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To the left, to the left

2012-01-20T14:30:00.008-05:00

Though my friends assure me that I am nowhere near hoarders-level in terms of clutter (and I can find my foster cat fine, so I'd be willing to believe it), I cannot deny that I am not a particularly neat or clean person. My office might be considered about average amongst the rest, but I try hard to at least keep it not-disgusting since people actually see the place.

On the other hand, I am ashamed of my apartment and don't really let people come over except for my closest of friends (or people I'll never see again).

My apartment complex is re-opening their self-storage facility. The first 20 people who rent get a 5'x10' unit for $100/month. I don't know why, but I was considering it. An extra $100 monthly rent just for 50 more sq feet...but it'd get my stuff out of sight and out of mind.

After checking the big places like Public Storage, which btw, has a really fun animated interactive size guide that shows you how big the units are, I've determined that for a self-storage facility next door, that it's a good deal.

I was really starting to think this was smart. That some people use self storage as that, general storage for your stuff. I thought it was mostly people in-between moves, but maybe, maybe renting a giant closet would be the solution to all my problems.

But of course I finally analyzed it. I will be in this apartment at least another 8 months according to my lease. So that's $800. A great majority of the clutter I feel like I can't deal with are just boxes. Boxes I like moving with, boxes fragile things came in, boxes that I claim hold sentimental value. There are other things --snowboarding equipment I haven't been able to get to use, a cat litter box that is too small for my current cat, random junk in tubs and under my bed, etc -- that would benefit from just...being somewhere else. But for the most part, I think boxes are my problem. Everything else I could probably find room for if I just threw out or sold other stuff. (Or I might be in denial about that as much as everything else -- I have lived in a heap of dusty clutter for years now.)

Even if I get the most ridiculous moving package from U-Haul made for a 4+ bedroom house, I'd be under the $800. And I'd get bubble wrap. BUBBLE WRAP. With the difference I could easily also get two maid cleanings. (Or one of the many Groupon-like deals for one.)

I might be ready to let go soon. Maybe not that soon. I do still have a Rock Band set of drums that are still in the box because I don't know where I could keep them. Also the box my broken printer came in that I keep thinking maybe I'll one day actually pack up and go get fixed. And not really sure where that cat litter lid will go. I mean, my next foster cat can be coming any time and it might be smaller. (Actually, any cat would be smaller than my current.) But at any rate, I've had bouts of "sell all my old stuff for $5" inspiration and I could always go that route.

Baby steps.

Anyway, this has been another installment of too-well-researched-for-my-pocket-journal but too-long-and-boring-for-my-tumblr. I'm not sure what anyone else can get out of this except...even someone with a cheap miser past can lose track of the big financial picture.

'sall relative (in time!)

2012-01-12T12:45:00.006-05:00

Today someone randomly asked me if in other languages, there were more efficient ways to say "day after tomorrow" and things like that. I was happy to report that I knew...yes!

Well, efficiency is subjective, but I at least knew that Mandarin and Japanese had terms that were special to terms like "day before yesterday" and "day after tomorrow", even if just prefixes.

But because I had already forgotten what most of the terms were, I had to confirm at work (and my new work computer can display east asian characters. so happy!).

So here are the Mandarin terms (copy and pasted from About.com):
today - 今天 - jīn tiān
yesterday - 昨天 - zuó tiān
the day before yesterday - 前天 - qián tiān
tomorrow - 明天 - míng tiān
the day after tomorrow - 後天 - hòu tiān

See, no matter what, two character words!

Japanese is a slightly more complicated issue, and I don't know if I'm just biased because it seemed so hard to learn in general, especially at 8:30am, but I feel that Japanese has many many alternatives to saying every little thing.
But here's what I think is common (copy and pasted from random dictionaries I could find online):

today - きょう - kyou (and fun fact: the kanji in Japanese is 今日, which is similar to the Chinese one above, but not quite...annoying, huh)
yesterday - きのう (昨日) - kinou
day before yesterday - おととい (一昨日)- ototoi
tomorrow - あした (明日) - asita
day after tomorrow - あさって (明後日) - asatte
two days after tomorrow ("in three days time") - しあさって (明明後日) - siasatte

As you can tell by the characters, the terms for things beyond yesterday and tomorrow are more or less derivative from the main terms. But they are more like prefixes, and I think still more effective than saying "day after tomorrow". I do realize that saying "in two days" is the same as "the day after tomorrow", and that it's not exactly a cumbersome phrase. But it's still seems less cool. :-)

Since I never studied Chinese formally, I don't know if the terms are related in the same way. They all end in the word for "day" (天), if you were wondering. Also the word used in the kanji in Japanese, 日, does actually also mean "day" in Chinese, but in different contexts. I can't give great examples, but 日 can also mean "sun" (it looks like a sun, eh? =P) and 天 is more related to the heavens and sky. But both are used in Chinese in terms that mean things relating to days, daily, routines, etc.

When I was thinking of the Japanese terms though, in my head I thought I had remembered that the prefixes were more blatant. But I realized I was thinking of the German terms! (I realize that mixup doesn't make much sense, but I learned those languages within a year of each other so...that explains a little.)
today - heute
yesterday - gestern
day before yesterday - vorgestern
tomorrow - morgen
day after tomorrow - übermorgen
two days after tomorrow überübermorgen

Anyway, I got so excited about knowing something that I felt I wanted to write a blog post on it, even on this old one that no one reads anymore. :-)

oops!

2011-05-24T14:22:00.002-04:00

Well I fell off the 365 wagon. That's the hardest part! First I had my normal 1-2 week lag, then my phone continued its crashing, then blogger went down, and then I thought about giving up...

But no! I will press on. Once I figure out how I wanna restart. Back post a few? (I kept taking pics, even though I didn't post. But I am still missing a few days, especially once I went into my "give up?" phase.) We'll see.

Project 365: day 34

2011-05-10T18:23:00.001-04:00

Past midnight and counts for Monday! :) So this was my coverage of Obama's announcement of Bin Laden's demise...

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Project 365: day 33

2011-05-10T18:20:00.001-04:00

Tough call for the pic of Sunday but Race for Hope 5k wins!

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Project 365: day 29

2011-05-10T18:19:00.001-04:00

(I think this is what I tried to post for 29...) Blasting!

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Project 365: day 32

2011-05-06T22:14:00.001-04:00

Saturday was more tennis with friends and many shirtless men? (The guy on the left is in good form...?)

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Project 365: day 31

2011-05-06T22:10:00.001-04:00

Mysterious lone muffin in the pantry.

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Project 365: day 30

2011-05-06T22:09:00.001-04:00

Finally made it to a thursday kickball game...

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Project 365: day 28

2011-05-06T22:05:00.002-04:00

Contemplating hundredpushups again, mostly to get back to 50. And look! It's a tiny PocketMod book!

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Project 365: day 27

2011-04-26T18:15:00.001-04:00

Knittin' and beer. My favorite pasttime.

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Project 365: day 26

2011-04-26T18:14:00.001-04:00

I didn't leave the apartment on Sunday so here's a picture of food... Kale, delicious kale!

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Technicalities...

2011-04-24T03:50:00.003-04:00

Hmm, now that I'm on a real computer looking at my posts it looks like Blogger Droid compresses the pictures a lot! I guess the gist is still there though and it's not like the pictures on my phone would look that much better. Still disappointing.

Project 365: day 25

2011-04-24T03:40:00.001-04:00

Hard to choose a pic from Sat...bb exam, picnic...but I think this pic of Jed wins the day. What a good pup.

