A Bag of Mochi Blood

Mochi always wanted to donate blood because

1. It's healthy 'cause it forces the body to produce fresh blood
2. It saves lives! One bag of blood can save 3 lives!!
3. It makes mochi feel brave :P

So, Mochi signed up with Bear to donate blood today with a bunch of TA people.

After filling out a bunch of forms, they checked for iron level, heart rate, blood pressure, and temperature - all PASS. Next is today's "feature presentation" - drawing blood. Since Mochi is a first time donor, people in the blood center were extra careful and nice :P The nurse carefully searched for Mochi's veins on both left and right arm and decided to use Mochi's right arm because the veins are easier to find there. After the needle when in, the nurse started the timer to time how long it takes to fill up the 500 mL bag. The nurse also took a bunch of blood to perform blood tests. After a few seconds, the nurse realized that Mochi's blood was flowing out too slowly. So, she gave me a warm pad to hold in my hand and asked me to squeeze my hand continuously as blood was being drawn.

(15 minutes passed)

Phew~ Finally, the bag is FULL. The nurse came to take the needle out of my arm. She said the average time it takes to draw 1 bag of blood is 10 minutes. Bear only took 5 minutes to fill up a bigger bag ^^" So, I guess Mochi's blood was slow :P

Didn't realize that losing 500 mL of blood is something the body needs to adjust to get used to, Mochi stood up too quickly. For about 15 minutes, Mochi was feeling dizzy and vision became a bit blurry; but, Mochi was fine after cookies and juice :)

It was a good experience. Somebody in the world is probably using portions of Mochi's blood now. I think I'll do it again :) Maybe next time, Mochi can convince Onion to donate with me :P

Before we left, we got a sticker that says "Be nice to me, I donated blood today". So, when we went shopping for the BBQ party tomorrow, Onion had to carry everything :P

Connections

Why do people become less connected as they grow up? There may be a broader connection - you know more people when you're older, but these connections are shallower as well.

When people start dating and have relationships, seems like "friends" just don't mean as much anymore. hmm... this is depressing...

*sigh*

Seems like there are a lot of obstacles ahead...
Mochi is tired...

I know it's just life that not everything will go my way all the time, I need to work hard to get what I want. But, I'm tired.

Working and fighting for what I want here all alone makes me feel more alone... I try to hold my tears, be strong - how long can I do this for?

Smart vs. Wise

I think "wise" is what a smart person would become after a lot of experiences.

A wise person sees further into the future; a wise person stays calm in the middle of a crisis in order to find the best way out; a wise person understands that sometimes a small step back is a giant leap forward.

If Eric became successful like today in his 20's, would he still be as wise as he is today? I think not, his experiences made him who he is today. A person may be born smart, but nobody is born wise.

An old prophecy says "wealth would not stay over three generations". The first generation has nothing but dreams and ambition, they fight for the wealth; the second generation understands where the wealth came from and how difficult it was to get it, so they maintain it; the third generation is born with the golden spoon and takes everything for granted, so they will eventually lose everything.

So, the conclusion is, even the smartest person in the world needs experiences to become wise.

People Come and Go... That's Life.

As I was writing the other post, I remembered what roommate said when I was moving out and feeling sad. She said, "People come and go, that's life. You shouldn't get upset when people are leaving because that means you'll meet new people".

I guess what she said is true, Mochi will probably be better off if I get used to people coming and leaving my life; but I think this is just not how Mochi's heart works.

People come into my life. Sometimes, a few would find a special place in Mochi's heart to settle down. Then, they'll never leave!!! Special and important friends stay that way forever! When the reverse happens, ie. when Mochi somehow gets a special seat in their heart and then gets kicked out later - it would really hurt Mochi a lot!!!

The phrase "People Come and Go... That's Life." makes Mochi upset :( 'cause it means, maybe Mochi is not special to anyone anymore!?

