watch the sky

I will never ask if you don't ever tell me

2006-03-24T14:05:00.000-08:00

Currently Playing: Taking Back Sunday - Cute Without the 'E' (Cut from the Team)

Apparently, sleep is now bad for you. In fact, too much of it will kill you.

Or so says the results of a six-year long study of more than a million adults, coincidentally conducted by psychiatry professor Daniel Kripke of UCSD (I did not even know we had a psychiatry major). Someone who sleeps an average of 6-7 hours a night supposedly will have a lower death rate than a person who sleeps an average of 8 hours a night.

Now, being the scientific-minded, sleep-loving person that I am, my first instinct is to immediately question the validity of such an experiment. I mean, using people in an experiment is hard enough to control. But using over a million people?! There is just a staggering amount of variability there, with no way to control for it. The differences in sleep could be due to a number of reasons: emotional state, physical state, age, sex, and everything else that is different from one person to another. All this experiment really proves is that there is a link between people who sleep slightly less and a lower mortality rate. Which really amounts to nothing.

Think about it. If a person that normally slept 8 hours a night read this study and decided to sleep an hour or two less a night, would that person automatically reduce their mortality rate? Probably not. I am more inclined to believe that the chance of that person dying has more to do with their emotional and physical health, but maybe that's just me. But you know what? THAT might actually be a worthwhile experiment to carry out. THIS experiment does not prove anything except to be an atrocious waste of time and my tuition money.

You're always so right

2006-03-09T14:13:00.000-08:00

Currently Playing: Simple Plan - Shut Up

The "bird flu" panic has gotten way out of hand. I have been seeing at least one to two top headlines about it every day. What really got to me was the most recent one: Bird Flu Could Appear in U.S. in Months. Attention grabbing, yes. This headline was obviously written to catch your attention by inciting panic. For months now we've been hearing that the bird flu could be the first pandemic of the 21st century. It has been likened to the plague that ran through Europe. How could you ignore this frightening possibility?!

Quite easily, in fact. What many people do not seem to realize is that all of this is theoretical. Yes, there is a bird flu virus strain known as H5N1 that currently can infect and spread from bird to bird. And yes, in theory, there is a possiblilty that this virus could mutate and become infectious to humans. And yes, in theory, that could possibly mutate and become contagious and spread from person to person. And yes, in theory, there is a chance the virus could become deadly.

But remember: In theory, communism works. In theory. Risks should be assessed, and precautions should be taken, but all with a grain of salt. The virus has taken eight years to spread from East Asia to Europe. As this article says, "Short of eating infected bird feces, humans seem close to immune." And honestly, if you eat bird crap, maybe it's your own fault you got sick.

So to sum up, this whole bird flu scare is stupid. OMFGWTFBBQ! One cat died from infection! Kill all birds! Kill all cats! Sigh. Anyway, moral of the story is: Don't eat bird shit.

Can't reset the years

2006-02-22T14:03:00.000-08:00

Currently Playing: OZMA - Gameover

I miss the days where I could shirk my responsibilities with little or no repercussions. Don't get me wrong; in no way am I saying that I miss school or class. But I am saying that I miss missing class.

With that in mind, I never wrote the "reflect back on the last four years" entry that I was planning on writing when I graduated. And you know what, I probably never will.

Just so long as this thing is loaded

2006-02-10T14:58:00.000-08:00

Currently Playing: Taking Back Sunday - Cute Without The "E" (Cut From The Team)

I found a Jack Bauer spin-off of the Vin Diesel/Chuck Norris Random Facts. The Jack Bauer one is more awesome not only because Jack Bauer is the fucking man, but also because many of these are conceivably true.

These are some of the most hilarious I have seen:

-Upon hearing that he was played by Kiefer Sutherland, Jack Bauer killed Sutherland. Jack Bauer gets played by no man.

-If you wake up in the morning, it's because Jack Bauer spared your life.

-When life gave Jack Bauer lemons, he used them to kill terrorists. Jack Bauer fucking hates lemonade.

-If it tastes like chicken, looks like chicken, and feels like chicken, but Jack Bauer says its beef. Then it's fucking beef.

-Lets get one thing straight, the only reason you are conscious right now is because Jack Bauer does not feel like carrying you.

-Jack Bauer once won a game of rock paper scissors using niether rock, paper nor scissors.

-Jack Bauer removed the "Escape" button from his keyboard. Jack Bauer never needs to escape.

-Jack Bauer arm once wrestled Superman. The stipulations were the loser had to wear his underwear on the outside of his pants.

-Jack Bauer's favorite color is severe terror alert red. His second favorite color is violet, but just because it sounds like violent.

-When you open a can of whoop-ass, Jack Bauer jumps out.

-Jack Bauer uses #1 pencils on standardized tests.... Jack Bauer doesn't associate with anything that is #2.

-What color is Jack Bauer's blood? Trick question. Jack Bauer does not bleed.

-In Season 3 Jack Bauer "distracted" an armed terrorist using only a lighter, some bullets, and a tin can. He then shot the man anyway.

You won't be the last one anymore

2006-02-10T13:45:00.000-08:00

Currently Playing: Yellowcard - Underdog

Kobe Bryant, in his self-written article in the newest issue of Dime:

"I HATE being scored on, even by players who some say are "un-guardable". I don't believe it when they say "Oh, that player is just hot today." F--- that! Cool his ass off then."

On a related note, we MUST put a stop to the current trend of getting our asses kicked in IM basketball. And I need to figure out why my shoes have lost all traction to the point where I could slide across the court without even lifting either of my feet off the ground.

And I'm thinking I'd prefer not to be rescued

2006-02-08T14:05:00.000-08:00

Currently Playing: Jack's Mannequin - Rescued

The top 10 things I would do if I were to suddenly came into a large sum of money (i.e. by winning the lottery, robbing banks, dealing drugs, etc...you know):

1. Buy everyone I know a fucking electric car. Then when people say my car is electric, I can respond with, "Not as electric as yours, bitch!" Or something to that effect.

2. Pay off my parents' mortgage, car loans, etc...As long as I never have to worry about money again, they should never have to worry about money again.

3. Buy an awesome home entertainment system. Complete with the best speaker system available and the second largest plasma TV ever made (I mean, I would not want it to be too gaudy; and I definitely do not want to make it seem like I am compensating for something).

4. Find a part-time job that I would enjoy doing, but could still blow off if I felt like it. Something like substitute teaching, for example. (On a side note, I have always wondered about substitute teaching. Are substitute teachers actually substitute teachers for a living? Or are they former teachers who are inbetween jobs? Or do they just substitute teach as a side job? Who are they?)

5. Buy Tiffany that *ahem* (overpriced) necklace she likes so much. Among other things.

6. Go back to school and get a degree in something useful. Like...I don't know, Philosophy or something. Not this junk Biochemistry and Cell Biology degree I have now.

7. Blog more often. Or maybe not. I would have the time, but would I have the will to get over the laziness?

8. Travel. I could do this even if I did not win the lottery, but this way I could travel now.

9. Buy Lakers season tickets. I need to make up for all the games I have missed (i.e. all of them).

10. Donate to cancer research or maybe even do some research myself. Because let's face it, if you live long enough, you are guaranteed to get cancer sooner or later. And that sucks.

My life has become a boring pop song and everyone's singing along

2006-02-06T14:15:00.000-08:00

Currently Playing: Jack's Mannequin - I'm Ready

Have you ever had one of those days where you just seem to be standing still while everything around you continues to move? All of the sudden you realize you have no recollection of the past four hours, and by the time you finally get over the idea that time has passed without you knowing, another two hours have passed.

"And today was a day just like any other."

It's been a long time, very long time since I heard your voice

2006-01-23T10:46:00.000-08:00

Currently Playing: Newfound Glory - Sincerely Me

It has been awhile.

Three months and ten days to be absolutely precise.

I know my updates don't come often, but that has to be a new record. I've actually started 4 entries in that time, but never got past the first paragraph in any of them. Normally, I only update when I am subject to a sudden burst of (marginally) creative inspiration, and that's why I started 4 entries. But I was always interrupted before I finished, and by the time I got back to the entry, I had lost the will to write (or had just forgotten what I wanted to write about). Anyway, the inspiration for this entry comes from Robby's newly created blog and latest entry. Since I strive to best Robby at every little thing I do, I am now driven to finish an update, in spite of the fact that I am currently at work and have a lot of work to do (funny how that works out). And although I do not quite have Robby's eloquence with words, nor his sharp wit, I did beat him 6-2 in fantasy basketball, even though my team is currently dead last (a whopping 22.5 games behind first place). And so I ramble...

A lot of time has passed since my last update, but not much has happened. I graduated, started working full time, and that's pretty much it. And please, don't ask me about what my job entails. Unless you have a background in molecular biology, then I don't want to take the effort to explain it to you and you probably don't want to hear me explain it to you. Let's save us both the trouble.

Randomness: In basketball news, Kobe Bryant scored an unfathomable 81 points last night in a win over the Toronto Raptors. His stats last night had some important fantasy basketball implications for me, but what he did goes beyond that. As a fan of basketball, it is just amazing to me that anyone could score that much in a come-from-behind victory without any overtimes. And yet, I can already hear the criticisms now: Kobe is too selfish; Kobe shoots too much; Kobe doesn't make his teammates any better; whatever. Why criticize and say he should pass more when he has the ability to score like that? Is any other player in the NBA even capable of scoring 81 points? Even if they took 60 shots? (Kobe did it in 46) And why should he pass the ball more when him scoring 40 every night gives them the best chance to win? Kobe has tried being unselfish before. It didn't work. At least not with names like Chris Mihm and Smush Parker in the starting line up.

I've got a way and you know how

2005-10-13T17:49:00.000-07:00

Currently Playing: Yellowcard - Lights and Sounds

Large groups of Asians are stupid. Asians are stupid. People are stupid.

I was trying to pick up Tiffany from class on Tuesday in the Peterson parking turn-around, only I ran into a wall of Asians congregating around outside of Peterson. Normally, this would only annoy me and not piss me off, but not only was it an exceptionally large group of Asians, half of them were standing in the street! It's not like there wasn't ample sidewalk space for all of them to comfortably stand. I mean, the street is narrow enough as it is. STAND ON THE SIDEWALK ASSHOLES!

Also, I don't understand why everyone is so hell bent on exiting out the rear door of the shuttle. At least half of the people in the front half of the shuttle go out the rear door. Combine that with all the people in the back of the shuttle and it takes forever to get out, especially if you're already late for class. If you are in the front half of the bus, go out the front door!

Randomness:
"This is my first summer [with] no trouble. I ain't go to jail for speeding. Didn't go to jail for DUI. I didn't break my foot. I didn't break my other foot. I'm one step ahead of the game already."
-- Kwame Brown

It's going to be a long season...

Hello friend, it's been too long

2005-10-08T09:21:00.000-07:00

Currently Playing: Yellowcard - Finish Line

Last night was Fallfest, a free concert held every year at UCSD. This year they had Nural, DJ Quik, and Yellowcard. I won't bore everyone with details of how the night went and such, since everyone that went already knows what happened and I doubt anyone who didn't go cares about what I did leading up to the concert.

The first two bands were not of much note. In fact, Arden was even asleep through most of DJ Quik. We went down to the floor while they were setting up for Yellowcard, and Tiffany somehow pushed her way all the way to the front and near center. When the concert started, we were five or six people back inbetween Ryan (lead singer/guitarist) and Pete (bassist). After two or three songs though, Tiffany and I got out of there and moved over to the left a little. We ended up closer to the stage (three or four people back), and right in front of Pete. I actually enjoy being a little off-center more because there are still enough people into the music and jumping around to make it fun, but there is no longer the danger of getting pushed down to the floor (like Kevin) or getting bum-rushed in the face (also like Kevin).

Yellowcard was awesome.

They played an hour-and-a-half long set; much, much longer than I any other set I've seen/heard, Yellowcard or otherwise. Highlights include a cover of Say it Ain't So by Weezer, a sea of cell phone lights during an acoustic Cigarette encore, an inordinate number of flip-flops being thrown on stage, one of which hit Ryan, and a rousing "Ahhh-ahhh-ahh, ahh-ahhh-ahh, ahh-ahh-ahh-ahhhh" backup for Ocean Avenue sung by most of the crowd. For anyone who cares or is trying to keep track, here set list to the best of my memory, somewhat in order (the middle songs are a little fuzzy):

1. Way Away
2. Twenty-three
3. Inside Out
4. Avondale
5. Finish Line
6. Say it Ain't So
7. Empty Apartment
8. View from Heaven
9. A.W.O.L.
10. Life of a Salesman
11. Believe
12. Only One
13. Breathing
14. Cigarette
15. Lights and Sounds
16. Ocean Avenue

And a few songs from their new album that I don't remember the name of.

Randomness: Vote for Jack's Mannequin for the Yahoo! Music's Who's Next? contest here. Do it!

Tell me what you got away with

2005-09-27T09:44:00.000-07:00

Currently Playing: Brand New - Seventy Times 7

As promised, here are the pictures of my windshield after it was hit by a golf ball while I was driving on the freeway:

From the front

Another angle

From inside the car

So as you can see, pretty bad damage. I had to shell out $190 to get it replaced.

$190 gone. For no fucking reason or fault of mine at all! $190 to be able to say that I almost died from a golf ball shattering my windshield while driving on the freeway. Of all the random things that could happen, I did not expect this.

Whatever.