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Project 365: day 24

2011-04-24T03:39:00.002-04:00

I admit, this pic was taken on Tuesday, but Friday is when i finally really had time to play! Joy joy.

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Project 365: day 23

2011-04-24T03:37:00.001-04:00

Thurs was a health fair at work. Gotta love balloons! Can't not brighten your day.

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Project 365: day 22

2011-04-24T03:36:00.001-04:00

My first Seder! Also I still have no idea how to make pix go vertical when posting from my phone. :(

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Project 365: day 21

2011-04-24T03:33:00.001-04:00

Behind this mystical garden are tennis courts. (And my second loss of the season.)

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Project 365: day 20

2011-04-24T03:32:00.001-04:00

This? This is delicious.

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Project 365: day 19

2011-04-23T13:57:00.001-04:00

Decided against a film at a museum and enjoyed cool weather with some friends on the tennis courts! By Howard University.

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Project 365: day 18

2011-04-23T13:55:00.001-04:00

Only a week behind! Unfortunately all I took last Sat was Misu rolling around in my apartment/landfill. She's back to "almost adopted" so there may be not many more pics of her. :(

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Project 365: day 17

2011-04-17T15:43:00.001-04:00

Friday, post Crystal City 5k run. Portraits by Joe Foley, part of his Bakers Dozen works.

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Project 365: day 16

2011-04-17T15:41:00.001-04:00

First soccer game of the season on Thursday. Go Foxchase!

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Project 365: day 15

2011-04-14T18:25:00.001-04:00

I tried "no cook" steel cut oats. Soak them in 2 parts milk overnight. I added honey, cinnamon, and raisins. Not my favorite, but worked well with normal oatmeal the next day! :) Gonna try 5-min/soak steel cut oats next!

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Project 365: day 14

2011-04-14T18:22:00.001-04:00

Mmmm. What is better than a piece of salmon sashimi? (Plenty I'm sure but it hit the spot.)

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Project 365: day 13

2011-04-14T18:18:00.001-04:00

I got nothing for Monday :( so here's another Sunday shot from the train models store in Strasburg, PA.

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Project 365: day 12

2011-04-11T18:05:00.001-04:00

Sunday was meandering through central PA. Amish buggies!

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Project 365: day 11

2011-04-11T17:48:00.001-04:00

Let's go Pens redux. (WBS Pens and Hershey Bears split the weekend 1-1.)

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Project 365: day 10

2011-04-11T17:46:00.001-04:00

On Friday was gamblin at Mohegan Sun and watching the Wilkes Barre/Scranton penguins. Also eating at a random buffet, at which I encounter the largest mass of kimchee I've ever seen. Who knew it was so popular?

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Project 365: day 9

2011-04-11T17:39:00.001-04:00

On Thurs I left for a weekend trip! But not before a random kick off at work. Clearing old patent applications vroom vroom.

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Project 365: day 8

2011-04-11T17:35:00.002-04:00

For wed...hi cuteness! (Sorry for the double kitty post!)

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Project 365: day 7

2011-04-06T21:14:00.001-04:00

And for yesterday, Misu the foster says "oh hayyyy". (I have a captioned version but I decided against posting it.)

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Project 365: day 6

2011-04-06T13:34:00.001-04:00

This drink was called Bone. No "the" iirc. From Founding Farmers. Knob Creek, lime juice, tabasco sauce, with a bacon lolli (candied bacon) garnish. A very manly cocktail. :)

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Project 365: day 5

2011-04-06T13:05:00.001-04:00

Line at Georgetown cupcake...the usual...(I don't get it.)

(Also my phone as been annoying at the worst times since the OTA update to froyo. Especially with 3g data. 4g is fine! Still no g in the office. :( So I am bending the rules for a post a day and will for a while I'm sure...)

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Project 365: day 4

2011-04-02T17:30:00.001-04:00

Whenever I think I'm baking a large batch of tofu, it never turns out to be much. (Protip: bake extra crispy for a healthy crunchy snack :P)

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project 365: day 3

2011-04-01T18:12:00.001-04:00

Juggling guy at today's Crystal City 5k! Long line... (also my phone ate my pic yesterday...longish story but i think my phon decided it was too blurry and deleted it replacing it with a weird icon. Is that possible? I was mad.)

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Fine, I admit it

2011-03-31T14:10:00.003-04:00

Having a rice cooker has sort of changed my life. I bought it off of a friend who was moving. Initially I had my doubts, especially buying one using "fuzzy logic" because as I'm sure was the case in most Asian households growing up, you had some ancient thing with a 2 pole switch that somehow made rice, puddings, steamed vegetables, and whatever else. You could trick those things. Fuzzy logic (whether or not this term is correctly applied) rice cookers are a whole different animal. You have to tell it what you're making (some of them even have cake modes...which my friend and I tried and hey, it looked enough like cake! Imagine if we made it mixing with a whisk and not a fork and also when sober!) and then it'll magically cook it juuuuust right.

And I've been living without a rice cooker for years, being the bad Asian that I am. (Along with not playing the piano or violin.) I just make rice in a pot. What is so hard???

But hey, you help a friend out by buying his junk and you get junk you might use in return. Yay! Also I joked that with the fuzzy logic brain 'n all, it might be intelligent enough to become my new best friend.

And it has.

I haven't done anything crazy in it yet but make white rice and brown rice. Okay, I attempted to make steel cut oats twice, which sort of yielded goopy nightmares, but the oats that remained in the pot were delicious. (I should add that I've never made steel cut oats before and so they sort of astound me and I'm sure it'll just take some experimentation with the water ratio. Also the oats all remained in the pot...the goopy mess was the...oat water that had congealed?) The cake was at someone else's place so I can't count that. But combined with my normal stores of pickled vegetables I never get around to eating (kimchee, cucumbers in soy sauce, etc) I am in snacking heaven. It feels healthier too than some of my past snacking habits. (Until you factor in just how much rice I can inhale with the right sesame and seaweed seasoning and then I remember why I don't lose weight.)

And so, as with I later admitted with getting a real bed, I concede that a rice cooker is a good investment. Tending periodically to a pot of rice doesn't take much work, but setting a timer for rice to be done when you're back from errands is pretty clutch. And since my jaw has been hurting the past few weeks it's been nice to have large amounts of rice porridge (mixed with sweet potatoes! mm) as a staple starch around. You win, Asian-and-now-common-American-apartment-dweller wisdom.

Project 365: day 2

2011-03-31T02:25:00.001-04:00

Walk of shame after a lost tennis match.

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Project 365: day 1

2011-03-29T15:26:00.004-04:00

Project 365: day 1, a photo by muroo on Flickr.

Spring is here sort of! By a work parking garage.

Hmm, there was supposed to be a message about retrying this project now that my phone is smarter. But it didn't work. I'll find a way!

running in circles

2011-03-22T13:05:00.006-04:00

Hello world again!

I wonder who still has this blog on their feeds! So I am back, reflecting on my life, with no guarantees that I will post again. :-) I guess I converted to tumblr, but since apparently it's a bandwidth whore (hence not playing nice with use at work) maybe I'll spew my thoughts here again.

I have a lot of saved drafts, and a lot of more organized things to say...but perhaps expanding on that indication, this is a post about how I am woefully unfocused.

As I type right now, I am amid another flurry of work left to the last minute. The super last minute. I've been aware of this workload for a while, and I've had the past 3 weeks to work on it, but I just haven't. I can't really put my finger on why other than just being a pathological procrastinator. But I do know I need to improve on this. And I've been better this quarter at work than usual...but not quite the best. Why haven't I been able to improve myself at work as much as I'd like? I think it's because I'm also trying to be better at every thing all at once.

