themeltingpot

Here is my question for everyone who might view my blog. Have you ever felt like that you are invisible. No matter how much you tried to prove yourself, you are still inferior to someone else. That person might not be smarter than you, or he might not be that attractive than you. But you are the one who is invisible in the group, while he/she is the most notable one. If you feel like this, undeniably, you have a little jealousy there, but that is human nature. I have no doubt that everyone, once in a while, wants to attention from everyone else around him/her. While you were trying to achieve that happen, it was just someone else victory.

I had experienced that too. In my family, my younger is always the center of attention. Although he made many mistakes in life, or he was acting mischief, no one would ever blame on his fault. On the opposite, I might not be that lucky. I have to work extra harder to prove myself. Or no one ever mention about my name in the family, like my uncle or aunt. Or better yet, if I made a small mistake, they might just gossip behind my back; makes me feel like I am the utmost sinner somehow.

At work too. Even though I work fast, and accurate. No no would mention my name ever. While another co - worker might just making jokes all day, and he got credits. In love too, there is a girl I like, but she seldomly open her heart to talk to me freely. She rather talk more to her other friends. I felt like even I am sitting side by side with her, I open up a topic. She just gave me a smile, and not much talking going on, I felt like it at least.

Self - evaluation: I might just be a biggest loser now. No matter how hard I tried on every situation. I might just repel other people from me. Maybe that is fate, I am not a people person. It is better for me to do everything alone.

The convenience of Credit Cards existed in our world for over a decades. People no longer carries a bundle of cash in their wallet while shopping. This plastic card do it all. You can shop around within the power of a single card, and you get what you wanted. No matter it is a master card, Visa Card, American Express, or Discover card, they are mostly accepted by most department stores, restaurants, travel agency, and many, many more. The catch is, you have to pay back what you owed in your credit card balance. If you can pay all your balance once, the issuers won’t charge you a single penny for interest. If you couldn’t, you have to pay their minimum payment monthly, until you pay it off.

Usually these credit cards have amount limit for your spending. But it is a better advise not overspend it. I knew some girls who are regular shoppers to the mall, and department stores. They merely make over a $1,000 a month, but they spend over a thousand sometimes in a single shop. They love to buy brand name clothing, handbags. Just consider it, you can’t pay for what you couldn’t afford. If you knew better in Mathematics, you can calculate the interest they charge if you can’t pay everything at once. Think about you can use that extra amount of money to buy other useful stuff, rather than pay for the interest.

A piece of advise, never overspend on your credit card, and avoid using it frequently if you don’t think that you can pay for it.

A couple days ago, I received a comment on how grateful I should be with those policemen patrolling out there for us. They wrote tickets because for the sake of our safety, that’s no doubt. They work tirelessly, even on the holiday, 12 hours a day to protect our property, and our safety. Since I got my ticket that day, I shouldn’t whining about it. Nonetheless, it was my fault who violate the law. I have to admit that it was my responsibility to pay for it. Other than that, didn’t the policemen never violate the law?

From my experience, and what we saw on the street. Many of these policemen took advantage of their status. Such as unlawful U- turn. They simply made the U - turn in broad daylight, where the sign said no U -turn. They turn on the siren in the convenience of passing the red light, where is no emergency call. After the red light, they simply turn it off, and keep on going their way. They can foul - mouth to taxpayers whenever they feel like it. So, if you saw a policeman in such a bad mood, never trying to explain your situation, or your reason. Zip your mouth, otherwise, they might draw their gun.

Some cases are never been solved. If someone broke in your house, or stole your car audio. 9 out of 10 cases just a paperwork, you will never find out who did it, and no one will get their property back. I am not saying all the police forces are like that. But they should at least work their best to set a great sample for average citizens.

So, my question is, what if you, as a citizen saw a policeman violate the law, who are going to write them up, or give them a warning?

