The privacy vs convenience question has been around for a long time and many university courses have touched on this subject. Globalization is the future and at that time, privacy is probably non-existent. If you choose privacy, you will have to do many things by yourself whereas giving up privacy can make your life so much more convenient.

My version of the wild orchids is meditation – I do it for myself, it is my passion and individual bliss, however I do know the importance of it. I do it to calm myself and clear the bad emotions during the day and leave a quite and positive mind.

I experience conflict between self-care and caring for others all the time. Sometimes when my friend and I are discussing something, I oftentimes fall back and neglect some arguments that I want to make so that I do not hurt their feelings. Also, when they tell me something that they are interested but which I am not, I still listen to them despite annoying myself. Currently, I compromise and do my best so that I do not offend others (which means I offend myself all the time). However, I need some principals of my own and will improve on this shortly.

My audio piece is Victory by TwoStepsFromHell, a songs that does not have any lyrics, just misic. Generally, I do not like songs with words because I always feel that music itself is best at expressing emotions. Victory belongs to the “Battlesong” category where it is very motivating in stirring up emotions. When I feel nervous (for example, going to work for the first time), I usually listen to it and I become more relaxed and energetic.

For visual art, I have chosen the following item, actually from Amazon (https://www.amazon.ca/Matrix-Meditation-Decor-Print-Poster/dp/B07PNQDH4K).

I chose this art piece because it represents one of my biggest goals in life – to achieve spiritual connectedness. This art contains Indian Yoga/meditation and I have been doing it for a while now. Art like this looks sophisticated and confusing, but I find it beautiful and peaceful.

The things that I am most frustrated about is how tourists oftentimes do not care about the environment. For example, garbage on beaches and national parks. Despite having signs and garbage bins everywhere, garbage is still all over the place.

On a micro level, this makes sense. Tourists that throw garbage are mostly utilitarians in this regard – I can save myself a few steps by throwing this bottle in the river. They benefit by damaging the environment, which suits the utilitarian role. On a macro level, it also makes sense. Garbage-throwers as a whole probably thinks “it’s just one bottle, it’s fine”. However, when tens of thousands of bottle appear in one national park, it’s not fine.

My wealth flower looks like this.

For money, I have a decent amount which is enough for my living. However, I need to improve this part since my money are mostly from my parents. Energy means the energy to do things and currently, I am a bit lazy. Spiritual connectedness is decent and I have many understandings in this regard, but I have not touched in in some time. Mindset refers to positive mindset. I would say I have a decent mindset, but I still tend to get mad or depressed under some situations. Good job means having a good job, and currently I work at Walmart tp fulfill the 500 hours of work required for graduation. For knowledge, I have a decent amount since I read a lot and understand things quickly.

Overall, everything is just decent without being outstanding. Therefore, everything that I see as important needs to be improved, either by a smaller amount or a bigger amount.

Day 01: Lay’s Classic 165g plastic bag X1 (trash); McDonald’s paper takeout bag X2 (Recycle)

Day 02: White plastic bag X1 (trash); black plastic takeout container X2 (recycle); Sprite (500ml) bottle X1 (recycle)

Since I am on a Keto diet, I pretty much only eat cheese which only has one piece of plastic per 800 grams. Therefore, the above data was from two days when I ignored my diet and bought takeout foods and snacks. I would say my Keto diet is fairly environmental-friendly. However, when I do buy items from Walmart (like snacks and everyday groceries), I do produce a lot or garbage.

Although I would love to call another city “home”, I do miss the city that I grew up – Xi’an city. Below are a few images from the internet and my phone to represent this city.

The first image shows how advances and prosperous this city is. In fact, it is one of the biggest technological advanced regions in China. The second image shows how much history Xi’an holds. It has thousands of years of history, and it has been the capital city of China for many dynasties. The third image is where I grew up – in a very famous (the best) university in Xi’an. My grandparents still live there, in a building where the exterior is old but the interior is very new and beautiful. I have a very strong emotional attachment to this city, and I used to go back every summer.