I fall into this trap so much that it's not even a trap, but a dysfunctional way of life. I suppose growing up being placed in specialized programs and then going to a competitive high school and an even more so college has led me to increasingly believe that I should be good at everything. I bitterly scoffed at people who delved into their studies and didn't do extracurriculars and got the same or better grades than I with less stress (for shame!) thinking I was the capable one. Some of my friends do still envy my logistical ambitions -- if I want to fit something into my schedule, it will fit. I may sacrifice a little bit of everything else, but I can and will go to work, see an apartment, get my teeth cleaned, help out at the tae kwon do school, go to my soccer game, and then meet you for your birthday party.

I've been skipping things as of late (the past year) with mixed results. I've mostly been stinging on the exercise and the social engagements, which might not be the best way to go. Either way, this has led to no improvement in my life regarding stress level, work production consistency, and clearly not my health and fitness since I've been exercising less. And now I feel guilty for not leading the jam-packed life I used to with zero results.

What I've forgotten is one of the fundamentals of learning which I now see applies to life skills. Master one skill, build a foundation, and move on.

Instead of trying to (currently):

cook more and eat better
exercise regularly (and meet my 10k race goal)
work better at work
declutter my apartment and life
read books
play more video games (this is a good thing, promise =P)
take trips
work towards my second degree black belt
enjoy life and see friends in the area more than once a year
write more music or at least finish some songs
and the list goes on...(including some knitting projects for my niece...she'll be too big soon!)

I need to focus at fewer at a time. Often at 2am, I'll be awake, thinking I should do something. But what? I need to work, but I'd also really like to get started on cleaning out my dresser, and hey it's never too late to do a strength workout, oh but there's that book I wanted to read...
I just need to simplify what I want to do.

This will be hard, but I think it's for the best. Maybe I shouldn't be training for the 10k and working on my second degree black belt at the same time as compatible, as those goals appear to be, since at the moment, I only have so much time to exercise and it's hard to choose. Also I feel like reading books and playing video games take up the same-ish time slots in leisure home time. Soccer and tennis together was probably also a bad choice. Cooking more doesn't work when I don't get home until 10pm most nights exhausted. (Though I have been working on recipes on the weekends.) And most of all, perhaps work should take a bigger priority over all of these things (at least for a little while). I know there must be a way somehow to do it all at once, and do it well (I've had a taste of it!), but clearly this isn't working for me. I feel like I've spent the past year and a half trying everything and improving on nothing. I guess I don't have the same ability as I (at least think I) used to to send my life in a billion different directions.

Or maybe I do. But at this point trying to level up all of my skill sets at once makes for a long time until a stat boost. :-) And ya need little bits of encouragement along the way.

Now to figure out what to do first...

*edit - even just ten minutes after writing this, I've already had too many ideas to do everything at once. Don't know how to hold myself to taking things one at a time!

on a boat

2010-09-25T14:48:00.001-04:00

Eating a brunch buffet! With my new phone I could attempt proj 365 but I won't. I'll just hope to post more. Hi everyone who still has me on their rss readers!

Don't you love how I run back to this blog now that the dating blog has died down? See ya at the end of the fiscal year.

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return of the FEVAH!

2010-02-11T18:05:00.002-05:00

Sooooo remember when Pedobear was mistaken for a Vancouver 2010 mascot? Awesome.

Anyway, I'm not as excited about the Vancouver Olympics as I was about Beijing, but that's only because there weren't songs and videos featuring Jackie Chan to promote it.
But I'm sure I'll be consumed with the fever as I usually am and post a little too much.

fail

2010-02-01T12:05:00.001-05:00

I can't do Project 365 since I can barely remember to feed myself on a daily basis. :-) Oh well. I'll continue to post pictures as I please though. :-)

project 365: day 5

2010-01-25T16:19:00.001-05:00

Hold up. Fedex trucks have a drop slot in case they're parked and you see it and you wanna send something? Pretty great.

project 365: day 4

2010-01-23T16:04:00.003-05:00

Cats, newegg, napping, a messy apartment. This sums up my life.

project 365: day 3

2010-01-21T23:53:00.001-05:00

Finished off an indulgent fresh shrimp meal with mango. (Now eaten.)

project 365: day 2

2010-01-20T13:18:00.001-05:00

If this friendly reminder from your local asian restaurant doesn't make your day, nothing will.

project 365: day 1

2010-01-17T01:35:00.002-05:00

karaoke gone wrong. I swear the blurriness is for effect.

testing!

2010-01-16T15:17:00.004-05:00

Well, it looks like I can e-mail from my phone but the whole (EASIER) MMS thing doesn't work. Just as well. This one doesn't count since it's from over a week ago. Leche likes Matthew Fox. Someone's meeting the foster cats on Sunday and will probably take them. Fostering cats is one of the best decisions of my adult life. They helped me, I helped the cats, everyone gets cuddly. When I'm not sneezing at them, that is.

Proj 365 in the works?

2010-01-16T15:09:00.003-05:00

All the cool kids are trying it or in the middle of it, and I send enough useless pics to twitter that they may as well go to this blog too. :-) Currently working out the kinks of mobile picture posting as it doesn't seem to be working. And then. Grainy tiny photos of my days! Just what you've always wanted.

more spectra to think about

2009-09-14T14:40:00.002-04:00

NPR Tell Me More: Gender Questions Surround Track And Field Star

The world governing body for track and field is deciding whether a sprinter can compete as a woman, if she also has male sex organs. The International Association of Athletics Federations has taken up the case of Caster Semenya, a world record holding South African runner. Semenya, has undergone tests to prove that she is a female after claims to the contrary. Michel Martin discusses the topic with Doctor Eric Vilain, an expert in the field of intersex science and identity.

I never gave much thought to the fact that there's no single definition of male and female. There are people clearly one or the other, but how to distinguish the ones that aren't? Sexual identity is one thing, where it's very simple to say it's up to the person to determine how they'd like to be identified. But I think this is the first time I've heard the issue come up in the field of sports, where it does seem that some sort of fair clear cut distinction will have to eventually be made.

flashback to...

2009-09-11T17:12:00.002-04:00

NYTimes: A Fortress City That Didn’t Come to Be

A little ditty encapsulating the uncertainty following the September 11th attacks.

New York would become a fortress city, choked by apprehension and resignation, forever patrolled by soldiers and submarines. Another attack was coming. And soon.

Tourists? Well, who would ever come again? Work in one of the city’s skyscrapers? Not likely. The Fire Department, gutted by 343 deaths, could never recuperate.

If a crippled downtown Manhattan were to have any chance of regeneration, ground zero had to be rebuilt quickly, a bricks and mortar nose-thumbing to terror.

I'm not gonna tell much of my story, because I had a very ho-hum one compared to others, especially those of some of my good childhood friends attending a rival high school basically across the street from the falling towers. And everyone was affected by the 9/11 in some minor way and at the very least remember exactly where they were when they heard the news. My experience had an unrelated personal twist that is making it all the more bitter tasting, but I made it out without losing anyone I knew particularly well. I got home...eventually, after walking what I think was about 100 blocks with some stops in between to get someplace to sleep. It was a clear day with good visibility, so you couldn't miss the pillar of smoke. I got home the next day eventually, going to Brooklyn and getting picked up there. Like I said, I couldn't complain much. But I do remember the next day, when I got on an express bus and asked the bus driver if I could use my student metrocard and a token to get to manhattan, because ferry service was suspended, and he said..."no...but just get on, I guess you got no other way of getting to school" that I started to tear up and I walked to my seat.