If you pick up your electronic device from Walmart, or Brandsmart USA, you might notice the label that prints “Made In China”, majority of them. Even clothing, and textile. Toys, and snacks, such as cookies, chips, chocolate, etc……… It seems that China is the world’s largest factory. Majority of import products are coming from China constantly in daily. No doubt, cheap materials, and cheap labor is the one great advantage over all. Many Americans might blame for Chinese lower than market value price. While Chinese - made dominates the market for while, the tide might turn just as the financial crisis hit hard on the globe. China was long deems providing low - quality products, and some might even endanger the general public health. It is a true statement, and no one can denies it.

In the recent news, many Chinese made product re - tested contains chemical that might poison our human bodies. That’s the greatest concern to our fellow Americans. We are the Number one who really concern about our health and safely. Since then, Chinese made products were refused to be imported again. They should learn a lesson from it.

In recent days, I read a newspaper about most of the Chinese exporting - focused factories were closed. Because they lost their foreing market since the incidents happen. They should strictly control their products quality before the exporting. That’s their mistake, and they should learn a great deal from it.

2008 Christmas was past, and the day after Christmas, we opt to shop more, because many stores providing pretty good prices on many things. I am no exception too. I was tending to shop after Christmas. My wants from this Christmas not only from gifts from friends, I also want something that is special for me. I wanted a new laptop computer for a long while, still I didn’t make it come true.

Yesterday, a day after Christmas, I drove all the way to Pleasant Hill, where I found a pretty good deal on the laptop computer there. On the ad, there was a Toshiba brand computer for sale only $449.99. With all the basic functions, and wireless connection, that is what I need for now. Unfortunately, when I got there, ask for the salesperson, they told me that all were sold out. I can only look for another one with a little bit pricey laptop. Under the recommendation from one of the salesperson, I picked a Fujitsu Lifebook, with a price of $699.99, with built - in camera, and all the basic function. I was pretty satisfied with it. I swipe it with my credit card, and Now, I am close to broke. Today, even more people go out to shop, and with frenzy shoppers. I should work even harder to pay off this laptop in the future.

Today, while I was visiting one of the strip joints in Atlanta, I had an interesting conversation with a stripper. She was pretty popular in that club, and many customers like her, whistling on her while she was passing through the aisle. She sat with me for while, and I bought her a drink. We had an interesting conversation over the fake marriage for green card.

2 years ago, while she was still 19 years old, she married to guy who is from Eastern European. He agreed to pay her some compensation over the marriage if he got his green card. She is native born American, and she was desperate for money then. They have to take some series photo to set at home, and they have to live together for certain amount of time. The payment was pretty awesome for her, because she doesn’t need to do much. She only need to be cooperated with this guy and finish all the paperwork. Now, she was out of money again, but she doesn’t want to do it anymore. So, she chosen dancing here.

I heard some people do the same thing. They have arranged marriage just to bring somebody from other countries to the States. They pre - agreed certain amount of money, and after they got the green card, they will file for divorce. The average compensation was around $40,000 to $70,000. What a loadsome of money to earn. They only need to sacrifice 3 years of their time. They have to make this marriage perfect, so no one will ever detect any suspicion. It is a common practice for people who desperately to stay in the States.

Merry Christmas everyone, and happy new beginning for the new year to come. Usually, we don’t have big party at my home for celebrating Christmas day. We just enjoy a day off from the busy life, and we gather together as a family to have a nice lunch. That’s what we do for most of the Christmas day. This year is no exception. Early in the morning, I received a couple of nice text message from friends; They all giving blessing to the Christmas. I also reply to their messages in courtesy.

My family and I drove a car separately to a Chinese buffet 40 minutes away. Because most of the restaurants and stores were closed today. The street seems a little bit quiet today too. I guess most people going out of town, or just want to stay home for this holiday. Especially economy playing a big impact for this Christmas. We all have to watch out what we spend now.

