jocelynauco.in ───≫

Today, in this season of lights and singing and color and general merriment, I fell witness to two very unfortunate events. Both involving cars and both involving the loss of lives - of the first, I am sure. The second remains to be seen, but I would be surprised if the driver walked away.

Having been in a god-awful wreck myself - six years ago and almost to the day, my reaction was nothing short of visceral. I was shaken. I was tearful. I swear I could still smell rubber burning from the day of my own accident. It all rushed back to me in an instant and it was intense.

Most of us don’t think about our own mortality too much, if at all. But what happened to me today was a certain, albeit tragic, reminder that life is short, vaporous. We’re here and then we’re gone. 

I don’t know where my mind will be in those last few seconds before I die.  

But I know I want my life to be meaningful. I want to make the most of everything I’ve been given. I want to bring something positive into the world - everyday. And I want to love others as much as I can. 

And if I can at least try at doing these things, then I think those last few seconds before I die will be okay. 

There’s been a lot of talk about Gen Y and their high expectations for work environments (think ping pong tables and bring your dogs to work) and benefits (think free lunches and options to work from home) - expectations set by companies like Facebook and Google.  And where I would agree that Facebook and Google perks are on the extreme end of things, and mostly unnecessary, I do think that wanting a company to value work/life balance is not an absurd request.  In fact, I think it’s a vital one. 

And when I hear this being talked about, I can’t help but think of how the work landscape has changed over the years.  Now I’m not big on history lessons - especially on Friday afternoons - but I’m pretty sure we used to live in a world where it was easier to sustain a home and provide for a family on one income. Right? These days, this is more the exception than the rule.

I suppose that this fact does leave some undue pressure on companies to pull up some of the slack - to create environments where people feel the freedom to still have lives outside of their work, and to feel like that life is also valued and important.  And it’s not a lost cause for these companies. I’m sure it’s been proven that if employees lives outside of work are nurtured, it directly affects the quality of their work.  

These seemingly ridiculous perks are merely a sign of the times. And if you ask me, we’re moving in a positive direction. 

What do you think? 

As I was getting ready for bed tonight, pushing up the sleeves of two sweathshirts I was wearing to throw out a blanket over my bed and, based on the previous night’s freeze-fest, deciding one blanket was not enough, and throwing a second blanket atop the first, I thought to myself, “California blows.”  Here’s why.

While all the rest of the country enjoys the blessed comforts of heat whenever they darn well please, we in California apparently have warm enough weather that we do not need to use our heaters. If we do, we get charged up the waz. Because when you live in California, you even have to pay to breathe the air.  

Okay, not really the last part.

But when I woke up this morning and checked the weather on my phone, it read 34 degrees.  Now, it’s been 14 years since I’ve taken a math class, but I’m fairly sure that that is two degrees away from freezing. So I make no exaggeration here when I tell you people I AM LITERALLY FREEZING MY YOU-KNOW-WHATS OFF and I NEED HEAT and CALIFORNIA? WELL….YOU BLOW!