Niceness Contagion

Random observation:

So it occurred to me recently that there is such thing as the Niceness Contagion. This condition is marked by the quick spreading of the immediate urge to conduct a situation-specific act by simply being the recipient of such act. In order words, a modified version of the Golden Rule: "do unto others as others have just done unto you".

But it's not exactly what the Golden Rule ("Do unto others as you would have others do unto you") transcribes. **Notice the difference in intended action of the original Golden Rule and immediate past action of the modified version.

Alright--now to clear up the usual confusion with some handy dandy examples.

So you're walking towards a doorway and there is someone ahead of you also walking towards the same doorway. However, you two are separated by a distance that doesn't warrant that person in front to hold the door for you since he/she would have to wait a significant amount of time before you catch up.

(let's put the general dividing line between holding the door for someone and not holding the door for someone at the distance of 10 seconds)

-->where if the distance that separates you is measured by approx. more than 10 seconds, then it is okay to not hold the door--although you can if you really wanted to.

-->and if the distance was under 10 seconds you would hold the door out of learned social courtesy).

This measured time is purely subjective and hypothetical considering there are plenty of inconsiderate or hurried people. Also, I assume this is a quick mental calculation and is only approximate.

So anyways, lets say that person defies the norm of simple etiquette and actually holds the door for you

even though you're pretty far behind him (12secs). You start walking faster to reduce the time between you two and you probably end up jogging up to the doorway to grab the door and express your gratitude for their nice gesture. You look behind you and you see someone else coming up to this doorway. From where they are at this point (lets say 12secs again), you'd generally just keep going and not hold the door because it's not like they are immediately behind you anyways. But surprisingly, you'd hold the door because someone did that for you--so why not pass along the favor?

It's this really cool social phenomenon where you're more likely to do something nice that you normally wouldn't do just because someone actually took the time out to do that certain nice thing for you--except in a more immediate sense.

(5 minutes later) So i kinda looked it up and there's already a term for it "Reciprocal altruism". Oh well, ignore my post!

I was walking back to my dorm the other day and I was going into the same building as someone else. They had already swiped their ID card and got the door open. Then they saw me behind them, but far enough behind them that it'd be kinda weird to hold the door and wait til I caught up. But they did anyways and held the door for a while and I ran to catch up to them ASAP. Then I did the same thing for someone who was also heading this direction. Although I do have a confession to make: I kinda wished the first person didn't hold the door because it was kinda awkward having to run up and relieve them from door duty rather than taking my own pace and opening the door myself. But it was nice either way lol.

I Work Hard for the Money

it's almost 2am and it's just the start of my night. My finance test is wednesday and I'm falling behind my study schedule =/

Finally eating some dinner, a lean cuisine and a Starbucks double shot.

I remember when I first started eating lean cuisines (party because I was lazy and ate microwavables and partly because it was probably more healthy than anything else I could order around school) I was annoyed at their small portions and sometimes I'd eat two in a row just to be satisfied. But then when the world started becoming environmentally conscious and health conscious--I was bombarded with all these health articles and ways-to-live-longer articles. I think everyone pretty much knows now that more frequent meals of small portions is better than a few meals of large portions. And the problem was that I used to equate being "stuffed" to being satiated. But oh how I was wrong!

Blah blah blah past all those lessons about eating slower so your brain registers your fullness sooner than later--I realized that when I have meals of any proportions, I tend to try to finish it all in a sitting. Leaving food behind would be wasting right? Things go wrong when I have BIG meals (eg. super sized pho) and I attempt to finish it all at once...

It's seriously a visual thing for me. I feel the need to just keep eating until most of it is off my plate, even if I have to begrudgingly shove the last spoonful into my mouth--even if I'm about to explode haha. I guess that's what they call cleaning off the plate. It also largely has to do with my conscience. I just don't feel right eating a small portion of my plate and throwing the rest away--even if it IS better for my health. Not to mention, a waste of money.

So how do you avoid those more-bang-for-the-buck meals--where it's just cheaper to get a bigger portion (unit per price wise) than to get a small portion? Because that's what always lures me in. A medium is ONLY a few cents more than a small and it comes with a greater proportion of food...why not? So if only restaurants and fast food places served proportionately priced food items, or just smaller portions of food--maybe we wouldn't be so eager to up the size of our meals for just a small price.

But that's unlikely. Profits, profits, profits.

Thus, the conclusion is that I need more self control!! I'm one of those people who are constant snackers. I always want to munch on something, even if I'm not hungry. I eat when I'm bored, when I'm working, when I'm stressed--you name it. So add that onto the giant portions of food I eat a few times a day and BAM you get weight gain.

Anyways, so that lean cuisine was delicious as always. I don't feel stuffed, but I don't feel hungry either. I guess this is how I should be feeling--it's refreshing from all those times when I'm so full it literally hurts from all the pressure lol. Anywhos, back to studying!

Summer blues

 Imagine it's the height of the summertime, with the sweltering sun making you all hot, sticky, and dying for anything that resembles a breeze. It's been in the high 90's for two weeks now and you can't even bear going into any environment without air conditioning. Then let's say the next week it gradually dropped down to around 65 degrees and suddenly it feels a bit chilly. You put on a light cardigan or a hoodie and complain about how much colder it has gotten.