Randomness: To prove my point that my car is in fact a HYBRID, not electric car, here are pictures:

Random Driving Rant: I was driving on the I-5 South near the 805 junction in the 2nd lane from the right. Then, this car coming off the I-5 onramp from the 56 West starts to merge into the right-most lane. Fine, that's normal. I maintain a constant speed of 75 mph or so and pass that car, just as it finishes merging into the right-most lane, only to see her giving me the middle finger. Apparently she wanted to do a double lane change, and I got in her way. How the fuck was I supposed to know that? I was supposed to be able to figure that out from you signaling and changing lanes normally?! And even if I did know, there's no way in hell I'm slowing down to 65 mph just for you. And you proceed to have to gall to flip me off?! Fuck me you say? No lady, fuck you.

It's that sort of thing that makes you lose your objectivity

2005-09-22T15:28:00.001-07:00

Currently Playing: Straylight Run - The Perfect Ending

I have no problem waking up for 8am classes anymore. My alarm went of at 6:45am, I got up promptly, took a shower, and even had a little time to surf the web before I had to leave.

This, coming from the same person who wasn't able to get up before 1pm and purposely scheduled classes so that there was no need to get up before 1pm. Well, that's not really true. There were some early classes I could not avoid taking, but I would just pretend that I wasn't enrolled. I feel like I have lost a part of my identity, part of who I am.

Randomness: A golf ball cracked my windshield while I was driving on the freeway. I hate golf.

Pictures later.

I'm falling into memories of you

2005-08-23T16:30:00.000-07:00

Currently Playing: Yellowcard - One Year, Six Months

Turn the car around and run away

2005-08-22T14:32:00.000-07:00

Currently Playing: Matchbook Romance - Tiger Lily

I don't mean to generalize, but women fucking suck at driving. Sure, not all of them are out there to kill or piss off anyone unfortunate enough to be on the road at the same time as them, and not all the bad ones are female, but it always seems like the worst ones are.

On just a ten minute drive from the Burger King on Miramar to Birch Aquarium, I encountered three separate instances of bad/horrible driving.

1. On the La Jolla Village Drive overpass of the 805 freeway, a silver SUV that was in front of me braked suddenly and slowed to 30 mph when everyone else was going at least 55 mph. I had to change lanes quickly to avoid hitting the SUV, and the car behind me had to brake pretty hard. I pass the SUV only to see a girl pointing at seeminly nothing to apparently no one. She didn't even have a passenger! Who and what could she be pointing to??

2. Also on La Jolla Village Drive, this time right before the Via La Jolla Drive intersection, some middle aged woman slowed down to a crawl and then stopped for the red light. Not too bad so far right? Well, she didn't just stop a few feet behind a car like you normally would. She stopped at least two and a half car lengths behind the car in front of her! And that wasn't even the worst part. When the light turned green, she didn't move! So I gave her my allowed time of ten seconds and then honked at her. She then proceeded to crawl to the light, but by the time she got there, the light had already turned yellow. And obviously you have to stop for a yellow light. Which is exactly what she did. Bitch.

3. I was stopped in the left turn lane to turn into Birch Aquarium when an old lady slowed to a stop in the lane next to me. The only problem was, her light was green! She was honestly stopped there for at least a minute and a half, just staring blankly at God knows what, oblivious to the cars passing her in the other lane. Then some guy on his cell phone pulled up behind her and stopped there, also apparently oblivious to the fact that their light was green. It wasn't until a third car got stuck there that the second car realized what was going on and honked at the old lady. Luckily I got to watch the whole thing unfold as merely a passive observer.

I drink too much and don't believe in much of anything

2005-08-18T13:47:00.000-07:00

Currently Playing: Straylight Run - It's for the Best

How's that for an entry?

Randomness: I finally remembered: it's called tandem parking.

And all this empty space that you create

2005-07-17T01:33:00.000-07:00

Currently Playing: Brand New - Jude Law and a Semester Abroad

I finished Book 6.

The following is a review of the book based on my opinion only. There are NO spoilers. If you care at all about spoilers though, do NOT go around reading reviews, as some people feel it necessary to ruin the story for others just because they had a problem(s) with the way the book turned out.

This may be an "in-the-moment" sort of assertion, but Book 6 is the best book of the series so far. While lacking the extent of the child-like wonderment of the first two books, the fast-paced action of the third and fourth books, and the dark, forboding tone of the fifth book, Book 6 is as compelling a page-turner as the other books of the series as it delves much more deeply into the psychological aspects of the plot; in particular the dark childhood and adolescence preceeding a certain wizard's transformation into the Dark Lord. There is a definite sense of maturation, both in Harry and the series. Harry Potter is no longer a children's book. This is not to say, however, that there isn't enough action to keep even the most casual reader happy. There are enough twists and turns to keep you guessing and a cliffhanger ending that, unlike the previous books, leaves you with no idea of what will happen next - making it all the more difficult and depressing to wait for the final installment of the series.

To sum up: GO READ IT NOW.

I really need to talk to someone about the book, so if you have finished it, talk to me!

Just a little change

2005-07-10T13:32:00.000-07:00

Currently Playing: Disney - Beauty and the Beast

This past weekend was quite eventful.

Tiffany's friend from the U.K. flew over to visit and to attend Anime Expo up in Anaheim. It was interesting to see an Asian girl with a British accent. Definitely many bonus points for the accent.

Both Tiffany and her friend Stephanie were staying at my house for the weekend, so we drove up to Irvine on Thursday night. The girls, my brothers, and I spent the next four days at AX. There wasn't really much of interest to note. Arden had asked me to find him "something cool" and under $20 at the convention. I wasn't even able to find anything suitably cool enough for me, let alone enough for Arden (some slight sarcasm here).

Tuesday the girls went to the San Diego Zoo. Jon, Arden, and I picked them up around 7:30 pm and went to Hooters for dinner. The hostess at Hooters gave each guy an "I *heart* Hooters" sticker. There's a whole other story about the stickers that I won't tell here, but let's just say there was some grabbing and yelling going on between Arden and Jon after the stickers were placed in some choice spots in the chestal area. I'll leave the rest to your imagination. Between the five of us, we were able to finish all 50 chicken wings and fries.

Wednesday Tiffany, Stephanie, and I went to Disneyland, the self-proclaimed most magical place on Earth. I haven't been to Disneyland in over ten years (I remember the last time I went, the Indiana Jones ride had just opened), but I do have to say, it does still live up to its billing. Maybe it's all the nostalgia, maybe it's the people, maybe it's just plain fun, but even after all these years, Disneyland still leaves you with feelings of awe and wonderment.

We went on almost all the rides we could, even the Winnie the Pooh ride. Unfortunately, both Splash Mountain and the Teacup ride were having technical difficulties the whole day, so we weren't able to go on them. Also, Space Mountain was open for a preview session, but by the time we heard, the line was too long and it was too late.

The best ride we went on, and quite frankly, the best ride ever, was Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters. This ride alone was worth the steep $56 admission price. It was so good that we went on it three times - despite the long wait time. The ride is your basic Disneyland go-along-a-track-looking-at stuff ride with one awesome twist: you get a gun. You shoot at various targets and accumulate points based on the difficulty of the shot. You can also get bonus points for hitting a target that is lit up. At the end of the ride they have this cool thing where they e-mail to you the picture they took, with the scores and everything. Here are the pictures, along with some of the other random ones we took:

The girls on their second Astro Blasters run.

My first try.

My second try. Note the awesome score and 23rd ranking. I did cheat a little because the ride stopped in the middle, but we could still shoot and accumulate points.

Third run through. A non-cheating score.

The girls by It's a Small World.

Simba and Rafiki!

Main Street at night.

Tram pictures!

Randomness: You know what I noticed recently? Everyone says "like" too much. Almost once a sentence in most cases. I mean, I do it too. Sometimes without even realizing it. It's a little disconcerting. I've been trying to make a conscious effort to not say "like" unless absolutely necessary, but a lot of times it just slips out. Does anyone else realize this? Or care? ...Am I the only one??

Rant: I do not understand why people would tYpE LyKe diS, or not follow proper grammar and stylization rules, like punctuations and paragraphs, when posting or writing in a public forum like a blog or website community. I can understand, and even accept a few spelling or grammar errors, but there is no excuse for doing it on purpose. The reason the rules exist is because they make things easier to read. If you are writing something for other people to read or that other people can read, then please be considerate enough to make it readable. Don't make me try to read something that hurts my eyes...I'm blind enough as it is.

The weather is getting better by the hour

2005-06-29T14:48:00.000-07:00

Currently Playing: Brand New - Jude Law and a Semester Abroad

Global warming pisses me off.

I'd hate to re-rant about something I have already ranted about, but I just saw this article on Yahoo! I hate how the media manipulates the uneducated public with these bullshit scare stories. How exactly can they measure the salt content of the whole fucking ocean anyway?! It's impossible. Not only that, the salt content is not the same everywhere. Just because one or some areas of the ocean have declining salt concentrations does not mean the whole ocean does.

Same with the whole "Global warming" theory. Just because some glaciers are melting, and some climates are getting warmer, it does not mean the whole Earth is getting warmer, and that all the glaciers will melt and flood the Earth. In fact, most glaciers are growing, but you never hear anything about those do you? The article even says that "scientists disagree over whether the planet is warming and how much humans might be contributing." And yet in the very next sentence it only talks about how "most" climate experts believe there is a clear warming trend. Just the fact that there is widespread disagreement should tell you something. You don't see anyone arguing about DNA coding for genes, or that the acceleration due to gravity is 9.8 m/s^2. That's because no one can accurately and consistently predict the weather one month or even one week in the future, let alone in hundreds of years.

And even if the Earth were experiencing global warming, the effects are so miniscule and so extended that we wouldn't be able to tell the difference anyway. Oh no! the Earth is going to warm up one degree in a hundred years! Time to give this "trend" a spiffy name and cause widespread panic! YAY!

So now faith is replaced with a logic so cold

2005-06-18T10:44:00.000-07:00

Currently Playing: Straylight Run - It's for the Best

Some random blurbs:

Grades are up. I fucked up royally this quarter. So much for finally raising my GPA above 3.0. I don't think it's even possible anymore.

I found out that I need to take both the general GREs and the subject GREs for grad school. I must do exceptionally well on both to make up for my shitty, shitty GPA. Ah, it's just like High School all over again. They tell you once you get to college, everything is different. But honestly, it's exactly the same.

I decided to accept the unpaid internship position. They only have me working two and a half days a week and I will definitely get a letter of recommendation from them. I even get to conduct my own study and maybe even get published.

I was at the Costa Mesa Mitsuwa eating ramen (the best ramen ever, by the way) last week and they were showing this weird Japanese show on the TVs they have there. Apparently the kids in Japan play a weird game involving big nets, big fans, and paper airplanes. There are two teams, one on "offense," and one on "defense"...I think. The team on offense has one player at the baseline of what looks like a volleyball court, and that person throws a paper airplane. The other players on offense then try to catch the paper airplane with their big nets. The defense's job then, is to try to disrupt the flight pattern of the paper airplane with their big fans and prevent the other team from catching the paper airplaine. They take turns being on offense and defense, I think; and there is a point-based system that determines who wins and loses. I couldn't understand what they were saying, but the kids seemed really intense when they interviewed them. Apparently this is a big thing over in Japan. Those crazy Japanese...

Apparently the San Diego Police department employs RSVPs, a.k.a. Retired Senior Volunteer Patrols. They get to drive around in a quasi-police car (I say "quasi" because the car only had an orange half-siren positioned on top of the hood and very few markings) and serve as "ambassadors to the public" by helping to "assist the public with everyday questions (such as recommending good restaurants, parking, activities, etc)." LOL.

No one hears me sing this song

2005-06-15T11:46:00.000-07:00

Currently Playing: Weezer - In the Garage

So I got a random "Anonymous" call yesterday, and on a whim I decided to actually pick it up. To my surprise it wasn't a telemarketer trying to survey me about what kind of soap I use, but a response from one of the jobs I applied to. Unfortunately, she informed me that they could not offer me the job I applied for because I am still in school, but that she could offer me an unpaid internship. My first instinct was to turn it down, but since I have no other prospects right now, and since the job actually sounds interesting, I decided to take it.

The only downsides are that it's all the way in Carlsbad, which is about 20 miles away, and well, of course, that I don't get paid. We'll see how it goes when I go in on Thursday. Worse comes to worst, I won't feel too guilty about quitting.

Why do you leave these stories unfinished?

2005-06-09T01:06:00.000-07:00

Currently Playing: Something Corporate - Walking By

I've been meaning to finish this entry for awhile now, but I have been too busy pretending to study for finals. Of course I choose now, 14 hours before my first final (which, by the way, is worth 100% of my grade in the class), to drop the charade and just plain slack my ass off.

Anyway, this is a story from the past Saturday:

I was driving north on La Jolla Village Drive to pick up Tiffany from work this past Saturday when I notice this girl in a silver Honda Civic following me pretty closely. This continued for a block or so before I decided to switch lanes and let her pass. I guess she chose that same moment to try to pass me, so I end up getting in her way. For some reason unbeknownst to me, she assumes that gives her the right to high beam me and to flip me the bird as she past me.

Now, normally, I am a very forgiving person. But this really, really pissed me off. I'm not sure what it was. Maybe it was because she didn't even bother to look at me as she passed. Maybe it was because she just looked like a bitch. Or, maybe Kevin is right, and losing three straight sets in Virtua Tennis really does put you in a horrible mood - I don't know. I just knew that I could not let her drive away thinking that she could get away with something like that because she believes she is better than everyone else.

So, I gave her a taste of her own medicine.

And it was bitter.