It was a weird feeling as I said about the article before, uncertainty. I was just scared because, well, wtf. What is going on exactly?
The US was not used to random acts of terrorism or violence, at least not with the use of anything resembling bombs and destruction on city streets. Arguably my generation had been living some damn peaceful times, with no major war to speak of that affected the homeland.

I should probably flesh this out, but I don't wanna be a cheesy downer. :-) I just wanted to post something since I read this article and was reminded of how powerful just not knowing what's next is.

growing up, cont'd

2009-09-09T00:39:00.003-04:00

I used to think I had a grasp on the growing up thing, and I definitely don't miss college. So I thought.

I don't miss college how I think most people do -- the people, the relative carefree nature, always having something new to do -- but rather I miss the routine. Those who knew me knew I was always overbooked for everything. If it wasn't just the sheer nature of being a chemical engineering major, it was a cappella rehearsals and concerts, marching band functions (and parties!), tae kwon do practice or testing or tournaments, or working my shift at the library or heading to the lab to work on that project (and get money for it!). Engineers partied hard when they could, and otherwise were banished to do problem sets when others were going out.

In high school, my main activities were track, tennis, math team, concert band/orchestra and generally running amok in the courtyard. I unsuccessfully carried over these things to college (though I tried...I also wanted to do cheerleading or rugby) and picked up what I listed above. High school to college was a definite transition for me. And it felt pretty good to learn new things and I think I changed for the better. (Apparently that's when Diana rage died down.)

In my attempt to center myself in the real working world, instead of exploring and finding new interests, I've held onto my college ones. I sing with a guy and write songs and record them sometimes for kicks...I work and train at a tkd school...and though I couldn't get the marching band aspect, it seems I've just latched onto my apartment sports teams and I can't let go. I need season after season of whatever they'll offer -- volleyball, bball, softball, soccer, tennis so far. And goodness knows I make unnecessary effort to see live sports.

Who knows how, but I didn't realize this until today. I'm feeling a little stuck, in that young adult rut, and I think still doing these activities out of habit and not out of actual interest is keeping me from actually moving on from college and enjoying my new life. I'm tempted to wipe the slate clean, and pick up something new. I could be in a dance class or a book club by now. (Actually, bartending classes are first up on the list when there's time. =P) I think I was supposed to apply to law school around now. My bad.

grab a friend and grow up

2009-08-02T19:24:00.004-04:00

when the Ikea directions tell you not to assemble something alone, just follow the directions. You trust the rest of the directions, don't you? Oh well. Somehow I managed to construct my used bed frame without much injury. Thank you, Woot, for giving me a box that was exactly the height I needed to get the frame together.

But enough of that. More importantly, I have a bed.

I have not had a bed since college. Not a real one, anyway. I've been sleeping on air mattresses, my futon...*ahem* and other people's beds. But now I have my very own (not so comfortable) bed. It makes me one step closer to being an adult.

I've been criticized for lack of bed, lack of "real" drinking glasses, lack of regular leftovers, lack of other furniture, lack of cleanliness?...etc. All of these times, it's been hinted that "damn, girl, you need to grow up."

Usually I ignore and justify. I say I don't *need* these things. And since I don't need them, it makes future moves easier. Why do we feel that certain things define us as adults? And why does it even matter? As if cooking, owning a cat, owning a house, and generally keeping house is distinctly grown up. I can see how it's good...financially sound...or perhaps gives you a feeling of independence and maturity, but I don't understand why exactly it matters. I feel the same pressures and ideas, but I don't know what to make of it. And in my head, I have a very specific and not universally applicable definition of adulthood: the ability to make good decisions. Most of the time. And when you don't, know what the good decision is, even if you don't go that path. (For example, right now I'm having tortilla chips and dip for dinner. Is that a good decision? No. But I know it.) And I think I'm getting to my definition of growing up.

Anyway, I own a bed. Happy now?

you are what you say you are

2009-07-10T12:49:00.002-04:00

(a superstar...)

Fewer people *think* they're overweight these days, and people are accepting their bodies. Yay, right?

CNN: As nation gains, 'overweight' is relative

Or are we just becoming complacent?

Apparently women with normal BMIs are less likely to say they think they're overweight than they used to. This is good. This means happy healthier people, who know they're okay, and won't obsess about it.

But then again, apparently brands are downscaling sizes, so that you might think you're awesome and in a size 8, but it's only a matter of labeling and you're really wearing a size 12. And that quick fix illusion may not be so much a good thing at all. Also it might be what's making it difficult to buy jeans online these days.

And getting back to BMI...
NPR: Top 10 Reasons Why The BMI Is Bogus

I'd add in comment but I am hungover and this was difficult enough. Good day.

I'll be back

2009-07-06T15:19:00.003-04:00

I think this blog is a summer thing. I've been getting the urge to write lengthy posts not suitable for my tumblelog. Also would like to post pictures that facebook and tumblr don't need. See y'all soon. YAY!

in case you haven't seen

2009-04-29T21:31:00.001-04:00

I would totally dance to this at a party. Oh, Vince.

re-jingamajob your skin

2009-04-11T23:07:00.002-04:00

With the billion commercials about rejuvenating, revitalizing, renewing, re...verbing your skin, are any other girls out there worried that if we don't start now, we'll get real wrinkly really fast? Should I be nipping this in the bud? I realize it's marketing, but damn, I feel like it's working on me.

My grandmother always had really nice skin. She always wore hats to protect her face from the sun, had a slew of skin products and traditional know how...maybe I should find me some placebo night cream.

Because spring weather is boring

2009-04-09T10:06:00.004-04:00

(from howstuffworks)

Hello blog! I remember what this is for again! For things that aren't super silly and would depress my animal filled tumblelog.

Having never really lived through another recession, I can't be sure how much advertising has exploited the term and how much people talked about it. But all of a sudden, fuel efficiency and all things budget are awesome, car commercials will scream "recession!!!" at you and still try and convince you to drop tens of thousands of dollars, and instead of "oh this weather" people in line at the supermarket will just say "hey how about this recession?".

I guess I'm just entertained by the tangental things I hear. Being amongst the snarky young educated types (let's admit it), this seems to boil down to commentary about commentary.

using terms like "oh this recession!" or "these are my recession shoes" in a sarcastic manner (though yes, all based in fact)
one of my friends says that everyone's favorite thing to do (and by everyone, he meant young guys who are trying to out-intellectual the other) is to say what they think about the economy and the recession and it's usually just what was last said on This American Life
another one of my friends likes to say that the economy and the recession has ousted talk of religion and God (I don't really get this one, but okay)

Anyway. I've got nothing more to say for now.
What prompted this post was an article in the NYTimes.
Recession Anxiety Seeps Into Everyday Lives
Apparently even those who still have jobs, and even children, are just suffering from general anxiety about the economic situation. I don't buy some of the stories, but I think it's an important thing to be aware of. Let's not let things that we can't control necessarily stress us out. Yes, being unemployed does suck, but other than working hard to prevent losing your job (and even that isn't always enough) there's not much to do! I feel like some people are suffering from some sort of post-traumatic stress syndrome, even though the recession is not a traumatic event by most definitions of the term, unless say, you actually did lose everything all at once.

But a few months ago, Ms. Hubbard, a graphic designer in Cambridge, Mass., began having panic attacks over the economy, struggling to breathe and seeing vivid visions of “losing everything,” she said.

She “could not stop reading every single economic report,” was so “sick to my stomach I lost 12 pounds” and “was unable to function,” said Ms. Hubbard, 52, who began, for the first time, taking psychiatric medication and getting therapy.

