You don't take it off until you've parked. There is never an instance (nor does the law allow it) that once you hit the highway, you can unbuckle your seatbelt. Or if you are driving on the local roads, or country roads.

Same thing with an airplane. A plane is moving, not on the road, but high up in the sky where sometimes it's hard to predict how bad the turbulence can be. Yes, there are radars that pilots have that can tell them if it's bad or not. But really, sometimes you just never know. And when you hit that turbulence, it can become a madhouse.

My habit while flying is that I always keep my seatbelt fastened. I don't care if the belt sign is turned off and it's ok to remove it, but I never do. The only times I unbuckle it is when I need to use the washroom, or after we land and it's time to get off the plane. Those are the only two times I have it removed, otherwise they remained fastened. My most recent flight trip hit bad turbulence to Vancouver, lasted about 20 minutes and it was bad. Not as bad as the above flight, but it was nauseating enough.

The part which baffles me is when the seatbelt sign comes on, and the flight attendants announce bad turbulence and for everyone to sit down in their seats, yet people still get up to use the washroom. HELLO? DO YOU WANT TO DIE? DO YOU UNDERSTAND ENGLISH? Actually, most if not all flights now have all types of languages, so DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND YOUR OWN LANGUAGE? PLEASE SIT DOWN AND FASTEN YOUR SEATBELT????

And then of course when they go flying against the ceiling, they start suing the airline for their injuries. All people care about is money and more money. It's ridiculous. Come on, the human bladder can expand quite a bit and hold a lot of pee. Nurses can go without peeing for 12 hours (their entire shift), so I'm sure you can hold your pee for an extra 20 minutes. I'm not saying it's safe or healthy to hold your pee for a very long time but at least obey this one command and sit your ass down with your seatbelt on. Follow the damn rules for once and stop acting like an entitled brat. Flight attendants have enough crap to deal with on their plate, so give them some respect.

Then there are the ones who stand up, as soon as the plane lands. WE HAVEN'T EVEN TAXIED OFF THE RUNWAY YET! What part of PLEASE SIT DOWN UNTIL THE PLANE COMES TO A COMPLETE STOP do you not understand??!!!!! Does it make it any faster if you stand up to grab your stuff from the overhead compartment while the plane is still taxi-ing to the terminal? NO! Because you still have to sit your ass down! Unbelievable. The worst ones are the Chinese. I'm not being racist here (considering my background is of Asian descent) but that's what I've noticed. And it pisses me off because it's those bad apples that make the entire race a bad race.

Kudos to the flight attendants for doing their best in getting things under control and dealing with stupid people all the time. I don't know how you guys and girls do it, but if I were a FA, and people said stupid things to me, I would throw juice at them.

Tonight we noticed a gentleman slumped over in his car beside us. The car engine was still running, with the lights on. His head was against the steering wheel, and it looked like he wasn't moving at all. First thought was, maybe he was sleeping? But it was hard to see if he was breathing because of all the winter clothes and jacket on him.

At first, we decided to try and honk our horn to see if the gentleman had any reaction. Nope, nothing at all. We became really worried. We didn't know this guy, but if this was life or death, we had to act fast. I got out of the car and knocked really loud on his window. I kept knocking until he finally reacted to it. He rolled down his window, and that's when I asked "Sir, are you ok?!" and his reply was oh yeah, just waiting for somebody.

My goodness, a sense of relief overcame me. I said, ok sir, we just became really worried, but glad that everything is ok. You have a good night sir! And he gave a smile to us.

It's just a depressing thought, if something happened to him on new year's day, and no one was around him. But I'm just really thankful that everything was ok. I do get moments of feeling sleepy when I wait for someone too, but normally people would lean back on their seats to nap, not forward.

Now that winter is officially here, and the cold freezing weather too, please keep an eye out for your family members. Especially the children and elders who are the most vulnerable in cold weather. If you notice someone sitting in the cold, who looks like they need a warm place to stay, direct them to the nearest facility that can offer warmth and shelter. If you notice someone in a car, whether it's running or not, and they look like they're slumped over, give a quick knock on the window to make sure they are ok. Every little action goes a long way for someone, whether it's family or a stranger.

I know, my tone lately has been all over the place. Pissed, sad, depressed, happy and helpful. I guess it's because of what's been happening the past month and a half. I'll just need time to accept.

Anyways, I'll just leave it at that. I haven't done much posting about car stuff lately because I haven't done much to the car (and plus it's winter so nothing too exciting). My next few posts will probably be something about purse buying, and pointers about going from contemporary to premier designers. It is mostly geared towards people who are not in the "super elite" or "ultra rich" groups (or whatever you want to call them) and ways to try out premier brands without going bankrupt. I have only read of one blog that does touch upon it, so I'll also chime in as well on the topic.

Stay tuned.