If you've never been in the car while I was driving before, I'll tell you now that I can tailgate as well as just about anyone. So I tailgate her for two blocks or so (in the process missing the turn to pick up Tiffany). She then proceeds to drive through a red light...right in front of a waiting police car (for those of you who might be thinking that I could have caused an accident, she thought she could make the yellow light; and she nearly did). I, of course, stopped at the light and had the priviledge of watching her get pulled over. Ah, karma is a bitch.

Randomness: My thoughts go out to Andrew McMahon, the lead singer of Something Corporate and Jack's Mannequin, who was diagnosed with Acute Lymphatic Leukemia recently. Your music has the ability to lift my spirits when I am down and brings me closer to the people that I love. You will make a full recovery and continue to make the music I love.

Take my picture by the pool, 'cause I'm the next big thing.

2005-05-25T17:47:00.000-07:00

Currently Playing: Weezer - Beverly Hills

So I have jumped on the quiz-making bandwagon and made one myself. Take it! Show me how much you really know me.

Link here.
See how you compare.

I guess I haven't updated in a long time, and since it's probably wrong to post just my quiz, I'll write about some other stuff as well.

I'm trying to find an internship or career-relevant job for the summer, but it's not going so well. I had an interview on Monday at a company called "Bioedge". You would think that with a name like Bioedge, that it would have something to do with biology. Boy was I wrong. It turns out Bioedge manufactures contact lenses. My job would have been to manufacture the blue dye the put in the lenses to make them visible if dropped or misplaced. That has nothing to do with any biological science, unless you consider corrective lenses a biological science. I mean, you wouldn't call an eyeglass manufacturer a biological research company would you? WOULD YOU?? Might as well call it CompuGlobalHyperMegaNet. Sure, the job description said something about working with polymers, which isn't exactly what I want to do because that is more pure chemistry...but I figured it was still somewhat relevant lab work. Whatever.

And not only was I apparently not prepared for this interview at all, they had four people in the same room interviewing me at the same time. Needless to say, the interview did not go so well.

Randomness: Play Maple Story. Sign-ups open at 4:00 AM Thursday.

No, it's not the last time

2005-04-01T23:56:00.000-08:00

Currently Playing: Fall Out Boy - Dead on Arrival

**If you were expecting an update about my life, then you will be disappointed by this entry. This is a fairly long rant and delves into philosophical topics, so if you don't feel like reading, then DON'T. You have been warned**

I have been following the Terri Schiavo story recently because last quarter I took a philosophy class on contemporary moral issues, and the "Right-to-die" was one of the topics.

I think the fact that Congress and President Bush tried to intervene is ridiculous. And in this article here, House majority leader (a Texas Republican) Tom DeLay is quoted, "The time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior." How can he justify saying that? He can believe in whatever he wants, but he should not be condemning someone else for not believing in what President Bush calls a "culture of life."

I can understand how Terri Schiavo's parents protested so strongly against taking her off the feeding tube, and how they are mourning her death now, but what I do not understand is all the other people who are mourning her death as if she were a precious loved one. How could someone in a persistent vegetative state - someone who cannot talk, move, think, feel, or even eat anymore - have "touched" so many people as deeply as they claim? Did they know her personally? Did they have any idea what her life was like at all? How did the life (and death) of this one woman turn into such a public spectacle?

As my Biology of Cancer professor jokingly put it, "'Pro-choice' cells are normal, and 'Pro-life' cells are cancerous." If you don't get it, normal cells are programmed with the choice to die if they lose function through a process called apoptosis. Cancer cells do not die, and grow uncontrollably until they form tumors.

This, of course, is not supposed to represent how we are supposed to act, but it does give some insight to how I feel about the subject.

I should distinguish between the "Right-to-die" argument and the "Physician-assisted-suicide" argument. While the two may seem identical or at least similar, they are two completely different (though interconnected) concepts. In one, the physician is letting the patient die, and in the other, the physician is in essence killing the patient.

There is a difference, believe me. That's why there is a distinction in the law between accidentally killing someone with your car and running away and intentionally murdering someone with your car. It is never morally permissible for a doctor to kill a patient. The Hippocratic Oath they take does not allow it. It is a doctor's moral obligation to save lives, never to take it away. That is why physician assisted suicide should not be allowed.

However, a person does have the right to refuse treatment. A person does have the right to choose to not be a patient. If that person chooses to no longer be a patient, then the doctor is no longer morally obligated to save that person's life, and should step back. Take away that choice and you are taking away a person's right to self-determination. Our society (at least, I think so) believes in an ideal of personal sovereingty and autonomy, in which each person should be left free to do whatever they choose provided they do not wrongfully harm others.

In Terri Schiavo's case, she did not have the chance to make that choice, so that choice should be left to whoever knew her best. I'm not sure how all the legal stuff works out here, but I am going to assume her husband had the right to make that choice, and that he did in fact know what his wife's wishes were, since he was able to convince the Supreme Court and all.

This is getting a little long and I'm tired, so I'll end with this: imagine a soldier who is gravely injured in battle. He cannot move, but his company must move on to survive and they cannot spare any men to carry him. He decides to sacrifice himself for the good of the rest of the men in his company. Why are his actions considered heroic and why is he considered a hero by the very same people who believe that life is sacred and everyone is morally required to "strive for life"?

Not enough or way too much

2005-03-20T21:39:00.000-08:00

Currently Playing: Hawthorne Heights - Ohio Is For Lovers

Over a month without an update. The last few weeks of Winter quarter were way too busy; but now, finally, spring break is here.

If you read my last entry, you'd know that one of my hard drives died. Well, the rest of my computer kind of died as well. I've had my computer for about three and a half years now without any significant upgrades, so I figured it was about time to revamp my whole setup. I upgraded almost everything, spending quite a bit of money in the process. But hey, it'll probably be another three or four years before I have to upgrade again. Here's a list of what's new, for anyone who's interested. A lot of the prices are no longer the same on the websites I bought stuff from.

Motherboard and CPU Combo: $179.99
Intel Pentium 4 3.2GHz E (800FSB) Box CPU and Via PT800 verCE Chipset

Case and PSU Combo: $45.00
Rosewill Black ATX Mid-Tower Case with 430W Power Supply

Video Card: Stolen from my brother who couldn't use the AGP
VisionTek Xtasy ATI Radeon 9550 128MB 8x AGP

Keyboard and Mouse Combo: $60 After rebate (Bought by my dad)
Logitech Cordless Desktop LX 700

And best of all:
LCD Monitor: $509.15
Dell UltraSharp 2005FPW 20.1-inch Wide Aspect Flat Panel LCD Monitor

Total: $734.14 out of my own pocket

Wow, I didn't realize it was so much until I added it all together...even though most of it is the monitor. I guess that's not a bad price for a pretty much completely brand new computer. And my winnings from my now retired Party Poker career will cover everything but the monitor. I will just win the rest back in Vegas. Vegas baby!

Randomness: I just watched Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom today with my dad and I was suprised to see Michael Moore listed as the second unit director in the credits.

I'll be in the wormhole soon

2005-02-15T09:04:00.000-08:00

Currently Playing: Armor for Sleep - Slip Like Space

I have lost everything.

Maybe that was a little too melodramatic.

I have lost ALMOST everything. My videos, pictures, music, documents. Everything that was on my hard drive. Let me explain.

I had to reformat my hard drive recently because one of my hard drives was dying. It would freeze up my computer every time I tried to access something from it. Since it was the hard drive with my primary Windows partition on it, I had to do a fresh install on my other hard drive. This left a small partition 10 GB on the broken hard drive, so I figured I should merge the small partition with the rest of the hard drive. All was going well until about the 27% mark. Suddenly, I saw the Partition Magic's toolbar fade to white. Uh oh. I left it alone, hoping it would fix itself. After 20 minutes of nonresponsiveness, I tried clicking in random places, hoping against hope that that would trigger something, but...nothing. Fuck. I clicked around some more. This time it triggered something. The program closed and I got the pop-up asking me if I wanted to submit the error to Microsoft. Yes, I really want to submit the fucking error to Microsoft, because they can really help me now.

I didn't panic. I could recover my files right? Nope. Apparently my hard drive was in worse condition than I had previously believed. There was an error in part of the hard drive and I could only recover half of my files. Half of the files that I did recover had broken clusters, so those don't work either. So now what am I left with? Not much. Luckily I had burned off most of my videos and anime to DVD's, but I lost pretty much all of my music, except the stuff that is on my laptop (but that's only about a quarter of my songs), and there's no way I could get all of that back. I don't even remember what I had.

On the bright side I guess, now I get to use up a lot of bandwidth that I had been neglecting for awhile now. I think in the span of 36 hours I have downloaded 7-8 GB, possibly more.

2005-01-23T23:47:00.000-08:00

A comment from my last post:

i read that too, but i found it mildly amusing cause just like most stereotypes, it's based on at least some truth. if it wasn't a bit true, then how would the generalization have come about in the first place? also, generalizations always come with exceptions, so you've made a moo point. saying socal drivers are shitty is like saying asians are frugal and have small eyes; it's true in many cases, but not in all. and an example of how it's possible for norcal and socal to have apparent differences: hella.

and about us only living in san diego. this is true, but we've also driven thru l.a. and orange county to get home and back many times. i think that qualifies us to make generalizations about socal drivers based on our experiences. after all, socal mainly consists of the l.a., orange, and sd counties no?

First of all, while it may be true that stereotypes come from some truth, a generalization is not at all required to come from truth. A generalization is just someone making inferences about something they know and applying it to something they do not know. And of course, if they do not know anything about it, then how can that be based on truth?

Secondly, the whole point of my entry was that the whole Norcal vs. Socal thing is a generalization, and that is a bad thing, especially when it pertains to something negative. Saying that Socal drivers are shitty is only somewhat true because most drivers are shitty. Shitty drivers are not just limited to Socal. Plus, stereotypes like these are only propagated further because people only remember what they want to. If you knew nothing about Socal drivers, and someone told you Socal drivers were shitty drivers, then you would obviously expect Socal drivers to be shitty. And therefore, any shitty drivers you see would stick out in your mind, further cementing that stereotype in your mind. Expectations are very hard to overcome.

Also, while it is true that you have driven through L.A., Orange, AND San Diego counties, that is probably pretty much the extent of your experience. And to say that is a little misleading, because in actuality, the only thing you are doing is driving on the Interstate 5 through L.A., Orange, and San Diego counties. That's not saying much. If the extent of your knowledge really is only driving through Socal, then by no means are you qualified to make a generalization. Once again, you would be applying knowledge about something you do know to something that you do not know. You cannot be qualified to do something that you know nothing about, and if you think you can be qualified, then you are never going to get a job.

Keeping Quiet is Hard

2005-01-20T09:03:00.000-08:00

Currently Playing: Brand New - Okay I Believe You, But My Tommy Gun Don't

So I just finished my midterm 40 minutes early and my TA kicked me out of the lab room until lab starts at 9:30. I walk over to CLICS to intending relax a little and surf the net. Instead, I find a copy of Tuesday, January 18th's Guardian, UCSD's official student-run newspaper, and proceed to peruse it. I come across an article titled, "Getting a car opens up a brave new world." I found it a mildy interesting title that I could semi-relate to, so I decided to read the whole article. The article is about some girl who got a car for the first time and marvels at all the convenience that comes with being able to drive. Seemingly innocent enough. However, she progresses from that to comparing Norcal drivers to Socal drivers. She says things like:

Traffic Lights
Norcal: Speed through the intersection if the light turns yellow.
Socal: Speed through the intersection if the light turns red.

Residential Streets
Norcal: Never drive over 25 mph, and watch out for children and other obstacles.
Socal: Go at least 60 mph, knowing that no child with any sense of self-preservation will venture within 10 feet of the street.

Driving in the rain
Norcal: Turn on wipers and proceed at a reduced speed. Be thankful it isn't snowing.
Socal: Slow down to 15 mph, frantically try to remember how to operate windshield wipers and swerve madly.

Commuting to work
Norcal: Ride Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) to work. It's the socially conscious method of transportation, and the urine smell really perks you up in the morning before you slurp down your latte.
Socal: Spend at least two hours per day commuting to and from work. If your commute doesn't regularly feature gridlocked traffic and induce pounding on your wheel, swearing, and finally crying in frustration, find a route that does. Only then will you become a true Southern Californian.

etc etc...

WTF?

You know what? I'm tired of people arguing about Norcal this, Socal that. It's stupid. Yes, I admit, I was once one of the stupid ones, but I have realized my folly. Honestly, it isn't really about Norcal vs. Socal anything. You cannot generalize your hometown to the whole northern California region. Nor can you say "It's a stupid Socal thing," when you have only lived in San Diego. San Diego is far from representative of Southern California.

Let's examine this Norcal vs. Socal driving in further detail shall we? Now, I realize that the author of the article was using what we call hyperbole to emphasize her point, and to make an attempt to sound humorous, but there have to some grounds to what she is saying (which there aren't). I mean, I'll admit that San Diego drivers aren't the best drivers in the world, but honestly, they aren't that bad. I don't think I've ever seen anyone blatanly run a red light. And I have definitely never seen anyone driving 60 mph on a residential street. I don't care where you are from, there will always be bad drivers. Maybe you just happen to run into a high number of them. Or, even more likely, you are one of those people who think everyone else sucks at driving, when in fact you are the one who sucks at driving. People have delusionally high assesments of their own driving ability.

Also, San Diego drivers do not represent all of Southern California. San Diego drivers are much different from Irvine drivers, and Irvine drivers are a lot different from L.A. drivers, who in turn are a lot different from San Diego drivers. Just like how San Francisco drivers are a lot different from Walnut Creek drivers who are a lot different from say...Davis drivers. And yes, I have driven around that area. Maybe not enough to fully judge the drivers there, but definitely enough to rightly claim that Norcal drivers are not that different from Socal drivers. Last Spring Break I went up to Norcal and drove nearly 500 miles around the Bay Area. I drove on roads local and highway, conditions rainy and dry, speeds slow and fast. When it rained, there was traffic just like there is down here. In fact, most of the time in the rain I'm able to drive 60-65 mph on freeways in San Diego.