Madness. Stay afloat, kids.

a Pececito

2009-03-17T09:47:00.003-04:00

I found this on the internet. Happy Birthday, Warren!

(as I break my posting hiatus. Been busy/busy with other blogs. Oh. You know.)
I also recently got promoted (not a big deal, and a year behind most people). So that ~15% increase in work is gonna be GREAT. :-)

Before Sunrise, with a musical twist?

2009-02-19T00:47:00.003-05:00

Just watched "Once". I didn't think I could do it alone, 'cuz I knew it'd be so damn sweet and cute, but I managed. :-) Bittersweet ending, the way all movie love stories should end. I don't wanna say it's realistic, but...maybe it is for the majority of encounters. Isn't that why we love Before Harry Met Sally and Before Sunrise/Sunset?

Also what is it that's so beautiful about music that it's really easy to fall for someone that makes beautiful music?

OKAY clearly I am caught up in the warm fuzziness of the movie. There is a reason there is no "love" tag for posts here. It has no place!

things I wish I had the determination to do

2009-02-18T22:51:00.002-05:00

BOOMBOX from Ely Kim on Vimeo.

"100 days, 100 songs, 100 locations, 100 dances."
He's a Yale grad student!
#99 is HGS courtyard perhaps?

Thanks to my officemate who brought it to light. (I thought it was another 100 dances video which I didn't like very much. This one's cute.)

gonna drunk dial my blog now

2009-02-17T21:42:00.003-05:00

Tumblr, which hosts some of my other blogs, now has a new call-to-post feature. You call it, and it will publish as an audio post. Who knows why you'd want to do this, but it's nice knowing I have the option.

ps - Thank you to Sweet Services for sending me 5lbs of candy! A dedicated post is to come. They seem to often have candy giveaways if you check their blog! :-)

I love the willingness to mock your own genre

2009-02-09T14:28:00.001-05:00

NBC wouldn't let me post to tumblr. Boo. Mike Herg decided to make me watch this. I'm glad. :-)

Video Recaps | Full Episodes | Webisodes

old school meets new school

2009-02-05T20:17:00.003-05:00

Wooden 2GB thumb drive doubles as Post-It Notes dispenser

And what if I ran a post-it note program from the USB? Huz. Zah.

late post, but in case you didn't know

2009-02-05T14:10:00.003-05:00

The Madden '09 simulation of the Super Bowl was only off by 2 points.

Madden 09 predicts Pittsburgh Steelers victory in Super Bowl XLIII

They predicted a Steelers victory of 28-24. Now, I do understand that 28-24 is VERY different from the real 27-23. It'd be pretty awesome if the simulation also included a safety. But I was still excited at the time. No one really understood my mile-a-minute muttering trying to explain how/why a video game prediction even happened, and no one really cared because the game was awesome, but I thought I'd point it out to anyone else who thought that was cool.

petaphiles

2009-01-29T00:34:00.003-05:00

So apparently this PETA ad got rejected for airtime during the Superbowl.

'Veggie Love': PETA's Banned Super Bowl Ad

The comments on the page are interesting since they go both ways...

And although I agree that equally as inappropriate commercials air, this one actually serves no purpose. Graphic horror movie ads? They're marketing a movie. The dumb beer commercials? I mean no one really takes them seriously, and they're for a laugh. This commercial? It's a cheap shot! It's in the category of dumb beer ad, but they're trying to be taken seriously? Who's gonna be persuaded by that?

That's not to say I don't think it's an awesome commercial. I just think it was a dumb move since people already stereotype PETA supporters...

(originally shared on Jason's google!)

bowling hero

2009-01-16T01:20:00.003-05:00

You know how Guitar Hero and Rock Band do not prepare you at all for the real thing? Drums, maybe. Vocals, sure. But the guitar plays more like a recorder that comes with a Disney songbook than a guitar.

Well, it's not like I even play Wii bowling. But I definitely forgot how hard real bowling was. I took bowling gym class once upon a time because my high school shared a gymnasium with an elementary school and so we took "cool gym classes" because we um "had no resources to accommodate the needs of a high school." So I took folk square ballroom gym class in a room the size of a normal classroom, rock climbing at this place at the bottom of a hill on the west side which took half the classtime to commute to, the same with the swim gym class, and BOWLING GYM CLASS AT PORT AUTHORITY (Times Sq). It was fun; not gonna lie. And shoe rental came with the class so if we wanted to pay for an extra game after class it was pretty cheap. But it's not exactly the average P.E. requirement.

Anyway, as much as I remember my 4-step approach, how to give courtesy to those in lanes adjacent if they're set up before you, and how to not get your fingers crushed by balls coming up through the return, Wii bowling has spoiled me in terms of how well I think I can do after some drinking. I'm just saying. =P Plus you don't have to factor in the chipped finger holes.

End stream of consciousness. Hasta la vista.

daily morning struggle-puzzle

2009-01-07T10:56:00.003-05:00

So upon arriving at work, I usually have to find a way to deal with 3 problems:

hunger
being cold
being sleepy

Hunger is usually dealt with by either buying a sandwich, eating a granola bar, or having a bowl of cereal.
Being cold can be dealt with by having a cup of coffee or tea, or taking out my fleece throw.
Sleepiness can be dealt with caffeine.

But what order to do these in?

Today I am doing the doubly productive thing with a cup of tea, but now I'm really hungry. But on deck for breakfast today is a bowl of cereal, and I don't wanna get colder! STRUGGLE!

I wish I were cool enough to manage this

2009-01-05T14:41:00.003-05:00

I've posted it everywhere. And I can't stop listening to and watching it.
Wind Waker Theme Unplugged

imma balla

2009-01-05T00:43:00.004-05:00

I played in the first game of the season today in the league I joined. I'll be sure to post if I actually score any points. I was a bit timid this time around and only made 2 attempts. Both were better than bad attempts. =P

Also joined Netflix.
I had blockbuster by mail for over a year...and blockbuster total access for some of it. It was nice...not gonna lie. With Blockbuster, you can return to a brick and mortar store, and then you instantly get a free rental. And a coupon per month for a video OR game rental. But somehow I just got incredibly lazy over time. And by "somehow" I mean, duh. But that's why I got rid of that feature and only paid $5/mo and still barely had a queue with high turnover. But now I'm doing the $9/mo plan from Netflix so I can have unlimited streaming of whatever movies and whatever TV shows they offer. Somehow that is worth it to me, even if I still don't actually watch the movies I request. Yay...
My opinion: If you're not lazy and have a car, Blockbuster Total Access trumps Netflix in that you have a wider selection of free/bonus/extras from just the DVDs by mail. But Netflix is better for your average slug like me. :-)

wishywashy

2009-01-03T11:23:00.004-05:00

My blog is just a youtube video blog!
Things I've seen today:

How to use your coin washer for free. I wouldn't actually try this, since I have all of 7 slots to deal with, and it'd take me so long that I'm sure I'd get caught...

How to get your washing machine to tweet (on twitter) when it's done. Wayyyyyyy too complicated but good for people who can handle that. To think I used to build power sources in lab.

the wonders of Vince Offer

2009-01-02T01:01:00.002-05:00

After a few discussions with people, it has come to my attention that Vince, "the ShamWOW guy" is not yet a household name. It is here for some reason, and maybe on the East coast in general, but maybe not.

But you must see his commercials. You must understand. I want a ShamWOW and a SlapChop for no good reason. (Though to be honest I'm sold pretty easily with As Seen on TV things...)

easier or harder than normal juggling?