Special Place in the Heart

Someone said something that made Mochi feel special last night. The feeling of "specialness" is very important to Mochi - probably more important than it should.

I miss Taiwan because I know there is a special place for me in my friends' hearts. Even though I don't talk to them all the time anymore, we don't write to each other anymore, I just KNOW that I'm as special to them as they are to me - and I always will be.

I miss Waterloo because I know I am a special little girl to my friends there who always take care of me. They made me feel like home when I was away from home. I miss being part of their families and lives!

Last night was probably the first time I feel like I walked into somebody's heart here, the first time I feel like someone will miss me if I leave the city. Mochi is happy! Maybe Mochi is starting to grow my roots in this strange city!?

Lunch with Eric

--- June 13, 2007 9:30pm ---

Mochi is going crazy going through Mochi's closet trying to decide what to wear the next day. Should Mochi look cute? professional? casual? engineer-like? or... ?? Why is Mochi behaving like this? 'cause the next day is a BIG day!

--- June 13, 2007 10:30pm ---

After one full hour of searching, trying on, and debating. Mochi has finally decided to go with a complete "professional" look. So, Mochi will be wearing Mochi's lucky interview shirt, which got Mochi all the jobs so far. Sorry little onion, Mochi didn't even do this for our first date :P

So, what's the big day!? Mochi is gonna have lunch with Eric Schmidt - Google's CEO!

--- June 14, 2007 8:00am ---

Onion's morning call! Although today is the big day, Mochi still struggled for 10 minutes before Mochi gets up. After the usual morning stuff, Mochi spent 10 extra minute making sure Mochi looks good :)

--- June 14, 2007 9:00am ---

Got to the office. Within 30 minutes, almost everybody noticed Mochi's unusual dress :P

No body else dressed up for Eric. Mochi almost wanted to go home and change back to my t-shirt and jeans just to fit in to the rest of the team...

BUT, Mochi spent so much time figuring out what to wear, and dressing up is actually just being polite and showing Eric that I really care about today's lunch!!

--- June 14, 2007 11:30am ---

Everybody gets ready and starts to walk/drive to the main campus!

--- June 14, 2007 12:00pm ---

Eric is about 10 minutes late. Conversation over lunch is confidential, but Mochi got to play with Eric's iPhone! It's a very cool toy, but I'm not sure I would want to spend $600 on it.

--- June 14, 2007 1:00pm ---

Eric rushes to his next meeting. We took a group picture with Eric to draw a period for today's once-in-a-lifetime lunch! Mochi wanted to have a picture with just Eric alone though.....




It was such a great time talking to Eric and listening to his intelligent answers. He is friendly, smart, and have a great sense of humor. Mochi is so glad Google has a leader like him!!

Golden State - California

When mochi was on the highway today. I saw the hills in front covered with yellowish dying grass. Mochi suddenly remembered my first road trip down to California. Daddy told me that Oregon is filled with beautiful pine trees and California is filled with yellow grass. I thought daddy was exaggerating at first, until I saw the "Welcome to California" sign and everything in sight suddenly became yellowish.

Mochi became a little home sick in the car when these thoughts flew over my mind. California isn't nearly as pretty as my home - Vancouver. I miss home.

Inspiring Quotes

"Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." -- Steve Jobs.

Daddy pointed mochi to Steve Jobs' commencement speech at Stanford's 2005 graduation ceremony. In summary, the speech is about staying open to new ideas and thoughts and never be content to do the same thing day after day. Never worry about doing something you want to do because you are afraid of what others may think. It’s your life. Don’t waste it doing what others want you to do. Find what you love to do and do it!

People have different interpretations for the quote "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." Here is my interpretation. "Stay Hungry" means hungry for knowledge and stay curious. "Stay Foolish" is to be modest, knowing that there is always room for improvement.


"Have a Healthy Disregard for the Impossible." -- Larry Page.

Larry said optimism is important. You have to be a little silly about the goals you are going to set and try to do things that most people would not.