So to sum up: don't generalize, don't be stupid, goodbye.

You're Running After Something That You'll Never Kill

2005-01-03T11:31:00.000-08:00

Currently Playing: My Chemical Romance - Thank You for the Venom

Happy New Year everybody.

Winter break is over. Classes are starting once again. Everything will soon become routine. But more on that later.

My winter break was supposed to be three weeks long, but I only ended up being home for 5 days. The first week of break I stayed in San Diego to work my last few days at the Bookstore. I got home only to leave for Las Vegas for four days. I got home from the Vegas only to leave again for Vegas for another four days to get back right in time for New Years.

My first trip to Vegas was with my family. We stayed in the Rio, which is known for its all-suite rooms and Voted-Best-in-Vegas Carnival Buffet. I've been there a few times before, and I would without a doubt recommend it. They have so many different types of food there that it is nearly impossible to try out everything they offer. This time did not disappoint. My family and I were there for two and a half hours and I could not move afterwards.

My second trip to Vegas was with John, Grace, Arya, and Robby. John's parents had three villas (equipped with a full kitchen, washer and dryer, and widescreen T.V. with a DVD player) at the Hilton Grand Vacations Club and kindly allowed us to stay in one of the rooms. Things of note from the trip were the Ghost Bar at the Palms Hotel and Casino (owned by the Maloof brothers), the sports books (where I lost a grand total of $2), the oven-baked pizzas, playing poker while drunk and sober (losing $90 in the process), and driving through fog and rain so dense that I couldn't see ten feet in front of me on the way back home. Good times.

And I wrote all of this in my first class of the quarter. What a way to start off.

Randomness: "400!!"

I'll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams

2004-12-25T23:35:00.000-08:00

Currently Playing: Matchbook Romance - I'll Be Home for Christmas

Merry Christmas!

Awhile ago Tiffany and I went to the Holiday of Lights at the Del Mar Fairgrounds. They arranged lights all over the track. Here's pictures, in pretty much chronological order:

I'm going so fast! Vroom!

He killed the snowman!

Scary dancing pig thing.

Duckies!

These two were taken from the top of the ferris wheel.

Randomness: I watched The Day After Tomorrow today. Quite a stark contrast to Michael Crichton's book State of Fear that was the subject of my last entry. It wasn't a bad movie, it just was wrong on so many levels.

Why is truth so hard to find...

2004-12-20T18:46:00.000-08:00

Currently Playing: Thrice - Stare at the Sun

I just finished reading Michael Crichton's new book, State of Fear, and I'd have to say, it was quite a page-turner with an interesting premise. I have read (and enjoyed) a lot of Crichton's other books, like Jurassic Park, The Lost World, Prey, Timeline, etc...And they all are sci-fi thrillers that involve some technology on the rise that inevitably goes wrong (genetic manipulation, nanotechnology, and umm...time-travel). And with all his books, Crichton extensively researches the subjects of his writings, in the end blending scientific fact with his storytelling ability. State of Fear, however, takes a different stance. He instead tackles a growing contemporary issue that is gravely misunderstood and misconceived: the theory of global warming. I emphasize theory because that is all it is. There is no actual proof that there is an average increase in the global temperature, or that it is caused by the release of carbon dioxide and other gases, and Crichton takes great pains to establish this, even in most cases providing contrary evidence.

The book itself follows the story of a rich philanthropist's lawyer and assistant who struggle to decipher an intricate eco-terrorist plan after their boss suddenly dies, only moments after announcing that he was withdrawing support from a well known environmentalist group. I won't go too much into the plot, but the action was fast-paced and frequent. Yes, I know that for those of you who do not believe in reading, there can't be much action in a book, but you're all stupid.

The one gripe I have about the book is the lack character development. There is almost no information divulged about the character's backgrounds, which of course means that you never really understand why they are doing what they are doing.

Even before reading this book, I never really believed global warming, if true at all, would effect our planet as greatly as many would make it seem. And even if it did, who knows if the change will be detrimental to the earth as a whole? How can the global effects of such a change truly be known if the effects have merely been extrapolated through a computer simulation? Anyway, this book was very informative and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in the environment or believes in global warming. It could very well change your perspective on the whole subject.

"We can't "assess" the future, nor can we "predict" it. These are euphemisms. We can only guess. An informed guess is just a guess."

Remind Me Not to Ever Act This Way Again

2004-12-12T14:15:00.000-08:00

Currently Playing: Taking Back Sunday - Timberwolves at New Jersey

Finals are over. Another quarter has come and gone so quickly. Much too quickly. Having three finals on the same day sucks, especially when you decide not to turn one of them in. But let's not talk about that.

Arden's entry about his pet peeve's has motivated me to start my own list of things that either annoy me or just plain hate. I do realize that there are many things on this list that I actually do, but hey, everybody has something about themselves that they hate. At least I admit it.

Anyway, in no particular order, here goes:

Smoking
When people talk on the phone while doing something else more important. Just hang up the damn phone and call them back later! (Tiffany's hairdresser is talking on the phone right now, while cutting Tiffany's hair...)
When people look down on something they have no idea about
Internet firewalls
Spyware/spam/adware etc...
When people don't know the difference between "they're" and "their"
When people do know the difference and misuse it anyway
When people type "ie" instead of "y" ("reallie" instead of "really")
When people refuse to type out a word just because it is "easier that way" (i.e. "u" instead of "you", or "y" instead of "why", etc etc...)
When people buy things they do not particularly need or want just because it is "on sale"
Suns wearing sunglasses
Large groups of Asians
"Asian-ness"
False promises
Pretentiousness
Gambling
Discourtesy and inconsideracy (yes, I realize that is not a word)
When people get off the through the back door of the shuttle/bus even though they are clearly in the front end of the shuttle/bus
When people don't say "thank you" or "you're welcome"
Parking tickets
Traffic
Slow driving
When people ask questions that they could very easily answer themselves
Stupid questions (i.e. "Why don't you have my book?! I need it for the final tomorrow! (an actual question I got asked ))
Stupid drivers (i.e. the ones who brake for no reason and cause huge traffic jams)
Stupidity in general
People in general

I know there's a lot more stuff that's supposed to be on this list, but I can't think of them right now. I'll keep adding more on as I think of them in subsequent entries.

Randomness: I got gas for $1.93/gallon yesterday at Costco! I love Costco.

To See the Sun Come Up Again

2004-12-07T04:37:00.000-08:00

Currently Playing: Unwritten Law - Up All Night

I always seem to waste more time when there is no time to waste.

Anyway, I seem to be buying a lot of stuff lately, so in order to waste more time, I've decided to make a list of all the non-essential (i.e. not food, gas, bills, school supplies, etc...) things that I have bought this quarter. I didn't count the stuff my dad asked me to buy and paid me back for, only stuff that I actually spent money on. All totals listed include tax and shipping.

10.18.04: $10.94
BestBuy.com
Taking Back Sunday - Where You Want to Be (CD)

10.19.04: $13.95
Walmart.com
Straylight Run - Straylight Run (CD)

10.20.04: $88.42
Provantage.com
Wacom Graphire3 Blue 4x5USB Tablet w/Pen & Mouse (for Tiffany's Birthday)

10.20.04: $23.13 - $10 mail-in rebate = $10.13
Buy.com
Logitech X-220 - 3 Piece Speaker System

10.26.04: $30.17
Urban Outfitters
Leather Belt

11.13.04: $86.78 - $26.50 (sold old stick of memory) = $60.28
eBay.com
Corsair 512MB PC2100 200PIN SoDIMM Laptop Memory

11.18.04: $14.77
Meritline.com
Transparent USB Mini Optical Mouse, 800 dpi, USB, Retractable Cable,Gift Pack (for Dad's new laptop)

11.26.04: $32.24 - $10 mail-in rebate = $22.24
Amazon.com
Logitech MX510 Performace Optical Mouse - Red

12.01.04: $150.97 - $40 mail-in rebate - $50 mail-in rebate = $60.97
PcConnection.com
16x ND-3500A DVD+ -RW DL Internal Drive - Black w Ulead MovieFactory 3.5 Suite Deluxe
4.7GB DVD-R Media 50 Pack Spindle (Free after rebate)

12.02.04: $63.94
Amazon.com
Philips DVP642 DivX-Certified Progressive-Scan DVD Player

12.06.04: $1.07 (after $9.00 in Best Buy Bucks)
BestBuy.com
Fuji-5-Pack 4x DVD RW Discs with Jewel Cases

Grand Total: $376.89

Damn that is a lot of stuff and a lot of money spent. I am definitely not allowed to buy anything for myself for awhile.

Back to studying.

Hey Lush, Have Fun. It's the Weekend.

2004-12-05T23:45:00.000-08:00

Currently Playing: Taking Back Sunday - Your Own Disaster

Some pictures from John's birthday (courtesy of Arya):

Hmm, looks like I'm the only one drinking.

What's with the look John?

Me and John peeing in the bushes.

Arya peeing in the bushes.

Happy birthday John, even if it was no longer your birthday when the picture was taken.

At the angle that hand is coming into the picture, it looks more like John's hand, but the hand is wearing Grace's sweater. So who's hand is it?!

Don't It Feel Like Sunshine After All

2004-12-05T04:02:00.000-08:00

Currently Playing: Jimmy Eat World - The World You Love

Thanksgiving break came and went too quickly. It was a welcome break from the stresses of school and work -- and yet not. Although I was not physically at school, I still could not put off school work. With a paper due Wednesday, a lab due Thurdsay, a lab final on Friday, and the rest of my finals looming ominously in the not too distant future, I could not really afford to take a break. With that said, I didn't do any work this weekend.

I left for Irvine on Thursday morning at around 10:15 am. Two hours of random traffic caused by people randomly braking later, I got home. *WARNING: Rant* I still do not understand why people brake at the slightest curve in the road or decline in elevation. Oh no! The road is going from an elevation of 30 feet to 10 over the span of half a mile! I must brake all the way down! Bah. I realize that traffic is caused by hundreds of small overcorrections or overcompensations compounded over and over again, causing somewhate of a domino or ripple effect. I also realize that sometimes I overcompensate while braking as well. But if that one person who decided to brake first just didn't, then there would be no traffi...wait, I must be on some form of crack. If that one person didn't brake, then there are plenty of other idiots out there who will do it, so there will always be traffic. People suck. *End Rant*

Anyway, I got home at around noon. After dropping my stuff off, my family and I headed to my uncle's house for Thanksgiving dinner. Now, this wasn't just any Thanksgiving dinner; this was Thanksgiving dinner: Chinese style. We had all the usual stuff: stuffed turkey, roast beef, potatoes, etc...all soaked in a nice pool of gravy. We also had the good stuff: lamb cooked in some sort of Asian sauce, chow fun, chow mein, and best of all, sticky rice with chicken. Yum. I left a little earlier than everyone else because I wanted to get some of my work done. Of course, I didn't get any work done. I did however, get 13 hours of sleep. That's how much sleep I sometimes get in a week. And yes, it was good.

Friday was John's 21st birthday (finally). John, Grace, Arya and I went out to celebrate. We decided to go bar hopping around Laguna Beach, but our first stop was Arya's house, where John, Arya, and I downed one beer and shotgunned another. Grace then drove us to our first bar on PCH, which I think was called Main Street. Here is an important note to self, and to anyone else out there who wants to listen: Laguna Beach bars are full of old people, a lot of whom are gay apparently. Everyone in that bar was at least twice our age. Anyway, I didn't get carded for the New Castle I drank there, which was cool. We left soon after we finished our drinks. Our next stop was a bar called the Sandpiper, which unfortunately had a $5 cover charge. It was a good thing we went in though, because the average age of this bar was much much lower than the previous bar, and they had live music. I had two drinks. Their names escape me at the moment, but they were full of alcohol.

**This entry has been left as an unfinished draft for over a week now, so I figure I should finish it up quickly.

After that, we headed over to the Spectrum. There we (minus Grace) relieved ourselves in the bushes. Grace still had to pee, so we went to the nearest bathroom, but unfortunately, on the way, John stepped on Arya's foot and twisted his ankle. I don't remember why, but for some reason John went into the bathroom, and Arya and I followed him in...along with two security guards wondering what we were doing. I mean, it's not like we were doing anything illegal, but I still don't realize that I am already 21 and that it is legal for me to drink. Anyway, after that, we go to Dave and Busters only to realize they also have a cover charge. Luckily for us (minus Arya), Andrew Gonzales, a friend from my elementary school days who I had not seen since the end of elementary school was the person checking ID's outside D&B. He was able to get us (minus Arya because he had already paid) in for free. We found out that he was getting off soon and he asked us to meet him at Champps for some drinks. We left for Champps soon after that, stopping along the way at the Yard House, where we had some Amber Bach on tap. Well actually, I only had a few sips because I could feel myself starting to get sick. At Champps, I had one more drink (I think...). I should have heeded my body's warning from before, because soon after I finished that drink, I started to feel nauseous. Naturally, I put my head down on the table and promptly went to sleep. I think at some point we moved from the table to the bar, but I was pretty much asleep the whole time there. I had averted the vomiting for the time being, but I had to get up sometime. Well, let's just say I said goodbye to Andrew with my head leaning over a plant.