2009-01-01T14:30:00.001-05:00

Quite intrigued with this video. As does happen when it's one of the first things you see when you wake up. This is like a halftime show for Deadball.

new year's resolution I can keep

2008-12-31T14:54:00.001-05:00

I'm posting in this blog again. Yay. No one cares. But yay!

yes, sir

2008-12-19T12:11:00.000-05:00

nice knowin' ya, I guess I'll be sleeping early tonight

2008-12-18T18:02:00.002-05:00

Oh, Sparks. It felt like our love affair had only just begun. Sometime in the past year, my officemate introduced me to you, and it was then that I realized that this was a great, nay, the best and only way to start a night. With energy and a buzz.

But it seems your time here on Earth is numbered. I'll always remember you, and hope you somehow return.

MillerCoors to stop selling alcopop

upgrade or downgrade?

2008-11-21T12:48:00.002-05:00

Watch out. I can post from my phone now.

book panic

2008-11-19T13:36:00.004-05:00

I was never an avid reader. I played video games when I was younger. A lot. I hid in my room all day and my parents thought I was studying or reading. They'd check up on me and the Game Boy/GBC/GBA/DS (though I never had a DS at home) was probably paused under my pillow.

But I love the concept of reading a book. Even though I don't love reading, there are days when all I want is to turn off the TV and set aside the laptop and curl up and read a book. I like this "curl up and read" feeling.

And I do read sometimes. Usually it'll have to be addictive enough (Harry Potter) or a short read so I actually manage to finish it and keep interest (Marley and Me, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time). Otherwise it will go the way of most books I manage to even pick up: admittedly very good and interesting but if I don't finish it within a week, I lose interest. I also often flat out don't read the last 30 pages of novels for whatever reason...as if I don't care how it ends (many times I don't).

But I think reading makes you a better person. So I'm trying now, as I have many times before. The problem is though...what do I read? There just seem to be so many things I've missed out on reading when growing up, books I hear about, books about topics I'm interested in...
It feels as if it's an insurmountable task, so why bother starting it?

I don't know why this is so much of a problem for me. It's almost a mental block, or a sort of loop. [I say I want to read, I should go to the library...but what do I get?...I don't know...I have some books I never finished on my bookshelf...okay I'll read those...but I think I'd do better with a fresh new book...from the library...but...] I'm not asking for recommendations (though they are welcome =P) because I think I have enough in mind given that amount of time it takes me to finish a book.

Oh well. But here goes attempt # who knows what, to read more. Tickle mah brain!

pizza and drugs, 30 minutes or less

2008-11-18T10:01:00.004-05:00

Pharmacies were always a bit of a mystery for me.
For some reason I loved the grocery store so I'd always go with my mom, and to the attached pharmacy as well. I guess my mom always did things with time to spare, or was just a very "we're not waiting for this" person, so the medicine always got picked up a few days later on our next shopping trip.

So I always assumed the pharmacies had to order the medicine we asked them for.

Though I guess this might be the case for some cases, the few times I've either filled one for someone who was sick or for myself, it's within 15 minutes to an hour. How to pharmacies have all of this stuff in such a little space? What madness must go on in there? And I overheard them talking...they fill about 120-300 prescriptions a day? Sounds busy. With a lot of room for error.

merging mind and technology

2008-11-17T23:03:00.002-05:00

Today, I offer two disjointed thoughts loosely having to do with the brain and technology.

On the way to the doctor's office today I was reading a Scientific American I had in my bag from my last trip to Boston. For some reason traveling means I can spend as much money as I want, including on newsstand price magazines.

Jacking into the Brain--Is the Brain the Ultimate Computer Interface?

The article is a survey of all of the amazing things done interfacing computers and the brain. The chimp brain controlling the robotic arm to get a banana...the best of cochlear implants turning sounds into impulses that create a sensation of sound in the brains of deaf people, etc...

AND TO THE RANDOM OTHER MUSING ABOUT PEOPLE AND TECHNOLOGY

So my doctor uses a tablet PC and her palm pilot for everything. Instead of charts, she has a file on her tablet pc and she types things up after. The topic of doctor handwriting or just handwriting in general came up and I mentioned a high school classmate of mine whose handwriting was so bad due to a lack of spatial reasoning that he had to take notes on a palm pilot with a keyboard attachment, and his in class essay exams were printed out. Special APs, everything.
And she said how one of her sons has good handwriting but the other's is terrible. And that she "doesn't know why printing is so important anyway. They make such a big deal when there's not really a time he can't get around it."

And then I almost said something to the effect of "but we must stay HUMAN!" But really, it does feel weird. What if someone couldn't write? I mean, yes, right now there are still uses of handwriting a note, but I can definitely forsee a time, in a classroom rich enough to have keyboards...where everyone has a Blackberry...when the art of writing in the calligraphy sense is completely gone. Not lost, but simply very easily gotten around. I mean, my classmate did everything on his palm pilot and that seemed weird...it wouldn't take much for it not to seem weird.

Man and Machine. Destined to be married.

2008-11-13T15:36:00.001-05:00

Big fat uninteresting update: Obama won the American Cup of Soul Stirring

2008-11-09T23:37:00.003-05:00

Firstly, like all unfocused blogs, this one too must fizzle out. I think it was because I read an article 3 weeks ago which basically said...If you're thinking of starting a blog, don't. If you already have one, consider not having one. Something about how blogs used to be an amazing thing...anyone could write their opinions and anyone could read them. The blogosphere, the blogosphere!!! But unfortunately, big sites and “real” news sites have started their own blogs...and who can compete with reputable institutions?
Anyway, I think that was the gist. I don't remember and I can't look it up, because I'm in Dulles airport with no wi-fi! And hence, the big fat uninteresting update.

(*got the article!)

Things that have happened recently: duh.
Obama.

DC, voting 93% blue for the presidential race, was a crazy place to be that night. Screaming, dancing, jumping, honking, hugging, drinking and more all in the streets. I'm glad I got to experience that. It was a strange feeling though.

I definitely did not feel the raw emotion that others were experiencing; I merely fed off of their exuberance. At first I thought there was something wrong with being a democrat and not weeping, but it really just had to do with the company you keep. Or maybe I am different.

Talking to Beck last night, I was reassured that someone (namely, close high school friends and their friends) felt exactly the same way I did: Okay, Obama was the better candidate. That's cool. Damn, it got called early. I guess I'll go now. I had no desire to change my away message, facebook status, or to drive in the streets cheering. The only other time I had experienced such madness was in Germany during the World Cup. (Or perhaps when Yale finally won The Game after a drought?) Which then led me into a critical downward spiral in which I was mad at everything, and felt the need to become a rabid irrational ranting devil's advocate. Good intentions, but I may have come off a bit strong. To those in my warpath, I'm sorry. I get like this every election, and since my friends seem to all be democrats, I come off as touting conservative propaganda. I still believe that the most important Obama has done is stir interest in our generation in the power of democracy and voting, and also for gathering supporters in a manner like religion.

But that was sooooo yesterday.

Today: the US Presidential Election as sport.

Since the election is called a contest, there is no challenge in drawing this comparison with a sporting event. But as long as I'm ranting, here's why I came to this thought. I'm jealous of how deeply people are moved by his election to power, and I don't... “get” it.

My coworkers were chatting and brought up how they don't “get” sports. This does not bother me at all. I also don't get sports in that I don't get being a die hard fan. I am a general fan, and I do like watching them when they're on TV if I remotely like a team. I like sports because all you have to do is learn the rules...and then all of a sudden, all events of that type are open to your enjoyment and engrossment.