Now, imagine it's the middle of winter. You spend month in the snowy abyss, with the windchill inching towards 15 degrees, refusing to go outside unless you absolutely have to. You just never seem to feel warm and cozy outside, no matter how many layers you pack on--so you just avoid going into the outside world at all costs. Then it gets warmer and you experience random fluctuations of the weather (cough Rochester). When it somehow climbs up to 65 degrees or more for the very first time, you feel like a heatwave just hit. Rip off the sweaters and the jackets--you're going out in those buried shorts and forgotten t-shirts. It's HOT OUTSIDE!

So isn't it weird when you've gotten so used to the hot weather that when it actually begins to dwindle down to the low 60's, it suddenly gets really cold. But the reverse happens when it was really, really, chilly and suddenly it climbs up to the 60's and suddenly it's sweltering hot?

I remember the days when we finally get a break in Rochester and the sun actually comes out for once, everyone strips their jackets off and wipes the sweat off their brows. People were wearing skirts and short sleeves as if their clothes hasn't seen sunlight in years.

And right now I'm experiencing the cold effect. It's only in the low 60's/high 50's and I'm packing on a t-shirt, sweater on top, hoodie on top of that, and then finally a jacket over everything. And I still feel chilly.

And it's the same temperature range for both situations--it's just that your body's so used to a certain temperature that it takes time to adjust. I remember everyone screaming "heatwave" when it reached 80 degrees in the springtime last year, right after a snow fall, in Rochester. Although 80 degrees would've been pretty cool when you've been in the three digit temperatures or high 90's all summer.

Oh how I miss summer!

I'm Asian, Can't You Tell?

Confession: I get uncomfortable when I feel like I'm fulfilling a certain stereotype about Asians.

So I noticed it consciously for the first time when I used to live in the Lovejoy dorm. The dorms are pretty much a bedroom shared between two people (doubles) or three, hopefully not. There's a communal kitchen down the hall past the lounges where I was going to go to get my rice washed. I had a little rice cooker in my room but I had to get water from the kitchen. So I'm carrying the rice pot and as I'm walking down the hall, I hear a lot of people in the lounge (study session?) and I started feeling increasingly uncomfortable as I'm heading down the hall.

I knew what they were going to think. At least my paranoid mind was certain of it.

"How typical of an asian to go wash and eat rice"

I don't even know why it bothered me that I was fulfilling that stereotype. Yes, rice is commonly associated with Asians. But I couldn't suppress my embarrassment anyways.

Then today I was sitting in the library at night. It was inching towards 11PM and most people had already gone home. I looked around me and the only people left were Asians. All of them. Half of the library area was full and all of the people still studying were Asian. Then I started feeling that familiar discomfort again.

"Asian nerds, always studying"

All the whispering and dialogues spoken in their native Asian language didn't really help the situation. It was like I was sitting in the Chinatown of libraries. Don't get offended please.

So then some caucasians come down to study (phew!) but then I started thinking about what they are thinking. Looking from their perspective, they're pretty much outnumbered by Asian people, and the annoying buzz of Asian conversation didn't really make that any more discreet.

After all that, I started thinking about incidences where I felt like I was fulfilling the Asian stereotype and there were so many!

Like when I'm waiting for the train at the platform in Chinatown along with a crowd of mostly Asian people.  The train pulls up and you can see that inside there's a good balance of ethnicities, nothing out of ordinary. The door opens, and then it's like the gates of a dam had burst and all the Asians on the platform suddenly  flooded the train. They are loud, they are speaking in their native tongue, and all you now hear is a mix of foreign Asian languages. It's like they took over the entire train. And again, I can't help but wonder what the non-Asians on the train think about all of this.

Sigh, major awkward turtle.

So anyways, that's my 2 cents. Back to studying!

I scream, you scream, we all scream, for ICE CREAM!

random thought:

Doesn't it make you feel good whenever you open a carton of ice-cream (ie. a pint of Ben & Jerry's) and see that the ice-cream fills the entirety of the carton? It's so full that it sticks onto the lid.

Whereas if we were to examine those disappointing bags of chips, that when opened, is only filled halfway through the bag. I know, I know, it's for cushioning purposes, but it does leave a slightly disappointed feeling when a big bag is opened only to see the small ratio of chips to bag volume.

Anyways it's nearly 3:00AM and I'm studying Finance with my buddy Ben and Jerry--New York Super Fudge Chunk, my favorite :)

Random fact: My very first Ben & Jerry's ice-cream was a birthday present from my mom for my sweet 16 (my family is not big on presents lol) and it was the New York Super Fudge Chunk. It's the perfect flavor because I love ice-cream with a lot of nuts and other crunchy stuff in them. From then on, it's the only flavor of Ben & Jerry's I've ever bought.

I feel slightly guilty but the pleasantness of the packaging overrides any negative feeling, so I'm having a great night :)

P.S. does anyone else like melted ice-cream like i do? :)