The night ended with a long awaited late-night trip to Carl's Jr. and Del Taco. It was great being able to hang out with (almost) everybody again, but I don't think I will be drinking, at least like that, for awhile. I'm not sure what's happened, but I just don't really see the allure of alcohol anymore. I'm sure the vomiting plays a very big part in that, but it's not just that.

Randomness: Chinchillas are cool.

Look! Another Line Without A Hook!

2004-11-24T13:14:00.000-08:00

Currently Playing: My Chemical Romance - I'm Not Okay (I Promise)

I found out yesterday that my car had a flat tire. The rear passenger tire was quite deflated and upon closer inspection, there was a decently-sized nail embedded between the treads.

We'll Start a Fire and Burn Some Bridges

2004-11-22T23:55:00.000-08:00

Currently Playing: Funeral for a Friend - Escape Artists Never Die

I didn't realize "Funeral for a Friend" was an Elton John song until a few days ago. Eh, you learn something new every day.

There's a few random things I'm feel like writing about since I haven't updated in a awhile, so here goes:

Kevin, John. Jon. And I played in the 3 on 3 Intramural Basketball League this quarter. Our record ended up being something like 7 wins and 7 losses. This was a huge improvement over last year, when we went 1 win - 3 losses every week. Our record actually might have been a lot better if we showed up for all the games, but we didn't show up one week due to unforeseen circumstances (i.e. a tree falling down). Our mediocre record did however, ensure us a spot in the playoffs, which, coincidentally enough, were slated to start right when I got off work. This was unfortunate because I didn't have time to eat before work and all I do at work on Sunday is sit on my ass for five hours. So after work, I went straight to RIMAC, and the game started a minute or two after that. I didn't have time to even warm up, which left me gasping for breath after a few plays. After ten minutes of playing I couldn't take it anymore and substituted out to get some water. This ended up being a bad decision because Jon jammed his finger, and according to the team we were playing, there was a rule that prevented more than one substitution per game. We ended up losing 10 to 17. I'm not saying we would have won if I had been able to substitute in, but you never know. When Jon got injured I think the score was tied at 9 to 9 or so. Oh well. I just hope we get to play 5 on 5 next quarter.

Last Friday I played poker with a bunch of people. Losing one spot out of the money for the last couple times in a row had led me to the conclusion that I cannot play poker when I want sleep. Especially when there are ten people playing and it takes over 4 hours to decide a winner. This time, I decided to experiment with a more aggressive playing style. It started out well. I eliminated three people in the first 45 minutes or so. However, I got greedy with the large chip lead I had built up, and started gambling on hands that I normally would have thrown away in a heartbeat. Sometimes it worked out; the most notable of which was a 2-3 offsuit that somehow turned into a two pair. Of course, as inevitably follows gambling of any sort, I lost my chip lead and eventually lost the rest of my chips. Lesson learned: playing aggressively leads to earlier sleep time.

One last thing I want to talk about: I got a new job. I'm going to be working as a laboratory assistant at this small laboratory called Dermatrends out on Sorrento Valley Road. They concentrate on the transdermal permeability of various drugs. Translation: they are trying to find the best way to get drugs through the skin via patches and such. It is a really small company, with only three laboratory technicians and one PhD consultant. Naturally, I won't be doing any of important stuff. I'm supposed to start out preparing solutions and transferring various things around the lab and eventually move onto actually handling the experiments. Hey, it beats moving books around all day while trying to drown out my boss's incessant yelling at every little thing anyone does even a little to her unliking. Plus, it's fewer hours and it pays more. Yay!

Okay, that's it for now. Good night.

The Books Aren't Here!!

2004-11-12T14:07:00.000-08:00

Currently Playing: Saosin - Seven Years

People keep coming in and asking for their textbooks. Last time I checked, it was the end of 7th week. We start returning books to the publishers during the 5th week of classes people. There are signs on every other shelf on both sides saying so. It's ironic that people come in here expecting to buy a textbook and yet they can't even read a simple sign. Do not come waltzing in the bookstore 7th week and expect to find your book still on the shelf. And if it is not on the shelf like you so naively expected, do NOT ask if the book is in the back. We do not hide books from people. We want to rip you off remember? If we had the books, they would be out for you to buy at an outrageously overpriced cost. Moral of the story is: I hate people.

Interesting Stuff

2004-11-07T10:46:00.000-08:00

Currently Playing: Fall Out Boy - Sending Postcards From A Plane Crash (Wish You Were Here)

I recently came across this artice that reports of how BitTorrent now uses up 35% of all internet traffic, more than all of the other peer-to-peer file sharing programs combined. Interesting how fast BitTorrent has grown in only three years. And yes, the article is from Yahoo! India News. No, do not ask me why; I do not know.

This is a very interesting chart that shows how each state voted in this election, sorted by average IQ. Can't say I'm surprised. If the picture is down, then just go to www.geekgossip.net to find a plethora of mirrors.

Do Feed the Animals

2004-11-06T01:40:00.000-08:00

Currently Playing: The Postal Service - Against All Odds

It's a little late for an update, but last weekend I took Tiffany with me back to Irvine to escape from the stresses of school. We left Friday night at around 8:00 pm, right in time for my mommy's yummy homecooked food. We had Vietnamese rice noodles with random vegatables and some form of pork meat, all of which was soaked with my mom's homemade fish sauce (that was actually made by my dad). I passed out at around 1:00 AM and managed to actually get a good 12 hours of sleep, the first time in months. What's even more sad is that I got more sleep that one night than I have gotten in the past 5 nights combined.

Anyway, we woke up the next day and ate some more of my mom's homecooked food. This time she made those fried cubes of some kind of dough that you dip in soy sauce. As you can see, I have no idea how to describe food. Just believe me when I say it was very good. After filling up on food, we decided to go to the lake to feed the ducks. We made a quick stop at Albertson's for bread and cheap $1.99/dozen packs of soda then headed off to the lake. We bought one of those cheap $0.89 loafs of bread, originally intending only to use 5 or 6 slices. When we got there, however, we realized how wrong we were. Take a look at this picture and you'll see why:

Look at all the greedy greedy duckies...and these are only the ones I could fit in the picture!

There were so many of them...and each one of them seemingly just as hungry as the next. They all kept quacking and quacking. I could hear them screaming at me "FEED ME, FEED ME! GIVE ME FOOD OR I'LL EAT YOU INSTEAD!!" Well, not really, but before I knew it, we had fed them the whole loaf of bread. Ah, good times. Anyway, the ironic thing is, later that night, my mom made curry duck noodle soup. Ducks are so good. To eat.

We had to come back to SD Saturday night because I had work the next day, but not before my mom packed me two or three meals worth of food. Yay for my mom!

Here's some more random pictures:

Tiffany feeding the duckies!

Damn that is one big fish.

What happened to their heads??

Stupid People are Stupid

2004-10-31T16:31:00.000-08:00

Number of people who have asked when a book that wasn't on the shelf was coming in on Sunday, October 31st: 8

That's the start of 6th week by the way.

One girl asked for a book, and I told her we already returned it to the publisher, but if she still wanted it, we could special order it for her. She replied by saying "Grr...I'll come back tomorrow." "Grr"?! WTF man. You come in 6th week and expect us to have books for you...? And you were accepted to UCSD??

Sigh...all I can do is shake my head and continue eating from the bucket of candy that was put out for me...I mean, Halloween.

Sleepy

2004-10-29T02:11:00.000-07:00

Currently Playing: Taking Back Sunday - I Am Fred Astaire

Hello. It has been awhile. There's good reason of course. The dreaded fifth week has come and gone. Midterms are (mostly) over, finally. I have probably gotten 5 or 6 hours of sleep total since Sunday night. Usually, the coming of the weekend would mean a break from all the cramming and homework, but not this weekend. Although I had a midterm, two lab reports, and a quiz this week, next week is going to be arguably even worse. I have a midterm, two papers, a lab quiz, and a lab report due. The midterm next week is for Psyc, so it won't even be one tenth as hard as the biochemistry midterm I took this week, but I still have to do some 200+ pages of reading for it, which I have yet to start. I also have neither read the book that my Philosphy paper is going to be on, nor gone to class in the past week or so. Add all that up and it doesn't look like I'll be sleeping much next week either.

And I need a haircut.

(Long) Randomness: My Psychology class on Tuesday lasts from 6:30 pm to 9:20 pm, which, incidentally, was when game 3 of the World Series was being played. Almost everyone with a laptop had the live play-by-play open, and at random times during the lecture I could hear a supressed yelp of delight (I'm guessing they were Boston fans). It got so bad that my professor stopped lecture and started talking about the adverse effect that winning the pennant would have on Red Sox fans. She started talking about how Red Sox fans have played the part of the loser for so long that it has become part of their identity. If they won, that identity would be taken away, and many people won't know what to do. They might even yearn for the days when suffering because of a painful loss was a part of their lives. She gave an example of when masochists find that they no longer have someone to abuse them, they lose their sense of identity. Anyway, the whole point of me telling you this is because I saw this article on Yahoo! today. Odd coincidence.

Perfect Endings

2004-10-13T04:38:00.000-07:00

Currently Playing: Straylight Run - The Perfect Ending

Taken in context, it's not a bad thing.
But when you start to pick it apart,
It's so depressing.
It's that sort of thing that makes you think too much.
It's that sort of thing that makes you lose your objectivity.
So if you've made it, just be glad that you did and stay there.
And if you've felt loved or needed,
Remember that you're one of the lucky ones.
And if it's over,
Just remember what I told you,
"It was bound to happen so just keep moving on."
There's no perfect endings.

Music Survey

2004-10-12T20:43:00.000-07:00

1. Your favorite song with the name of a city in the title or text.
Something Corporate - I Woke Up In A Car

2. A song you've listened to repeatedly when you were depressed at some point in your life.
Dashboard Confessional - This Ruined Puzzle

3. Ever bought an entire album just for one song and wound up disliking everything but that song?
I don't buy albums.

4. A great song in a language other than English.
Cool Joke - Undo (Full Metal Alchemist Opening Theme 3)

5. Your least favorite song on one of your favorite albums of all time.
Yellowcard - Twenty Three

6. A song you like by someone you find physically unattractive or otherwise repellent.
Clay Aiken - The Way

7. Your favorite song that has expletives in it that's not by Liz Phair.
Senses Fail - One Eight Seven. "I try so fucking hard, but I can't fit your mold."

8. A song that sounds as if it's by someone British but isn't.
Eh.

9. A song you like (possibly from your past) that took you forever to finally locate a copy of.
I find everything.

10. A song that reminds you of spring but doesn't mention spring at all.
Something Corporate - Watch the Sky

11. A song that sounds to you like being happy feels.
All-American Rejects - Swing Swing (Yes, even though that is a sad song, it sounds happy damnit)

12. Your favorite song from a non-soundtrack compilation album.
Umm...at this very moment in time, Straylight Run - Your Name Here (Sunrise Highway).

13. A song that reminds you of high school.
Weezer - Buddy Holly

14. A song that reminds you of college.
Shakira - Whenever, Wherever. (*shudder*...)

15. A song you actually like by an artist you otherwise dislike.
Clay Aiken - The Way

16. A song by a band that features three or more female members.
Umm...I guess that one song by The Donnas...

17. One of the earliest songs that you can remember listening to.
Random Chinese songs that I don't know the names of.

18. A song you've been mocked by friends for liking.
Michelle Branch - Goodbye to You

19. A really good cover version you think no one else has heard.
OZMA - Superstar (Originally by The Carpenters, Sung by Star)

20. A song that has helped cheer you up (or empowered you somehow) after a breakup or otherwise difficult situation.
Taking Back Sunday - You're So Last Summer

21. If you went crazy and decided to go on a mass killing spree, what song would you be listening to as you were pumping lead/tearing apart/stabbing your victims?
Boys Night Out - This Broken Killswitch. "I'm reaching in my chest, but the killswitch on my heart is broken and I've been dead for years."

22. Do you have a song that you can listen to that puts you in a better mood than you were in prior to listening to the song?
Motion City Soundtrack - The Future Freaks Me Out

23. What song is your "guilty pleasure"?
Not sure what that means...

24. Is there a song/songs that made you cry? What was it/were they?
Yellowcard - Firewater

25. Name an artist you like that would surprise people who think they know you.
Boys Night Out

26. Is there a song you could never get sick of?
There are a few: Matchbook Romance - Tiger Lily, OZMA - Korobeinki, The Postal Service - Nothing Better, Brand New - Failure By Design, Brand New - Play Crack the Sky, and maybe a couple other ones

27. Describe one memory you have (off the top of your head) that surrounds a particular song, which will immediately pop into your head as soon as you hear it, and name the song of course.
SR-71 - Right Now. Me and Jeff's project on Asian-American influence in the media for Poli Sci senior year of high school. We spliced the song into the intro of our video, along with a 5 minute Simpsons clip (the one where the mob fights the Japanese mafia). The genius part was, we used the same exact project for Chinese.

28. What song reduces you to giggles, or is guaranteed to cheer you up with the sheer absurdity of it when you need a good laugh?
Umm...the "Chicken Dance" song? Arden, Kevin, and Jon were playing it last night while doing their ECE homework...