The election, to some, must've been the greatest, most easiest to understand sporting event there was. No, the issues to be dealt with were not easy to understand...but rather (for the purposes of only the presidential election after the primaries) the rules. Once the Dem and Republican nominees are set. there are no divisions, leagues, and wild card positions to keep track of, no cross referencing of teams whose offense will do great against this team's defense, and win even if they are far lower ranked. The election is a gigantic, drawn out, final championship game. A single several month-long dance off between two main competitors (and Perot, perhaps) in which you are the judge. Omgiosh. Yes. You. You know how subjective figure skating judging is? Technical score, artistic score...you choose whatever you care about (Did they stumble? Was it fluid? Was it an engaging performance? Did they do the right moves at the right times?) and you vote. There are debates to showcase some skills, but overall, it's just a feeling. Those are the rules. Go with your gut.

Once I realized that much, I realized that maybe the election just wasn't the sport for me. I like baseball and football since they're reasonably slow to multitask to without missing too many plays, basketball and hockey are good with beer. Golf is good, well, never, and tennis is good when I'm in the mood.

The presidential election wasn't it for me. And it is for other people. I guess I'll just have to remember that even the slight happiness I get when I randomly watch the underdog of any given baseball game win (so basically the Washington Nationals) is infinitely higher than those who don't enjoy it at all. And that maybe next time, I'll just chill with a beer with a few friends. Just like how I spend my favorite sporting events.

link/video/everything dump

2008-10-25T11:10:00.004-04:00

Long overdue posts. I have drafts of text-y posts, but those aren't fun, are they? :-) Maybe some other time.

Everything I've liked, seen and rememebered, heard...

7th graders tell it straight. You can vote however you like. (via my officemate) I sort of wanted this election to be over, but I also want more songs like this.
Top 10 Embarassing Halloween Costumes. Is the YPMB going to Halloween Parade this year? Or ever again?
Gimme my Guinea! A new tumblr I made dedicated to guinea pigs. :-)

Other than that, my blogging equilibrium has shifted back to tumblr. Hmm!
I suspect it shall shift again. Like the seasons! Okay in a weird mood and sort of stressed about my schedule and stuff. Being out of town so much does not help with my docket! Well, helps in some ways, but not in others...the PTO production system makes no sense.

a tale which is written in a way that is not yet overwrought

2008-10-20T22:46:00.003-04:00

I don't find time to read often, but I finally got to when I was at my sister's! This is The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon, published in 2003.

It's written from the point of view of an autistic teenager, as a very long and tangential tale unfolds from his point of view. This sort of pseudo-unreliable narrator style reminds me most of the movie Memento, and the multi-faceted use of footnotes to forcefully impose background information and the thought processes of the narrator reminds me most of House of Leaves. (Hey, I'm working with the little I have in my brain's library!) It's fairly pleasant though, as it's not overly done. I read it in about 2 hours so that says something. (Seeing as I usually give up on books when I have 20 pages left since I usually realize that I don't actually care what happens. And then I continue to "read" this book for a few more weeks.)

Read, please. And no, it's not all about dogs and that's not why I read it. Okay maybe that's why I initially read it.

checking in

2008-10-17T13:25:00.002-04:00

Thought I'd say hi. Had a lot of ideas to spew words about, but I keep forgetting them! Sort of busy. Sort of decompressing. Mostly busy. :-)

Taking my second domestic trip via airplane ever! Other than a bit of jetsetting around Europe when I was in Germany, I've only taken 5 trips involving planes ever! This'll be a super short one though, compared to what I'm used to. (14 hours until touchdown in Asia? Where's my Game Boy?)

Delta as operated by Comair.

Though the article is 2 years old and is talking about the DC to NYC flights, the headline of the article this picture is from is "Comair flight late 100 percent of the time". Not encouraging. Here's to meeting more nice people at the bar.

boing boing pass

2008-10-07T22:18:00.002-04:00

A-ha, "Take on Me"...but not A-ha, and the lyrics are based on what's happening in the video. Watch it. It's not quite on my "videos that make me giggle" list, but it's a job well done.

Boing boing boing think paaaaasssss...

skittles commercial

2008-10-06T00:03:00.001-04:00

This gets added to the "videos that make me giggle list". Along with the most recent batch of cat videos (ninja cat, horror cat, and cat v printer).

I feel like a Chinese gymnast

2008-10-05T21:35:00.003-04:00

I don't know if it's because I'm asian, because of my height, my voice, or the way I act, but I often get mistaken for a teenager, or at least questioned.

I'd get carded in college when I bought lotto tickets at train stations and was just about carded a few days after my 21st birthday for a free item giveaway (a Con Edison pen) at Yankee Stadium. Been carded for alcohol, but that's normal. Except for a few times in NYC and once at Whole Foods...that was strange. I've been respectfully asked by some TKD instructors and parents how old I am when I hint that I've been to college and they're shocked, and I've been not so respectfully told by kids that "you look like a child", "I thought you were 14", and "you look too little to be a college person".

But recently I feel like I've been getting younger. At the dentist's office, the way the hygienist asked how old I was when I was signing my forms was kind of funny. I guess I had taken the day off and I was in casual sneakers, jeans, and a colorful t shirt. My black belt exam was kind of funny with every other question from a stranger being "wait, how old are you?" and then them walking away. Today I was carded for buying a used video game rated M. (ages 17+) I think this guy was just playing by the rules...I already had my ID out when he asked this father in front of me if he was okay with the M rated game he was buying for his sons.

I think innocently buying a rated M video game and getting carded is a bit of the last straw. This is insane. Maybe I should start wearing makeup and generally maintaining myself. I should also stop shopping at Aeropostale (though in my defense? maybe? I only get sweaters and the plainest of shirts there...nothing with a logo or dumb print), Claire's (but they sell clip ons! I was also questioned if I knew they were clip ons...as if "you're too old for these"), and carrying a gross messenger bag.

But at this rate I'm going to leave my ID somewhere by accident, and not be let in for a PG-13 movie. Maybe I should make it a mission to get carded for the most ridiculous thing possible.

And just like childhood, I'll miss this stage of life when it's gone. :-)

hi old friend

2008-10-05T16:36:00.001-04:00

I don't miss Joe Torre 'cuz the Yankees aren't perfect anymore. I miss his stoic mug.

oh, teehee, beeteedubs

2008-10-02T21:50:00.002-04:00

I earned my first degree black belt last night. :-)
Even if my job doesn't work out (oof, shouldn't have reminded myself) at least I can say I achieved something in DC. (Even if it's just a silly milestone.)

in honor of forcing myself to watch the VP debates

2008-10-02T21:15:00.003-04:00

Guess what's gonna happen now? Diana is gonna write tangentially about politics, sound stupid, but doesn't care. YAY!

So hey guys. I am not voting Republican. I agree that Palin is not as qualified of a VP. But as usual, I get sick really easily of constant nonconstructive bashing. I don't mean the Tina Fey business since they make fun of everyone. I mean the consistent barrage of snarky comments. I know I should phase it out, and that there are people who actually are deeply, truly angered as far as they know. But a lot of people aren't. They're just kicking someone when they're down.

This opinion piece that was sent to me gave me faith that someone feels the same way that I do. I don't quite buy the "McCain is sexist" sentiment, but I do feel that we have to give Palin credit for even attempting this hard road till November.

My point is that, Sarah Palin never struck me as stupid. When she talked about not backpacking across Europe and working her whole life, beneath the dumb anti-intellectual dig, I saw a gem of truth. I wish she had have mined it, instead of trying to score a cheap point. Rambling aside, she simply isn't ready. Maybe she would be eight years from now, but she isn't ready now, any campaign worth its salt would have known this.

