Online Shopping Doesn’t Save You Time

Online shopping is usually considered time-saving. In most cases, however, this belief doesn't hold true.

Online shopping suffers from two major issues:

1. Over-informing
2. Under-informing

For any item you want to buy, there are too many options to choose from and there is too much information to research on. In the meantime, since there is no way for you to actually feel the items or compare in person, the aforementioned information can that pretty useless. Many times text, images, or even videos just don't cut it. You end up consuming excessive amount of energy and time trying to determine the best, an impossible task.

I’ll avoid online shopping when possible on items best tried out in person.

New Year

The past year was quite hard on me. I faced big failure on the GMAT, didn’t apply for any graduate school, and wasted a lot of time. The time wasn't even spent on having fun; it was simply wasted.

There were lights still. To name a few: I took Professor Juyan Zhang’s Institutional Economy class in the spring, which was inspiring both academically and personally; I came to America for an one-year exchange study; I met new friends from all over the world; I traveled a lot in the States; I went to some great concerts (notably Mayday¹'s), and my family and friends were supportive as always.

I didn't forget to read books in 2012 either. The best one that I think of right now is To Kill A Mockingbird. I wish I had read it earlier but on the other hand, I think I wouldn’t have understood it as much. I started to take task management more seriously using a revised GTD system, though I am still not that productive. Fiddling with productivity tools and methods has been becoming a new hobby. A total nerd I am. I love plain text and I love Markdown.

Right now I’m traveling in Los Angeles by myself but I’m still going to celebrate the new year, even by myself. Why not. All I had to do was to hit play on Mayday’s People Life, Ocean Wild².

Happy 2013.

Old-fashioned

As big a technology fan as I am, when it comes to certain things I too can be old school. I like listening to albums from cover to cover, writing in a Moleskine notebook, and reading a paper book.

While I enjoy reading in Instapaper on an iPad a lot, the experience of reading a paper book is simply irreplaceable. Whether it's sitting nicely by the desk or curling up on the coach with a hot drink by the side, I don't find many things more pleasant.

Things That Always Make You Happy

There are things that make you happy no matter what.

Hanging out with people you love, the person you have a crush on asking you out, and the theme song of Friends starting to sound...

So no one told you life was gonna be this way...