29. What is your lifelong theme song, the music and/or lyrics that defines something about who - and how - you are?
Brand New - Failure by Design

30. What music piece from a movie stands out for you as particularly memorable and/or enjoyable?
Aladdin - One Jump Ahead

31. Finally, the omnipresent "20 random songs" question:
1) Yellowcard - Finish Line
2) Simple Plan - Perfect
3) Unwritten Law - Before I Go (Acoustic)
4) Toshiro Masuda - Rocks (Naruto Opening Theme 1)
5) Taking Back Sunday - Timberwolves at New Jersey
6) Dashboard Confessional - This Bitter Pill
7) Something Corporate - Break Myself
8) Copeland - Walking Downtown
9) Newfound Glory - Goonies R Good Enough
10) Something Corporate - I Want to Save You
11) Murder By Death - Holy Lord, Shawshank Redemption is Such a Good Movie
12) Taking Back Sunday - Slowdance on the Inside
13) OZMA - Rain of the Golden Gorilla
14) Weezer - Falling for You
15) Thrice - Stare At the Sun
16) Straylight Run - Another Word for Desperate
17) The Postal Service - Clark Gable
18) Nami Tanaki - Realize
19) Senses Fail - The Ground Folds (Acoustic)
20) Something Corporate - Konstantine

I just used the first 20 songs that played in Winamp that weren't already in in this survey.

Randomness: It's sad when people grow apart.

21 and Invincible

2004-10-09T18:01:00.000-07:00

So my twenty-first birthday has come and gone. I am now legally able to purchase and consume alcoholic beverages. I have yet to really take advantage of this fact, but I don't really care to either. It's weird; before I turned 21, I couldn't wait until I could legally drink. Now that I am 21, however, I don't really care if I drink.

My birthday was still a good and memorable one, and I didn't even have to get piss drunk (or maybe because I didn't get piss drunk?). Tiffany took me to Benihana for one of the best dinners I've had in a long long while. Just in case any of you haven't been to Benihana before, you sit at a big table that seats a maximum of eight people. Usually they wait for enough people to fill a table before they seat anyone. Then, after you order your food, a chef comes out and cooks your food right in front of you. Our chef was cool. He made a face on a egg with some celery and carrots and then stacked it on top of another egg, then he drew himself in the fried rice he was cooking. He topped it all of with a onion volcano that shot out steam, which was impressive.

Of course, the most important part of the meal was not the setup or the chef, but the food itself. I ordered a filet mignon and scallops. Tiffany ordered the chicken and shrimp. The meal also came with soup, salad, a shrimp appetizer (which turned out to be the same as the shrimp Tiffany ordered), assorted vegetables (in this case, onions and zucchini), and your choice of ice cream or sherbert. To top it all off, the chef added a generous helping of mouth-watering garlic butter to everything except the soup and the salad. Delicious indeed.

To take a page from Arden's book:

October 5, 2003

Maybe it's fitting that my first (real) entry be today. But then again, it's probably not. Today is probably going to be just like any day of the twenty years that I have been alive. A slow descent from unique to routine, eh? Twenty years...1040 weeks...too many days for me to even bother calculating, my laziness kicking in. So how does two decades sound...one-fifth of a century?? Sounds like a pretty long time to me. And what have I done with all this time you ask? I'm not exactly sure.

I have gone through my life not looking too far into the future, or the past for that matter. I don't know if this is a good thing or not, but I've always believed what comes is going to come, and if you spend time regretting the past, you'll just regret regretting what you were regretting (if that makes sense). A lot of people I talk to say they have not accomplished anything, or have not accomplished enough, compared to other people. This bothers me. Compared to other people, I have by no means "accomplished" much of anything in the twenty years I've been alive. However, this does not mean that I am not content with my life and the way it is turning out. I have my own definition of accomplishment, and I believe I am doing what I want to do at this point in my life, and that is accomplishment enough for me.

As for the inevitable question of whether I actually feel older, I think I do. Every year I get asked this, and usually I just respond with "No, I feel the same as I did yesterday, or the day before that." Maybe it's because my age starts with a "2" now instead of a "1." Or maybe it's because it has finally dawned on me that I'm in my third year of college, and soon I'll have to leave this environment that I've grown quite accustomed to, and go venture into whatever new world awaits me. Bah, nobody likes change. Change is baaad.

I'm not sure if anyone is going to read this, or if I even want people to read this, but this might be my one and only entry. Writing all this is hard work. So if I don't write again, ja ne?

So that was me one year ago. Waaay back when I first started writing journal entries. What a difference a year makes huh? It's funny how much things can change, and yet stay exactly the same. The thing is, I like my life the way it is now. I don't want to change a thing. And nothing will change. Ever.

No, I am not delusional. I'm just a wishful thinker.

Tired

2004-09-28T17:53:00.000-07:00

Currently Playing: Brand New - Play Crack The Sky

I'm tired. There's only been three real days of class - but I'm tired.

At first I planned to take Japanese, but since I'm still on the waiting list and the professor does not seem to want to add people, I don't think I'm going to get in. Not to mention that taking Japanese would also entail a considerable amount of busywork and two quizzes each week. Of course, that's on top of a class every day at 9:00am. So, I don't think that would have worked out in the end anyway.

The class I am going to replace it with (if at all), is probably going to be Psychology 101, Developmental Psychology. That class, hopefully, will not be too difficult. I am hoping it will be like all the other psychology classes I've taken, with only a few midterms and a final. No homework please. The only drawback about this class is that the lecture is from 6:30pm to 9:20pm every Tuesday. I don't know how many of you have had a three hour lecture, but trust me, sitting through all of it is death. I don't even think my laptop battery will last through all three hours. I'm hoping all the lecture notes will be posted online with explanations for everything, thereby negating my need to go to class.

My other classes also suck, but I don't really feel like talking about them, so...yeah, moving on.

My schedule for work is supposed to be Monday, Wednesday, Friday from 12:00pm to 6:00pm every week. This week, however, since people are stupid and they like to give money away, the bookstore is open until 8:00pm every day, so I'm going to have to work until 8:00pm. YAY! Not to mention I have to deal with stupid people the whole time I'm there. From 12:00pm to 3:30pm, I have to deal with my supervisor, who believes in doing things her way and her way only. When things aren't done exactly the way she wants, even though most of the time she doesn't even tell us how she wants it done, she gets annoyed and makes you do it all over again. At least she is fair in her yelling: everyone gets an equal share.

The rest of the day I have to deal with students. On Monday, I think the only question I got asked all day was "I didn't see X book on the shelf, do you guys have any more/when is it coming in?" Maybe if any of them actually looked at the tag on the shelf, they would realize that not only does it say that the textbook was Re-ordered/Delayed, but also that it says what day it is expected to come in. Can't people do anything for themselves...?? Of course, my supervisor doesn't make it any better. She is very anal about customer service. We have to greet every customer and help them find every single one of their books if necessary. Once she yelled at me because I didn't help a customer that walked into the store even though she plainly saw that I was in the middle of helping another customer.

Oh wait, I was wrong about that question being the only question I was asked. One customer did come up and ask me where I got the lanyard that my nametag hangs from. The conversation pretty much went like this:

Customer: Hey, where did you get that? (Points at the lanyard around my neck.)
Me: They gave it to me when I started working here.
Customer: Oh. Are they still handing them out?
Me: No...I don't think they hand these out. (They say UCSD Bookstore on them)
Customer: Oh. Can I have yours? (I can't be 100% positive, but I am quite sure he was serious.)
Me: No. Do you need some help finding books?
Customer: Oh, no. (Walks away.)
And of course I stand there confused for about ten seconds until another customer comes up to me and asks me if we still have any more of their book.

I really don't know what I'm going to do when I actually have to study. Maybe I'll just die. That will solve everything.

The only thing I really look forward to every day is getting home and eating dinner with Tiffany, and then spending a little time with her before I have to go to home and go to sleep and start the cycle all over again.

Oh, and of course playing the occasional game of poker. And winning. (Except that one game where I lost in the first hand. That was a damn fluke. Stupid Jon.)

Randomness: Full Metal Alchemist is too good...

I Love Food

2004-09-12T17:08:00.000-07:00

Currently Playing: Yuki - Home Sweet Home

Yesterday I drove up to Monterey Park with my family to visit my cousins who just got back from a month and a half long vacation to Indonesia, China, and Vietnam. We celebrated their homecoming by going out to eat a mouthwatering dinner at a Chinese restaurant. It was one of the better dinners I've had in a long while, since I haven't been able to go home that much as of late.

The dinner started out with some melon/seafood soup that came in this gigantic golden jar with an elegant lid. That was quite good. Next came some weird duck dish that was served cold, but still very good. After that, two more duck dishes came out, roasted duck and Peking duck with the little buns and the sauce that you put in it. Yum. Finally came the seafood. There was a crab dish, which was okay, two lobster dishes, and a big plate of the big shrimp that they always have in those tanks. One of the lobsters was made in this garlic/butter sauce, the same sauce the shrimp came in. The other one was boiled in some sauce and placed over white noodles. All in all, it was a good day. And to top it all off, there were leftovers so I get to bring them with me back to SD. Yay!

...Oh yea, and there was some vegetable dish in there somewhere...

Anyway, now I'm off to eat barbecue at another cousin's house and then fight through the inevitable food coma and drive back to SD.

Randomness: Go makes my head hurt. It's very demoralizing to get whomped on by the computer even with a 3 stone handicap.

My Typical Day

2004-09-10T20:22:00.000-07:00

Currently Playing: Yellowcard - Miles Apart

So I haven't updated in quite some time. I don't think many people read this anyway, so it didn't seem like it was necessary (not that it ever really was...). Anyway, a big factor causing my non-updating has been the fact that I have just been really busy. Between working 30 hours a week and going to class and studying for class and sleeping in preparation for going to work and class and studying for class, I was left with very little time to do anything else. I would get home after 6:30 pm every day, and after eating and watching a little T.V. and the requisite sitting, I pretty much had to go shower and get ready for bed. Which is not good, because since I was taking O-chem, I really needed to study and stay caught up with the class. It didn't help that I had a midterm every week and a half and a nice final to look forward to after that. That means that after finishing my studying for one midterm, I would have to start studying for the next one right away. Of course, this did not happen. Who in their right minds would feel like studying right after a midterm?! I would take a few days off to rest, and before I knew it, the next midterm was rolling around. It got so bad that now when I see those football play diagrams with the shapes and arrows pointing from one shape to another shape, I think of electron pushing. Ugh. Well, at least it's over with. Now I don't have to deal with O-chem ever again. YAY!!!*

I have the next two weeks or so free from school and the stress that it undeniably brings. However, I still have to work, pretty much full time now, which means I have to stay in SD. This sucks because everyone has left except John, and even then we both have work, so...yea. Even Tiffany left...I miss you so much. This means that my day has become really routine. My typical day goes like this:

7:01 am - Wake up to my first alarm, snooze it.
7:05 am - Wake up to my phone alarm, turn that off.
7:11 am - Wake up to the snoozed alarm, turn that off, and finally get up.
7:12 am - I take one of my "Uncrustables" sandwiches to defrost (it takes about 30 minutes). Start to get ready.
7:22 am - Head to the bus stop.
7:31 am - Get on the bus.
7:43 am - Arrive on campus and eat my sandwich.
7:50 am - Go into work. Pull TRS (Textbook Reservation Service: we pack your books in a nice neat package for you) the rest of the day.
12:00 pm - Go eat lunch, usually Panda or Shogun.
5:00 pm - Get off work.
5:05 pm - Get on the bus.
5:18 pm - Get home and eat/sleep/watch T.V., do whatever.
9:00 pm - Talk to my Tiffany until whenever I start to feel sleepy, then shower and sleep.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

Yay for routine.

Hmm, let's see, what else has been happening...Let's make a list:

1) I entered two poker tournaments at Viejas Casino in the last month or so. The first one I did quite well in, finishing fifth and winning about $280 in the process. The second one was not so good, because we arrived there late, so I was a high alternate, and by the time I got to start playing, the blinds were already nearly a quarter of my total chips. I got eliminated rather quickly, but luckily I won my money back at three card poker. I got a straight, which is a 6:1 payoff (I think), but unluckily, the dealer got a three of a kind on the same hand, trumping my straight. Originally the dealer did not realize this and handed me $50 something, but then some manager guy came over and fixed it, and they asked me to give back $25, which sucks, because I could have just run away after I won and they would have never been able to get the money back. Boo-urns.

2) I had jury duty on September 7th. I had been summoned earlier in the summer, but I postponed it because I had summer school. I got there a little late, so I had to find parking quickly. I couldn't park in the metered spots, because I didn't know how long I would have to be in there. So I searched frantically (probably not a good idea given that the area near the courthouse is always swarming with police cars) for the cheapest and closest parking lot. I found one and parked, only to find that the rate for parking up to ten hours is a whopping $16!! Unfortunately, I had no choice but to park. So I go into the courthouse, and after listening to some judge talk for awhile, another guy came and told us that if we had any reason to leave, we should go talk to the people in the Jury Offices. Since I would have to take time off work, I didn't really want to serve on a jury, so I left to see if I could get it excused by saying I was a student or something. When I got there, the lady was confused, and then she asked me if I used to live at 3420 Lebon Dr., which was my old address. I said yes, and then she told me that they had tried to send me a second summons, but it was returned to them as undeliverable, so I had been excused from service. Damn them! I wasted many hours of sleep and $16 for parking for nothing! I was there for a grand total of 45 minutes...

3) I got a new phone! I now have Cingular, and one of those small Samsung flip phones. I like it because I can download my own customized wallpapers and ringtones. All I have to do is find a good "*.midi" file of the ring tone I want and send it to myself. Right now I am using "Go Go Naruto" as my ring tone, which is quite possibly the coolest thing ever. I also have the chocobo song from FFVII on there, but it's not quite as cool. I also got a new number, and for the select few that want to know it, you can ask me yourself.

I think that's enough.

Randomness: I just realized I turn 21 in less than a month. WTF?

*Oh yes, by "ever again", I really mean in two weeks, when I have to take O-chem Lab. Should be great times.