Now that I think about it, my representation of Xi’an is pretty much identical to its tourism representations. Tourism marketing for Xi’an has indeed, always been about its history and technological advancement. Also, it gains tourists for having a very famous university. In fact, every advantage that I think this city has is represented in its image and brand as a tourism destinations. Judging from the results and my observations, the DMOs is definitely doing a wonderful job.

A neoliberal tourism world would be very extreme and fascinating to imagine. Every enterprise, every destination and every piece of land is marketized and privatized. Companies operate solely by the market rules, and the government will have no control over anything. Destinations will be possessed by private entities. For example, all parks in BC will be held by different (or one monopoly) enterprises; the environment of the parks will no longer be a priority, and every decision made will be profit-oriented. Hotels and restaurants are all (or owned by) huge international corporations like Marriott and McDonald’s.

As for employees, they will have minimal rights. The huge corporations will try their best to supress any form of unions and organizations. Employees will have minimal control over their employment and in difficult times, they could be (and would be) treated as “disposable asset”, similar to the Hotel Bauen example.

For consumers, this neoliberal tourism industry might be beneficial for them. Without government intervention (like price control), corporations can compete however they want, and pricing can be somewhat lower than the current tourism pricing. Also, consumers will realize that every company they choose, from airlines to booking websites to tour operators, restaurants and hotels are (or owned by) huge international corporations.

For large businesses owners, this world is very sweet for them. The government cannot influence anything they do, and they can do everything that will make them more money. They do not have to worry about violating monopoly laws, environmental laws or health codes. Trading is easier, and money can be transferred faster due to minimal anti-money-laundering laws. However, smaller businesses might suffer. Some of them will go bankrupt from being “bullied” by international corporations and the rest will be bought out by the big corporations.

Compared to today, despite this fantasy world is very extreme, it is somewhat similar to the tautism world we currently live in. The issue mentioned above like isolating and buying out small businesses and oppressing labour unions is very common. After all, our world is just a less-extreme neoliberal world.

After reading the article written by McQuaig and Brooks, I have decided to write about the object I am currently staring at – my laptop. I bought this laptop half a year ago when my old laptop decided to run things slower (including video games, of course), hotter and noisier. This new laptop has a smaller screen, a chip that is more energy efficient, and while possessing respectful gaming (which I have quitted for a while now) performance, looks like something you can carry in a formal office without looking like a hippie. I have had this laptop for 6 months now. To my surprise, the excitement vanished after a week of using it (let alone reflecting on the creation of it).

This laptop runs Windows and have apps like Word, Excel and PowerPoint. All from the same company – Microsoft. Before reading the article, I considered Bill Gates to be one of the greatest individuals in the creation of the modern PC. The admiration was backed by a few facts: his talent, ambition and of course – he was the richest man in the world for two decades (including 13 consecutive titles). However, after reading the article, my admiration took a hit and started thinking about the PC.

What is the PC’s purpose? My answer would be to make things easier. When the Jacquard Loom was invented back in 1803, its purpose was to make the manufacturing process of textiles easier. Similarly, the first PC, the Babbage Computer was created to make computing values simpler. When we look at how many people use the PC today, it is easy to tell how much easier it made things (it is not just a product, but and entire industry). People working in most industries are now required to possess computer skills, from typing documents to content creating, we need PCs.

In the past, computers were expensive, to the point that it would cost an average person more half of their annual salary. The main reason was that the industry was still relatively new and making the products had a high cost. However, technology (mainly manufacturing) is much advanced right now and most people can buy a very competent PC with half of their monthly salary (compared to annual). The designing, testing, manufacturing of the different parts and the integrating of the components into a much smaller package, a process used to cost thousands of dollars has shrunken down to just a few hundred dollars. Enabling more people to work more effectively while being more cost-effective.