The buffet was a little bit expensive than usual, $14.99 per person. It is nice though, we can have crawfish, lobster, king crabs, and crabs, shrimps and many more etc…… I have really nice meal this morning, and I still feel it full in my stomach. It was pretty funny to see a long line of people waiting for the Lobster. When it comes out, every one has a big scoop of lobster, and in a minute, nothing was left. I felt like it was in “war”, instead of enjoying your meal.

Today, Christmas day passing so fast, and I just stay home watching movie most of the time. Merry Christmas everyone.

Unfortunately, I got a speeding ticket before this Christmas, which mean I have to cut back on my spending for this Holiday, less shopping, and more saving for paying this frigging ticket to come. I heard some people said that it would over $200 for just this ticket. What a big rip - off from these so - called government, citizens servants. My father’s car also conked out in the last week, and we brought it to a mechanic shop. Today, the Mechanic called my mom and said, he couldn’t fix it on the transmission. So, we have to replace it with another one. What a crap. That’s my second time to replace a transmission. What a crappy car, Honda Accord. The dealer rip me off last time I guess. Shame on them. So, which means that we have to cut back a lot of spending for this Christmas. We knew that economy is pretty bad, but we couldn’t help it. I just thought about how many more stuffs that I have to fix in the future. I even cut back on my movie rental from Blockbuster.

Tomorrow is Christmas, I planned not to spend much, but I still need a brand new laptop. I might want to shop around and pick the best one for myself. That’s only Christmas present for myself.

What a bummer today. This morning, while I was on my way to work, some police car stop me on Highway, where near my work. I was forced to stop at the shopping center parking lot, and given a ticket by a police officer who desperately to fill up a quota at this moment. He charged me with speeding on 40 zone in 60. I wasn’t aware of it. The only reason I gave him is that I am about to late for my work, so I drove a little faster during that moment.

I told this to my co - workers. Some say that it might be pricey, due to the fact that our government is desperately in position to fine our innocent citizens. Due to the bad economy, they have to find a legitimate excuse to make money from people instead of levy high tax. What about those policemen, they always speed with their authorized police cars, and they even ran the traffic light, even though they knew the law, they have the authority to broke it themselves. What gave them the permission to do so? Who are going to charge them? No one, we certainly don’t have the authority to do so.

When the real crime happens, they always be the last one to show up on scene. When crimes happen, they can only file a report, but they never solve a case in regard to our benefit. These policemen are truly shame on themselves. We need someone more competent, and capable of doing his/her jobs. Not a bunch of incompetent individuals, who wasting our tax money on doing nothing.

2 months ago, I had a bad experience from Pep Boyz auto service department. The receptionist, who did the transaction and customer service gave me and another lady a bad attitude. He not only gave us no respect, but also unwilling to apologize with the tone of his voice. Unfortunately, we had to call out the district manager to discuss this matter in person. I guess that lady file a complaint the next day. At that time, I had my battery check - up, and oil change. They took me 2 hours and half to wait for them. And now, my battery just gone bad again.

Yesterday, after I washed my car, I couldn’t start my car. I had to jump charge my car battery from my father’s car. Today, after work, my car has the same problem again. I have to call on a co - worker of mine to jump start my car, so I can run it again. On my way home, I stop at Auto Zone to get a new battery. The associate who works in there, been nice enough to test the battery and alternator for me. The result is that my battery was bad. I bought a new one from Auto Zone, and he urged me to go back to Pep Boyz, and request a full refund from it.

After I got my new battery, I stop at Pep Boyz, requested to talk to the store manager. He nicely review my receipt from 2 months ago, and run a test again on the battery. He agreed to give me a full refund on it. I didn’t make any trouble, or cause any turbulence. I just want my money back, because they put a warranty on it.

On my conclusion, I won’t return to this store ever again. They gave me such a bad impression on their service attitude. And the products they provided to their customers. I just don’t have confident to have a future business ever gain with them. They should run a product test on majority of their products, not like this.