I wish my job was to play poker all day

2004-07-30T14:47:00.000-07:00

Currently Playing: OZMA - Restart

Well, let's start off with my new job. I am working at the UCSD Bookstore, in the Textbooks section. My first day of work was Wednesday. It was only an orientation/training day, so I was only there from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm. We spent the first hour and a half walking around the store, following my supervisor around while she explained to us everything we needed to know. I got really, really sleepy during this, and I had to suppress many a yawn. It got so bad that my ears started plugging up, like what happens when you drive up a mountain and your ears need to be popped, except that I couldn't make it go away this time. She finally finished giving us the tour, and sent us up to the administration to fill out the necessary paperwork. That took about half an hour because they had to explain to us every single sheet that we were signing. After that, we came back down and the lead student showed us how the computers worked. There was only half an hour left when she finished, so we were allowed to take our 15 minute break and then just shelved a few books and were allowed to leave. All in all, it wasn't a bad three hours, especially since I got paid for doing nothing.

One thing that might be bad however, is that four or five of the students that have been there for a long time are leaving in the next week or so. My supervisor seems to always emphasize the fact that they're leaving and we're here to replace them, but it doesn't seem like she expects as much out of us. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not. My supervisor is a really nice person, but she seems to be very attached to the old students, so much so that it might take some time for her to trust us to do anything. Oh well.

I worked again on Thursday from 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm. I mostly just shelved books for the whole time, which is fine with me. I don't mind shelving books, and I'm insane so I like seeing the books all nice and lined up. Tiffany came to see me at around 4:00 pm, so I took my break then. After that though, there was nothing left to do because all the books that could be shelved had been shelved. So, I basically just sat around for 30 minutes, every once in awhile getting up and walking around. I got so bored that I went through half the store straightening out the textbooks. It wasn't much to do because there aren't many people that come in the late afternoon during the summer to buy textbooks, so not much could be messed up. Oh well, again I got paid for doing pretty much nothing. Good stuff.

Last night, I played poker with Arden, Jon, and two of his friends. We played No Limit Texas Hold-em tournament style, with an $8 buy in. First place would get $20, second $12, and third $8. Everyone started with $15 in "chips" (actually coins), and we would play until the last man was standing. It started out okay for me. I quickly built a decent chip lead, and soon Zack (sp?) lost, followed by Arden. Going into the top three I think I was down in chips, but it was still fairly even. By now, it was pretty late, and I was really sleepy, so I just went All-in on a pretty bad hand (J-7 I think). Jon called, and I ended up winning. This gave me a pretty big chip advantage, and Jon soon was eliminated. Again, I was down in chips going into the final matchup, but I won a few hands and soon had probably a two to one chip lead. Now I actually wanted to win, because $20 is quite a bit more than $12. Dan, the last guy that was left, went All-in before the flop, and I had an A-Q offsuit, so I called. He had a pair of 4's. This hand was pretty much a coin flip, though he had a small advantage. He ended up winning it with a set of 4's. That wasn't so bad because I was still left with a decent chip stack, and I felt it was right to call him with A-Q. The next hand however, would be my downfall. I had a K-6, and he had Q-4, both offsuit. I had a pair of 6's after the Turn, and he wasn't betting, so I raised a decent amount. He counter-raised me All-in, and I didn't think he could beat me, so I called. He ended up being on an inside straight and a flush draw. So the only cards that could beat me were a Q, any 5, or any diamond. Since four diamonds were already out, that left him with 15 cards that could save him. Since there were only 44 cards left in the deck, that only left him with a 34% chance to win. But, with my luck, what happens to come out but a 5, giving him the straight and the win. It wouldn't have been so bad if not for how he reacted to winning. When the 5 came out, everyone expressed their joy/sadness with their respective "ooh"'s and "ahh"'s, but the first words to come out of Dan's mouth were, "Huh? How did I win?" Now, I hadn't mentioned this before, but Dan is not very experience at poker, and he even needed a cheat sheet for the hand orders. So honestly, I think the real question of the night was, "Huh? How did I lose?"

Randomness: I had gone to Student Business services a couple weeks ago to request my refund because I dropped a Summer Session two class. They put in the request and told me that it would be processed the next day, and that I would get the check in a couple weeks. Well, now it's a couple weeks later and I still haven't received my check, and I kind of need it for rent, so I go back to SBS, and asked them how my refund was coming along. Guess what they told me? They put in the request and told me that it would be processed the next day, and that I would get the check in a couple weeks. Deja-vu anyone?

Goodbye

2004-07-25T04:02:00.000-07:00

Currently Playing: OZMA - Gameover

R.I.P. OZMA (1995-2004). Goodbye OZMA. We knew you well. You were with us through the good times, and carried us through the bad. Thank you.

From www.ozmaonline.com:

Goodbye« on: 07/23/04, 10:01:31 pm »

Dear ozma fans,
I regret to inform you the band has called it quits. It's been a pleasure to get to know all of you at the shows and through the forum, you’ve all helped our band be all that it could and for that I am personally thankful. It would be impossible to explain all the reasons for our decision due to their personal nature. These problems have affected the creative and professional facets of the band to the extent that no one feels like continuing any longer. Though I personally wanted to wait to make this decision and give everyone the opportunity to think things over, in hopes that something might be salvaged, certain members felt the need to end things as quickly as possible. Therefore, I see no point in waiting even a few more hours to let all of you know what’s happening. Again, I'm sorry to have to tell you this. I'm telling you this without the consent of the other members of the band, though based on our most recent discussion less than an hour ago I believe the decision to be final and this to be accurate information. Thanks for the memories and all the kind words over the years that kept us going. Please continue to listen to the music as you always have and remember us as we once were. The forum will remain in operation for the next 2-4 months.
Sincerely,
singer/guitarist
Ryen Slegr

I did not expect this at all. I mean, I saw them less than two weeks ago, and everything seemed alright. I had no idea that not only would this be the last time I would see OZMA in concert, this would also be one of the last times OZMA would ever play. I can hope for the band to get back together someday, but that does not seem very likely. I remember I started listening to OZMA freshmen year when some random guy came into my room and heard me playing Weezer, and he recommended that I listen to OZMA. After that, I downloade...I mean, bought some of their songs, and I've been listening to them ever since. Well, at least I got to see them one last time before they broke up.

On a lighter but related note, they lowered the prices on their merchandise because they're trying to get rid of it all, so you can grab some t-shirts for relatively cheap.

Goodbye.

Capri Sun

2004-07-24T17:34:00.000-07:00

Currently Playing: Flow - GO!!!

Me: Do you like the Orange Capri Sun?
Tiffany: I like it, except when it runs out.

Well said.

Straylight Run, OZMA, and Rooney

2004-07-15T11:48:00.000-07:00

Currently Playing: The Carpenters - Superstar

On Tuesday, July 13th, Tiffany and I went to go see Straylight Run, OZMA, and Rooney at the Soma. We didn't decide to go until the last minute because we found out that tickets were still available. We drove there at 5:30 pm to buy tickets and wait in line for the concert to start. They let us in at around 7:00 pm, and the concert started probably an hour later (I didn't have my phone with me). While we were waiting for the concert to start, I heard them play the new Taking Back Sunday album (at a Straylight Run show??).

I was thinking of buying a Straylight Run t-shirt, but was dissuaded by the $20 price tag on them. I remember a time when shirts were just $10. What happened to those days...? Although, I do also remember a time when gas was under a dollar, so maybe I'm just getting old.

I was surprised to find that the concert was not full at all. They had sectioned off at least a third of the back, and even then, only half of the remaining space was full. Granted, that's still a lot of people because Soma is pretty big, but it just looked pretty empty. Since we got there early, we got to get the seats on the ledge on the left side of the stage. We were pretty close and we were able to see everything.

Straylight Run came on first, though I don't think many people knew who they were. Of their six demo songs, they played "The Tension and the Terror", "It's for the Best", "Mistakes We Knew We Were Making", and "Existentialism on Prom Night". They also played a bunch (and by bunch I mean 4 or 5; they were the opening band after all) of songs from their upcoming album, which they said would be released in September. Michelle actually sang the lead part on some of the songs. Some of the titles of the new songs that I can remember were "Toolsheds and Hot Tubs" (sung by Michelle), and "Sympathy for the Martyr". I really enjoyed their set, and really look forward to their album.

Random Rant: One thing that was annoying though, was when we stood up on the ledge, some guy just sat down pretty much right in front of us. He took up all the space, and after the set when we tried to sit down again, we had half as much space. Not only did he take our seat, he kept making frantic hand gestures to the girls he was talking to, and when he would leave the seat to go do something, and we would try to scoot over a little, he would just jump back into the seat and force us back over. It reminds me of the Masquerade at Anime Expo, when we stood up from our seats to try to catch some t-shirts they were throwing out, and when I tried to sit back down again, I was very surprised to find two girls standing in our seats, jumping up and down. At one point they even elbowed me in the head trying to catch a t-shirt. People are stupid.

Anyway...

OZMA played next. They played a pretty long set. I was disappointed because they didn't play "Korobeiniki" (more commonly known as the "Tetris Song"). However, they made up for it by playing a cover of The Carpenters' "Superstar". Star actually sang the song. It was the first time I've heard her sing, and it was actually pretty good. She also had to play to flute for the same song, so she had to keep switching between her flute, keyboards, and actually singing.

Rooney headlined, but it was kind of sad because it seemed like there were more people there to see OZMA than Rooney, although Rooney did have many more screaming girls. They were pretty good, although I still don't have much of an opinion on them. I only really like the song "I'm Shakin'", and that's really only because they played it on The OC.

All in all, it was a good show, and definitely worth the $15 admission price.

Randomness: I'm closing in on the 60,000 mile mark. The odometer now reads 59,891.

Randomness

2004-07-10T11:32:00.000-07:00

Currently Playing: Taking Back Sunday - New American Classic

Since I have quite a few random things to write about, I've decided to dedicate a whole entry to randomness:

1. The "If the door is closed and the lights are on do NOT come in" rule has been implemented for the bathroom at my new apartment, being that it does not have a lock.

2. While number one (1) technically isn't actually something that is wrong with the apartment, the fact that the lock on the door to my room does not work is. You can prevent someone from pushing the handle down when you lock it, but it does nothing if that said someone pulls the handle up. Also, it seems that either the garbage disposal does not work, or that I just can't find the right switch for it.

3. Our "new" microwave is so dinky and old that it still has one of those knobs you have to turn to the correct time in order to work. It can barely fit a medium sized plate inside and takes two to three times as long to heat anything as it should normally take.

4. You have to flush at least twice to get anything, even toilet paper, to go down the toilet.

5. $10 "Not" lamps from Ikea are cool.

6. We finally got around to cleaning up the apartment and unpacking everything. We have so much more space now! The whole designated dining area is empty. We don't have anything to put there yet, but we were thinking about buying a regular table from Ikea and a poker table cover thing. But then we would need chips and stuff, because the coins that we use now probably wouldn't be good for the felt...

7. I want to try out that new self-drying car wash thing. If it works, it's genius.

8. That one guy on Jeopardy now, that Ken guy, is sick. He needs to be punched in the face...repeatedly...by me. He's something like a 28 day champion and has won a total of $920,960. He's also tied the one day record of $52,000. He's gotten so bored on the show now that he writes is name in block calligraphy and in Final Jeopardy, when the answer was Lois Lane, he drew the Superman symbol next to his answer! Makes me sick...

9. If you haven't noticed, all of my "Currently Playing" songs lately have been Taking Back Sunday songs. I downloaded their new album, "Where You Want to Be", a couple weeks ago and have been listening to it ever since. It is quite good and I would encourage everyone to buy it come July 27th.

YAY!

10. The Student Business Services office is slow...I went to them to get my refund for second session, since I had already paid for a class and then dropped it, but they said they'd put in the request today, and I would get my check in a couple of weeks! Jeez. I dropped the class almost 2 weeks ago too...

11. My dad somehow got me one of those fluorescent Miller Lite signs that you see in bars and stuff. It is now hanging over my window. It's very cool, though a little loud when on.

12. I want to play the Prince of Tennis video game for the PS2. Supposedly it's like Virtua Tennis except with all the Prince of Tennis characters (of course) and they all have special moves! Too bad it's only found in Japan and sells for $40 on eBay. Maybe I'll buy it after I start my job...

13. Which reminds me, I start working Wednesday, July 28th at 1:00 pm. I need to remember to bring my social security card with me and two other forms of identification or else they'll send me home.

Thirteen is a good number, let's end on that.

July 4th Weekend

2004-07-06T12:07:00.000-07:00

Currently Playing: Taking Back Sunday - Slowdance on the Inside...

Okay, so...July 4th weekend:

Friday, July 2nd. Tiffany and I were supposed to go to Warped Tour, but when we looked up the bands, we realized that more than half the bands we wanted to see weren't even going to be playing! Matchbook Romance, Motion City Soundtrack, The All-American Rejects, Rufio, Allister, Sugarcult (for Memory), even Good Charlotte...all ditched us for the East Coast. This discouraged us greatly, and we at first decided just to not go at all, and go to Anime Expo (AX) in Anaheim instead. We had already planned to go to AX, which runs from Friday until Monday, but we were going to miss the first day because of Warped Tour. But, I had signed up for the text messaging service where band times for Warped Tour get sent to your phone, and we found out that Yellowcard and Taking Back Sunday weren't playing until 8:00 pm and 7:30 pm, respectively. We planned to just go see them so we wouldn't completely waste our tickets...but we ended up going to IHOP with Lien, Jean, and Julian instead (which is also good). Although I swear the prices at that IHOP were jacked up just because it was next to Disneyland. I paid nine bucks for a sourdough melt burger thing! Anyway, after eating, we went to Downtown Disney to walk around for awhile. We saw some of the Disneyland fireworks, but we missed the end because we tickets to see Spiderman 2 at the movie theater there. I thought Spiderman 2 lived up to most of the hype, and it was significantly better than the first. Maybe just because I like Doc Ock more than Green Goblin, but meh. I would definitely recommend the movie to pretty much anyone.