Yes. If you set goals that seems impossible to reach at the beginning, have faith in making the impossible possible, and try your best to reach that goal. In the end, you will get further than you would otherwise.


These are no longer just nice quotes to mochi - they mean a lot. Mochi will stay hungry, stay foolish, and have a healthy disregard for the impossible. I always keep these in mind. And now, I wanna share them with my friends.

Dumb Mochi

Mochi: Mochi is gonna go write a blog post now.
Onion: About "dumb mochi"?
Mochi: Nope. But do you want me to write one about it?
Onion: Nah, that's ok. Everybody knows that already :P
Mochi: ......

Dreams

Is it true that as people grow older, their dreams become smaller? A six year old boy says he wants to be an astronaut, explore the galaxy, and make the world better. A ten year old boy says he wants to be the President and make the country better. A 15 year old boy says he wants to own a company and make the city better. A 20 year old boy says he wants to find a good job and make his family better. A 30 year old says he wants to keep his job and make his life better...

How many people actually has the talent, courage, and persistence to make their biggest dreams come true? Some people blame their luck. Some people are afraid of pursuing a dream that seems impossible. Some people simply forget their childhood dreams as they grow up and become more realistic.

Mochi's biggest dream, also the one Mochi is currently furthest away from, was to be a concert pianist. I still love piano and is passionate about it but I never had the courage to devote all my time to it because I knew I lack the natural talent and somebody could easily be better with less effort. Mochi is also a coward in the world of pursuing dreams.

Dependent, yet, independent...

This is me. I love being a baby and having people taking care of me. I need attention - I don't like kids because they get all the attention mochi wants!

A friend told me that his baby always starts crying when nobody is holding him. Mochi told him that baby needs attention just like when mochi was a baby. He said, mochi is still like that now :P I guess he's right... mochi is still a baby that refuses to grow up.

Mochi is dependent, but is also very good at pretending to be independent. Whenever mochi's ambition drives mochi to do something insane (like moving away from everybody who loves me for a job), mochi is forced to be independent. I can actually do that pretty well - until I find somebody to depend on again. Yes, I know, it's a mochi disease...

A friend told me I'll need to grow up eventually. Nobody will take care of me forever. I know he is right, but I just wanna be a baby for as long as I can... can I?

Thinking, Thinking, Thinking...

I used to think about random things a lot. I like to think and talk about philosophical questions and paradoxes with friends. When did I stop thinking about these? Maybe it was when I became an "engineer"? The busy work and logics has buried the philosophical part of me deep down inside.

Maybe having this blog will help getting that part of me out a bit more! This is a part of me I miss and my later friends don't see often :P

Happiness

Are people with little ambition always happier? I think so. The main reason people are not happy is because they're not satisfied with the current situation. Ambitious people ways find ways to be unsatisfied with the current situation; thus, they're never 100% happy. This, however, is what drives human beings to improve!

Why do people in north america have more depression problems than in other parts of the world? I think this is because we have all the necessary things in life already - so we have extra time to be depressed. If people were busy fighting for hunger all the time, there will be no time for thinking about "the purpose of life" and feeling worthless and depressed.

When I was a little girl, I used to get stressed out and depressed easily. I was unhappy because I always think about the negative aspects about a situation. I always feel like the sky is gonna fall down on me; always feel not being good enough for anything or anyone. One day, I realized that I was no longer like that anymore. I started enjoying life more by being optimistic and happy. I stopped worrying about things I have no control over. I started to see the originally "half empty" glass of water of being "half full". I found the positive aspects of everything. I believe - believe in everything is gonna be fine!

I am still ambitious about what I want to achieve in my life. I still have high expectations for myself. But, I found a way to do these without losing the ability to be happy.

I like being a happy mochi and use this happiness to influence the people I love - make them happy too.

Footprint

I am leaving the first footprint on Mochi's Planet!