It's true that she could have turned down the nomination, but somehow, I get the feeling that didn't seem like an option. If I were sitting as a newly elected governor in the non-contiguous United States, and someone asked me to be his running mate, I think I would be equally as unprepared. She's been learning over the past 5 weeks what's expected of her, how she's supposed to act, how she's not supposed to say "darn right" that much, and for on the job super-stressful training, I'd say she's doing alright.

Am I the only person who thinks she's closer to a normal person than the rest of the candidates? I don't mean "most like us" or "true American"...I just mean...abnormally normal. So she sounds dumb sometimes. Maybe has strong opinions that us liberals really really really whooooa there DO NOT agree with. But that's what normal people are like! You get nervous before interviews. You don't speak as much double talk (and speak more lines that are fed to you) and you speak about the little you know about. She's not your average lifelong politician. Thus far in her career, she's in the "hey, I make a good figurehead and I'm probably smart enough to lead the population of X" phase. X is not yet America as a whole. And my point is once again, that it's not her fault. So if somehow I could get everyone to agree, could we please not take cheap shots at her public speaking? And also at her family? Since when can parents control their kids. Honestly now. Go look outside.

extremely practical knowledge

2008-09-25T18:00:00.001-04:00

I used to do so many of these for my xanga. I should take more quizzes! Yessss middle school blogs.

51 seconds

the latest in my laziness

2008-09-24T22:36:00.002-04:00

Hey there. (a continuation of hi there)
So we all know I don't cook. Ha. There went that New Years Resolution of one recipe a week. (Though the thing that bothers me about recipes is you have to get all these random items and spices and I don't have enough cabinet space that I can readily reach...)

My latest in cutting edge laziness.

Normal ramen.

Not peanut butter noodles, but just normal ramen.

The twist? You knew there had to be one. :-) First it's made in the microwave. Just put water and the noodles (I like mine on the undone side, so I don't even necessarily immerse all of the noodles) in a bowl, and nuke for 3 minutes. But before you add the noodles...crack an egg and throw that in. There you have it. Poached egg and ramen. Take out the noodles, add a half a packet or less of the soup base, and you have yourself a delicious instant treat. Wasn't that sad??? But hey, I never get home before 8pm at the earliest, and sometimes a girl gets hungry.

Usually if made in a pot, like a normal person would do it, add the egg in towards the end...I like my eggs slightly runny. =P But I can't afford these luxuries when I'm making my nuke it and forget about it meals. Let cool in the microwave until you remember you made food.

homage to the good things

2008-09-16T21:58:00.002-04:00

Example of a good thing:
The old King Arthur cartoon. And the kickin' theme song.

Been going through a lot lately and it won't stop! I'm letting people down, people are letting me down, it's a big mess. I also pulled my first all-nighter, but not even to get work done (if it happened, it happened) but I kind of wanted to know if I was capable of doing it a week or two from now.

Other good things. Hmm.
I've managed to label myself as a casual gamer. I hate that term, because I feel like I'm "better" than that (whatever that means) but I'll face it. I haven't been able to get into a game since...Gunbound. And I couldn't handle that 'cuz there were items you could only get with real money. Anyway, most of my fun on the computer happens at work during lunch (or not) so it has to be text or flash based, and most likely labeled as "casual".

So, if there are any other casual gamers out there ::gag:: Here are two sites you shouldn't live without:
Jay is Games - Self labeled as a casual gameplay site for reviews, walkthroughs, and discussion. The reviews are almost too thorough, for reviews that possibly take themselves too seriously. (Love them anyway.) Aaaaaand, most of the time you're not going to be reading the reviews. Say you're done wasting time the normal way - reading your news and blogs far too efficiently using Google Reader, checked sports standings, facebook, etc - and you just want a fresh new distraction! Updated about 1-3 times a day, there will be at least one link you'll want to check out. Even if it's just a 5 minute flash animation or click around no-replay value game. It'll be a good break!

Casual Collective - "built by two friends to provide a place to combine their two great loves: Social networking and Casual gaming." Yeah. Sigh. I only discovered this today, and only to play Flash Element TD2. But then I caught glimpse of multiplayer DTD. It's gotta be good.

hi there

2008-09-12T18:44:00.003-04:00

If you somehow don't know already from my many many whinewhinewhine outlets, it's rough times here in my life. Not in terms of more than usual emotional turmoil, no. No time for that. It's a lot of work/tkd/lsat-if-retake-it crunch time.

Important in a busy life is this: having exactly what your tummy is craving so you can get over it and get back to work. It's not like I ever cooked in the first place, but here I offer...

Ridiculously easy snacks I could've made in the 3rd grade but are still good and not as expensive as delivery so THERE (part 1)

peanut butter sandwiches - with a glass of milk...really one of the most satisfying snacks known to man (who are not allergic to peanuts)
peanut butter ramen - you know the drill. or you don't. just ask.
mashed potatoes from a box - so what if it's not that great...you put it in a bowl with water and nuke it...and then you mixmixmix and add some milk and butter if you want to. and cheese. whatever you want, really. pepper to perfection.
hard boiled eggs - so these actually take a small amount of skill if you don't want undercooked/green yolks. but you can make a billion at a time and save them for later. take out the yolk and it's actually healthy?

Go forth and snack, people. I think the mashed potatoes and the peanut butter sandwiches are the ones I forget about the most.

can't stop giggling

2008-09-11T00:56:00.001-04:00

obsessed. I want this cat. So badly.
with sound effects:

without:

---
also unrelated video with post-it notes by Eepybird (the Diet Coke and Mentos people)

EepyBird's Sticky Note experiment from Eepybird on Vimeo.

kitten travels

2008-09-07T11:24:00.002-04:00

From Cute Overload...sure to brighten your day.

fun with your PC webcam

2008-09-06T14:18:00.004-04:00

I think Macbooks (at least before the eee pc/tiny laptop craze!) have established themselves as the "it" notebook computer to have. It's not only trendy, it's actually just...really the best notebook in a lot of respects. I'm sure a lot of sales came from Macbook envy...or at least that's why I wanted one. :-) (I still don't have one though.) Seeing those clean running long battery life sleek user friendly mac notebooks in lecture...that was enough. But to boot, I think when people got their brand new macbook, shortly after there was a "fun with Photo Booth" album on facebook. I wanted Photo Booth (and a webcam) so badly...

I recently read a post in Lifehacker, Effortlessly Document Your Party with Simple Photo Projects. They're all great ideas. And I think I might invest in an Eye-fi card so I never have to hook up my camera to my laptop again (that would actually change EVERYTHING). You should read it. One of the ideas is to put in a photo booth at your party--what better way to get pictures of everyone than to make them do it themselves?

I decided to play around with Cameroid, a web based photobooth app, and make a mosaic from mosaic maker like I did in this old post. I had to upload them to flickr first though.

Enjoy this small sampling of options available. And actual pictures of me. And PC people, enjoy Cameroid! (I look green in the pics b/c of my webcam...I was sitting against a futon with a very red cover...and I was too lazy to do anything about it.)

simple pleasures

2008-09-06T13:03:00.003-04:00

What a terrible/great picture.
Anyway, US Open is on. It's pouring outside, buckets. Though it's gonna stop in two hours or so, and I'm kind of sad about it. I kind of love the sound of drenching rain, knowing I am sheltered and am safe from it. And so I can work a tiny bit without thinking I should be outside. :-)