Saturday, July 3rd. We woke up at around 11:30ish because we wanted to get the AX by 2 to see Yoko Ishida's concert. Oh, for those of you who don't know what AX is, it is the biggest anime convention in the United States and it takes place every year on July 4th weekend. This year, there were over 25,000 people attending. There are concerts by Japanese singers (usually anime music), anime screenings on a big screen, many cosplayers (people who dress up as anime or game characters) and a Masquerade where they present skits and show off their costumes, and of course, lots and lots of anime merchandise. Anyway, the Yoko Ishida concert was pretty good, and lasted until 3:00 pm. After that, we went to the exhibition hall to look at all the anime merchandise that we shouldn't buy. We found Lien and Jean, who were working for one of the dealers there, but they were just leaving for lunch, and we didn't want to infringe on their eating time. So Tiffany and I just walked around the hall until it closed at 6:00 pm, buying some random stuff along the way. Tiffany bought me an Al (from Full Metal Alchemist) cell phone fastener (yay!).

We then went to one of the screening rooms to watch what we thought would be episode one of Full Metal Alchemist. But when we got there, no Full Metal Alchemist was to be found. They had changed the programming, and instead, showed an unsubbed version of episode one of the new series Samurai Champloo. The episode was pretty good, I mean, besides the fact that I couldn't understand anything that was said. I had already intended to watch this series, and had already downloaded the first four episodes (which ended up being a good thing because when we got back later that night Tiffany and I watched all four of the episodes). The series is made by the same person who created Cowboy Bebop, and so far is pretty good. I would recommend it to anyone who either 1) likes sword fighting, 2) liked Cowboy Bebop, or 3) just likes anime in general.

We really went to the screening room however, because right after the supposed Full Metal Alchemist episode was the movie Tokyo Godfathers. Tokyo Godfathers is the comedic story of three homeless people(an old bum, a transvestite, and a teenage runaway) who find a baby in a trash heap and then try to return the little girl to her mother. The film follows the trio as they traverse Tokyo, following clues and leads left behind by the baby's parents. A nice string of luck is their constant companion, ensuring that they find what they need and that the plot keeps moving despite the apparent hopelessness of the quest. What makes this movie so good and so funny is the depth of the characters. All the characters are equally as interesting, and you want to find out more about each of them, though admittedly being a transvestite makes for much more comedy. Anyway, I would definitely recommend it as a fun movie to watch. I think I have seen it available at Blockbuster for rental, so go watch it!

After that, Tiffany and I went to Del Taco to pick up food and just relaxed at home for awhile, where I promptly fell asleep at 12:00 am. My family didn't come back until 1:00 am, and apparently they even came in and talked to me for a bit, but I remember nothing of the sort.

Sunday, July 4th. Oh, I forgot to mention that Tiffany, being the silly girl that she is, bought me an iPod mini. It's the green one and it's the coolest thing ever. I converted all my songs to AAC format, and after I put all the songs that I wanted on there, I still have almost a gig left of space. And there is a click wheel Arden. Stupid. I don't really deserve such an extravagant gift, but I love you and thank you so much! Anyway, I was playing with the iPod pretty much at any spare moment of time I had the whole weekend.

Back to AX. After eating lunch with my parents, we left for AX at around 1:00 pm. We got there and basically just walked around the exhibition hall for a couple hours. Oh yes, and I also forgot to mention, many of the anime licensers (including Bandai and ADV), were all there in the exhibition hall. And yes, I wanted to firebomb every one of their booths. For those of you who don't know who anime licensers are, they buy the license to an anime to release it on DVD in the U.S. What this means to us is that usually groups who fan-sub anime episodes stop subbing them after an anime is licensed, which means we have to wait until the DVD is released before we get to watch the anime. For example, Bandai waited until the last few episodes of Gundam SEED to license it, leaving many people in a state of panic. Luckily, some rogue fansubbing groups took up the project and I was able to finish the series, but not before an intense hatred (shared with Kevin) of Bandai began.

That night was Masquerade, which sadly meant that we would miss the fireworks. But Lien, Jean, and Julian were able to score VIP seats because they were part of the "industry". So not only did we not have to line up to get a seat, we were able to sit in the fourth or fifth row! Good stuff. Now, Masquerade is very very long, running from 8:00 pm to 12:00 am. They started forty five minutes late, so we ended up staying there until about 1. There were a total of 55 acts, the most memorable to me being the big Gundam cosplayed by a guy from Japan, complete with weapons that had different configurations, and a huge 8 or 9 feet tall Optimus Prime. The Full Metal Alchemist group was also pretty good. Overall, I thought the Masquerade was interesting, though a little long. The seats weren't that comfortable so my butt hurt a lot after.

Some pictures of the mechs (stolen from Jean's LJ):

Monday, July 5th. Tiffany and I didn't leave until 12 because we kind of woke up a little late. We wanted to get there a little earlier because it was the last day and the exhibition hall closed at 3:00 pm. It ended up being okay, because we still had plenty of time to walk around and buy a bunch of stuff. I wound up buying a Naruto pencil board for myself and two for my brothers. Tiffany bought this cool bag with chibi Kenshin on it. She also bought some Naruto stamps and these two posters drawn by some independent artists that had a booth at AX. Near the end, some of the booths started throwing out random things that they couldn't sell. The ADV booth was throwing out t-shirts, but I was off to the side and couldn't get one, though I did let one slip through my fingers. Some of the other booths were just throwing out random figurines and things I didn't really care to get.

Anyway, this is too long already, so I'll end it there.

Randomness: iPod mini's are so coool.

Moving

2004-07-06T11:22:00.000-07:00

Currently Playing: Taking Back Sunday - Set Phasers to Stun

I've been kind of busy, so I haven't been able to update in awhile. There's a lot to tell, but I'll start with when I moved to my new apartment.

I moved on June 30th. Arden and Kevin are in Taiwan and at home, respectively, so it was up to me and Jon to do all the work...Luckily, John offered to help out, and even took the day off work to do it (thanks John)! Also, my family came down and helped out as well, which was good, because without them, I don't think we would have finished anytime soon.

The day started off bright and early at 8:30am, when Jon and I went to go pick up the rental truck. We ended up getting the 15' truck to save us some trips. After that, I had a lab class that I couldn't miss, so I went to that until 1pm. I also had a job interview at the UCSD Bookstore at 1, so I didn't actually get back to the apartment until 2pm. I did some last minute packing when I got back home, and then loaded my computer and clothes into my car. John and my family came at around 2:30pm, and we started to move things into the truck. Well, actually, we didn't actually start moving things into the truck until later. First we moved everything out of the apartment to in front of the gate. When everything was in our apartment, it didn't look like we had much stuff, but when everything was piled up out in the street, it looked like we had two times the amount of stuff I thought we had. Finally, around 3pm, we started to move the stuff into the truck while my mom did some last minute vacuuming.

Tangent/Rant: Something that would have been very useful (and would have saved us much time) to have known beforehand, I will share with you all now (and if you already knew this...you could have brought it to my attention earlier!!): Pack everything in nice, big boxes! Do not leave everything in little, open boxes! Even if you have to pack the smaller boxes into bigger boxes, do it! Moving all the little boxes took so many extra trips because you couldn't carry that many of them at once.

Okay, anyway, we started by moving the mattresses in first, and then piling all our little boxes on top of them. My dad was doing this, and I swear there was no empty space in the back of the truck. If Tetris was a game in real life, my dad would be the supreme champion. Because of his amazing packing abilities, we were able to fit all the rest of the stuff into this one truckload. We finished at exactly 4:17pm, and it was then that I realized the leasing office for La Regencia (my new apartment complex) might close soon, and we had yet to pick up the keys to the new apartment. We hadn't picked it up earlier because I had to wait for my dad to come with me and get a money order, because for some reason they require one for the first month. I tried to call them, but no one picked up. So we drove over there to see what time they closed. Luckily, they didn't close till 5pm that day. We left to go get the money order, all the while I was trying to call them to let them know we were on our way. Still no one picked up. Since the bank is slow, we didn't actually get the money order until 4:47pm. Now I was worried because when I would call them, the answering machine would say that they were closed. We got there at 4:53pm, only to find their door locked. They were still inside, and being the asses that they were, did not open the door for us, and even went as far as to shrug their shoulders. My dad and I were like, "WTF man?" Then we saw someone leave through the other door, so we ran around the building, and caught the door as it was closing. They tried to tell us they were closed, but my dad and I and this other couple that just showed up just walked in, saying that it wasn't 5pm yet, and that they could not close yet.

We got the keys, although the guy was still being an ass. And of course, being the ass that he is, he did not tell us our assigned parking spots, and he only gave us two sets of keys...Ass. Anyway, to not drag this out any longer, in order to move everything up to the third floor, George and my dad moved everything off the truck while Peter and I moved everything into the elevator, brought it up, and unloaded it, while Jon and John moved everything from the elevator into the apartment. We finally finished at around 8:30pm, went to eat at Tofu House, and then slept. Oh yes, but not before I realized my dad had driven off with the keys to the truck, which was definitely not a good thing because I had to return it by 7:00am the next day. Luckily he realized before he was too far on the road, and turned around.

Randomness: I just got a call today from the bookstore, and I did get the job and will start on July 28th, if I don't find a better job by then.

Summer School

2004-06-25T00:52:00.000-07:00

Currently Playing: Yellowcard - Gifts and Curses

So I just recently found out that Summer Session 1 starts Monday. That's just great. Especially when I didn't think school started until after July 4th weekend. This has three distinct rammifications on my plans:

1) I had to postpone my jury duty. They let me move it until after summer school ends, sometime in the first week of September.

2) I have class on the day I'm supposed to move, June 30th. I have lecture from 8am to 9:20am, and lab from 10am to 12:50pm, but I think I can skip lecture, and hopefully lab won't take the full three hours. Well, we shall see. I think we'll have enough time.

3) I had planned on sitting around and doing nothing for another week, and that's been shot to hell. Stupid school. And I still need to finish packing and cleaning up the apartment. Better get started soon...

Randomness: Tonberries are so cool.

Gmail

2004-06-24T12:25:00.000-07:00

Currently Playing: Matchbook Romance - Stay Tonight

I got a Gmail account awhile back, and when I checked it today, it had the button where I could give invites to people! When I clicked the button, it said I had six whole invitations to give out! Since I wanted a normal e-mail account for when I graduate and don't have my UCSD one anymore, I sent an invitation to myself. Alas, it seems almost all forms of Calvin Lai are taken already. What a bunch of crap. People are stealing my identity!! AHHH!! ...Anyway, Google recommended that I use the name "calvinster", which is kind of stupid, but whatever.

Anyway, the point of this post is to ask if anyone wants an invitation, let me know. I currently have four more left, because I already sent one to Tiffany. So I guess it'll be first come first serve, to be fair. But then again, I don't think more than four people read this anyway, so it won't be a problem.

Randomness: Why don't I have a middle name?? I should just stick a random letter in between my first and last name so I can make my new Gmail account. Any suggestions?

The eight rules of Fight Club

2004-06-21T16:37:00.000-07:00

1. You do not talk about Fight Club.
2. You do not talk about Fight Club.
3. Someone yells stop, goes limp, tags out - the fight is over.
4. Only two guys to a fight.
5. One fight at a time.
6. No shirt, no shoes.
7. FIghts will go on as long as they have to.
8. If this is your first night at Fight Club, you have to fight.

Hiatus Ended!

2004-06-20T09:51:00.000-07:00

Currently Playing: Yellowcard - October Nights

After a nearly eight month hiatus, I have returned to the world where Orcs pillage and the Undead run rampant, where Elves hide in the night shadows and Humans possess magical abilities. Yes, I have returned to the world of Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. Although not fully reacquainted yet, I feel that a return to form is imminent. This will be facilitated by a gradual transition from custom games such as Defense of the Ancients to the eventual ladder play. Here's to never parting again.

Anyway, as you can see, I really don't have anything to do, especially when Tiffany is at work during the day. And I actually have only played one game of Warcraft, and it was only a custom game, so I haven't really started playing again yet.

I guess this summer is a big return to gaming for me, because I also started played Final Fantasy VIII again with Tiffany. I had played FF8 years ago when it first came out, but I had never finished it. For some reason I stopped playing it right before I was about to beat the game. Anyway, Tiffany wanted to start the game over because she had missed Leviathan in her current file, so 12 hours of gameplay later, we are deep in the heart of disc one (of four).

What else...Oh yes, I have jury duty soon. I really hope I don't have to be a juror, because school does start soon, and I have all the stuff I have to do for when I move, etc...Plus I just don't want to do it. Arya told me about how he got out of jury duty by writing some long essay about how in these hard economical times, it was necessary for him to work to get money to attend school, blah blah blah. Maybe I'll end up doing that too...though I don't really have a job at the moment. Oh well. Maybe I'll just write something about how I discriminate against every race and every sexual orientation.

Randomness: Chibi penguin will take over the world.

Welcome

2004-06-18T00:30:00.000-07:00

Currently Playing: Dashboard Confessional - Vindicated

I decided to try this out, to see if this is better than Xanga or not. So far, this seems like it has more options available. We shall see.

Hi

2004-06-17T23:55:00.000-07:00

Hello