What I've learned since moving to D.C. (some of which should be obvious): 0111

5501.  The lead singer of “Against Me!” (i.e., Laura Jane Grace) reminds me a little of Bret Michaels (the lead singer of “Poison”)/Johnny Rotten (the lead singer of the “Sex Pistols”);

5502.  Tré Cool (the drummer for “Green Day”) lived in Norfolk, Virginia;

5503.  Playing against your boyhood idols is surreal at first, but if you look at it as surreal all the time, you’re not going to rise to the occasion.  You have to think of yourself as equal; you have to think you’re better than a lot of guys;

5504.  No growth happens inside the comfort zone;

5505.  Sugar and processed foods have been shown to be eight times more addictive than cocaine;

5506.  The peanut butter curry ice cream at “Humphry Slocombe” (HumphrySlocombe.com) in San Francisco, California, is pretty tasty;

5507.  In big cities, it’s (perfectly) acceptable for adults to ride skateboards and scooters;

5508.  Apparently, Martin Yan (from the cooking show, “Yan Can Cook”) eats at “Hong Kong Flower Lounge” (Mayflower-Seafood.com/HKFL/) in Millbrae, California;

5509.  I’m taller than Martin Yan;

5510.  The mango pudding at “Hong Kong Flower Lounge” is really tasty;

5511.  I can now say I’ve walked on (a bed of) hot coals;

5512.  There are gorgeous girls at the University of Southern California;

5513.  The L(os )A(ngeles) Coliseum is right by the University of Southern California;

5514.  “Mondo Cozmo” (i.e., Josh Ostrander) is a Corona drinker;

5515.  At the end of the day, what you know is your greatest wealth.  And what you don’t know is your greatest risk.  But there is always risk, so learn to manage it instead of avoiding it;

5516.  A birthday party goes to another level when you hire your own bartender;

5517.  Everything depends on what you believe about yourself.  If you want to change your life, you have to change your self-concept.  If you want to move to a higher place, you need to change your belief about what is possible for you and elevate your beliefs about yourself;

5518.  Of all the beliefs that each one of us own, none is more important than the ones we have about ourselves.  Our beliefs about ourselves are the single most telling factors in determining our success and happiness in life;

5519.  The lack of love in a person’s life is the internal fear that he or she does not deserve love.  The absence of achievement is most often due to a genuine belief that one could never achieve at a high level.  The absence of happiness stems from the internal sentence that “Happiness is not my destiny;”

5520.  Japanese food and jazz is a strange combination.  I’m talking about you, Tomi Jazz, (TomiJazz.com) in New York (City);

5521.  I don’t get the ube ice cream craze;

5522.  You can get a great view of New York( City)’s skyline at 230 Fifth (230-Fifth.com) in Manhattan;

5523.  Don’t believe Guy Fieri.  The pizza at Don Antonio in New York (City) is fine, but not great;

5524.  A “pizze fritte” is like an unsweet doughnut;

5525.  Apparently, you can scoop gelato in the shape of a flower.  Who knew?

5526.  Everyone wants to go to heaven, but no one wants to die;

5527.  Many people will not start the journey until all the lights are green;

5528.  Too many people allow their excuses to get between them and the life they would love to live;

5529.  Most people are blinded by their own excuses.  They see what they are afraid of rather than what they want in life;

5530.  Success comes when you focus on your dream, not your fears;

5531.  We win by being the best version of ourselves in order to uniquely matter to someone else.  We can’t achieve that aim if we’re endlessly keeping score in relationship to the others who seek to matter.  If there’s a full accounting to be done, it should be within ourselves.  And we have to be unafraid to find what is wonderfully different and put it out there on full display.  That can feel uncomfortably daring.  And if it does, we are probably on the right track;

5532.  Here’s the thing about self-comparison: In addition to making you vacate your own experience, your own soul and your own life, in its extreme, it breeds resignation.  If we constantly feel that there is something more to be had – something that’s available to those with a certain advantage in life, but which remains out of reach for us – we come to feel helpless.  And the most toxic byproduct of this helpless resignation is cynicism – that terrible habit of mind and orientation of spirit in which, out of hopelessness for our own situation, we grow embittered about how things are and about what’s possible in the world.  Cynicism is a poverty of curiosity and imagination and ambition.  The best defense against it is vigorous, intelligent and sincere hope – not blind optimism, because that too is a form of resignation, to believe that everything will work out just fine and we need not apply ourselves.  I mean hope bolstered by critical thinking that is clearheaded in identifying what is lacking in ourselves or the world, but then envisions ways to create it and endeavors to do that;

5533.  If you are struggling to compete, don’t look to what others have done.  Discover what is missing in the world or incomplete within yourself and apply all your energy to the worthy endeavor of filling that unclaimed space better than anyone else ever could.  Find your difference and you will make a difference;

5534.  Ask yourself, “What’s the worst that could happen if I fail?”  Almost always, the consequences aren’t as dire as you fear.  Then ask yourself, “What’s the best that could happen?”  Stop focusing on the fear and instead train your sights on the potential, on the exciting achievements that are possible when you reach outside your comfort zone;

5535.  With the growth mindset, mistakes just allow you to learn and grow.  You’re not afraid of failure because you know that’s how you grow, that’s how you get better;

5536.  For the fixed mindset, you’re as good as you’re going to get at the start.  For the growth mindset, who you are now is just the starting point.  It’s exciting because you don’t know how far you’ll be able to grow;

5537.  Struggle isn’t a sign that you’re attempting something you shouldn’t.  Struggle is an opportunity to grow your abilities and sharpen your smarts;

5538.  If your reaction to admitting that you don’t know something is defensiveness or paralyzing fear, you’re never going to grow;

5539.  I think the main reason that superhero movies are so popular is because most people have a fixed mindset (i.e., meaning that they think their strengths and weaknesses are set in stone, that they’re born with or without certain talents and that skills can’t be gained and learnt over time) and they feel that they're not enough.  People imagine that they’re the hero/ine and that they too have hidden, innate abilities that makes them unique and special and, ultimately, worthy of being loved;

5540.  Because of the way your brain works, the pursuit of gratitude and compassion will make you happier than the pursuit of happiness itself;

5541.  Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world.  Today I am wise, so I am changing myself;

5542.  The mind is like a parachute.  It only works when it’s open;

5543.  Are you “letting go” or are you afraid?  When people say things like “It just doesn’t feel right,” “I’m being guided to walk away,” “If it was meant to be then it wouldn’t be this hard” or “It just isn’t flowing” and then they use it as a rationale to give up, walk away or abandon someone (or something) that has real value in their lives.  They’ll usually label this act as “letting go.”  They’ll speak as if challenging circumstances are an indicator from the universe that the thing they’re pursuing is “not for me,” when maybe what’s really going on is that they’re afraid, doubting themselves or something has triggered an old wound that they’d rather not look at;

5544.  Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate;

5545.  Vulnerability leads to authentic connection and it helps us build compassion and empathy.  It heals.  It builds bridges.  When we’re able to be vulnerable, it helps us understand ourselves better.  And in deepening our own inner experiences we deepen our ability to empathize with the experiences of others.  Basically, it expands our capacity for love and humanity;

5546.  Most of us have been hurt in love.  Whether it’s romantic love, in friendship or with family.  Usually it’s about some expectation of ours not being met.  Sometimes it can be because someone disappoints us with their actions.  Sometimes it can be because our feelings (or expectations) are not reciprocated.  Or there’s not enough respect or equality in the relationship.  Or because their actions don’t match the promises we think were made.  All of that can feel really painful.  It can be hard to open up again once you’ve felt stung, especially if the sting was very deep;

5547.  We’re wired to learn from bad experiences.  We learn to avoid them like touching a hot stove.  We’ve all done it once, maybe twice, but we soon learned that it’s something best avoided.  What happens when we start to avoid love?  Avoiding a physical burn is a pretty straight forward choice.  There’s not much downside to it.  We’re not missing out on something precious by not touching that hot stove, but closing down our hearts so that we can avoid getting emotionally hurt.  That’s a trickier choice because love is part of what makes life worth living.  It may even be the thing that makes life worth living;

5548.  Most stress in our lives results from hanging on to beliefs that keep us striving for more because ego stubbornly believes we need it.  When we make the shift away from attachment, the influence of our ego fades.  We replace attachment with contentment.  Chasing and striving – and then becoming attached to what we chased after – is a source of anxiety that feeds ambition, but it won’t satisfy the need for meaning at our soul level;

5549.  The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the grandest intention;

5550.  We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give;