respect

Hypothetical situation. OK OK so this is actually a true story and as usual I get the short end of the stick at the end of it.

Say you were helping a girlfriend to get herself out of a relationship where she was being constantly cheated on. Say the fucker cheating on her even flaunted his new catch in front of her and all her friends (much to her embarrassment). Then the girlfriend decides to take him back out of desperation despite all his dishonesty, and tells him about all your advice to dump him. He then blows up and threatens to kill you and also chop up the body of another friend who also encouraged her to dump him. The girlfriend, now happy to have her cheating bf back (some women are gluttons for abuse), says nothing in defense of you or other friends who encouraged her to leave him. So death threats and graphic descriptions of mutilation from the cheating bf continue as she stays disturbingly silent. At this point the girlfriend is no longer a friend of yours because she obviously hasn't a clue what a friend is if she sells you out after you spend countless hours being her informant and counsellor.

Now fast forward. It's been a year but nonetheless there were no apologies for the death threats or his threats to cut up bodies etc. Now your own real friends, if they were really good friends, would be out to have this guy's head on a stick, no? Well one of my so-called friends still hangs out with this motherfucker and he and the stupid gf are at his bday right now. What's worse, my other so-called good friends and BF! are at the party too, probably making small talk (and pretending nothing happened) with that psycho and his stupid chump of a gf right now. Tell me would you not consider it disrespectful of your friends to make nice nice with a guy who threatened (literally) to mutilate you and another close friend? If anyone fucked with a close friend of mine, I'd have their head and there's nothing else to it. I wouldn't go pretending nothing happened, that is for damned sure. Why are people so concerned with not ruffling feathers? Learn to cut bait for Christ's sake. You don't have to be friends with everyone on this God damn planet.

Lesson learned, fuck helping people. They don't appreciate it and you just get fucked in the end anyways. As for "friends" hanging out with people who threaten to kill you? Guess loyalty and respect are no longer virtues. Those two are at the top of my list but not everyone else's apparently. If respect and loyalty aren't at the top of your list, don't ever consider yourself a friend of mine. I don't take part in superficial friendships.

Anyways, now I'm at home doing buttfuck nothing by myself while my "friends" and "bf" are out at the bday party of the so-called friend who hangs out with a guy I really should've reported to the police last year after the 10+ emails threatening my life. Yeah I never come out the winner in a difficult situation. I have a newfound appreciation for people who deliberately remain friendless.

going out

I just turned in a couple huge projects so in theory I probably could go out tonight as long as I don't ruin the next day with an all night rager. But really I have no desire to leave the apartment. Don't really feel like there's anything to celebrate. Would kinda rather lay on the couch all night, eat some soft boiled eggs (my favourite comfort food) and lament the pathetic state of affairs that is my life. Seems like everything I do comes at the sacrifice of something else. In class discussion yesterday, a woman who has a few children was commenting on how people wait so long to have kids these days at the risk of having complications and fertility issues. I was thinking because our lives are a fuckin mess until our thirties (if you're lucky). Anyone with an ounce of ambition has to spend time going to grad school for 2 to 6 years or more, pay off loans, deal with moving around the country, recover from job lay offs etc etc. Marriage, let alone kids, is too much of an ordeal. Another woman mentioned she is not quite thirty and everyone else in her lamaze class is around 10 years older than her. I guess that is, in a sense, reassuring that I'm not the only one with a life that will be messy and unsettled at least for the next 6 years but still... Why does ambition have to get in the way of other things?

Diversity Report Card

I wish they were able to cover more than just the major networks but this is interesting nonetheless. Read the full article:
http://www.napalc.org/files/2004_11_18_TV_Diversity_Press_Release.pdf

APA Media Coalition Releases TV Diversity Report Card for
2004

Asian Pacific American Media Coalition
November
18, 2004

Los Angeles, CA – Today the Asian Pacific American Media
Coalition released its annual report card for 2004, grading the four major networks on their diversity both in front of and behind the camera. The report card assesses the networks’ efforts in providing Asian Pacific American actors with opportunities to work in primetime scripted and reality programming; and opportunities for APA writers, producers, directors, and executives. It also considers the degree to which APAs were given opportunities through program development deals and procurement. Finally, there is a grade for the networks’ commitment to diversity that recognizes that recent investment in diversity initiatives may not have had time to produce results.

I hate A&F

Abercrombie didn't want to tarnish its white All American image with nasty Asian and Hispanic people (sarcasm) --> class action lawsuit --> $40M settlement. Good but...

I'm still steaming over the t-shirts with the slanty eyed buck toothed people in rice farmer hats who couldn't pronounce Rs, while parents groups are pissed about their line of thong underwear for girls 7-14. Someone in marketing and diversity at A&F needed to get fired yesterday.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/11/16/abercrombie.lawsuit.ap/index.html

Abercrombie settles race case for $40 millionTuesday, November 16, 2004 Posted:
6:37 PM EST (2337 GMT)
LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Abercrombie &
Fitch Co. has agreed to pay $40 million to black, Hispanic and Asian employees
and job applicants to settle a class-action federal discrimination lawsuit that
accused the clothing retailer of promoting whites at the expense of minorities,
lawyers said Tuesday...

cramming in a speech

I have a ~20 page annotated bibliography and a 2 page proposal for my interviews (with import models...this won't actually happen til next semester) due this week and somehow I decided it'd be just fine to volunteer myself to sub in for someone at Toastmasters and deliver an 8-10 minutes speech. What the hell was I thinking. I guess it was because I had something to rant about when I offered to do the speech. I haven't had time to write it and will prolly just have to wing it. So please help me out. I get really pissed about people perpetuating archaic myths about gay people because I know enough of them to know it is bullshit and hurtful. For example, this 21 year old who has probably never met a gay person in his life mentioned that he hates it when they pretend they're not gay and just act friendly in order to get closer to you in a conniving sort of way and then hit on you once they get their foot in the door so to speak. That is the biggest crock of shit I ever heard. Had he not been the friend of someone I know, I would've laid the smack down. Anyways, I don't understand why so many homophobic rejects think that gay people are out to trick and molest straight people. In any case, I'm going to spend my 10 minutes at the lectern presenting and busting this stupid myths in a speech called "straight not narrow." If anyone else has any suggestions to add to my yet-to-be-written in a mad ass hurry of a speech, please comment.

weird request

I am doing a media criticism project and need to do a values analysis. I'd like to find at least 3 web sites of amateur import car models. Criteria:

- she has to be an amateur/wannabe model, meaning she has never been paid for a modelling gig (it doesn't matter whether she is aspiring to be paid or not)
- I'd actually prefer if she has no aspirations to go professional but just likes the idea of import car modeling for fun/personal expression
- site needs to be her own, not a page on a modeling agent's/promotor's site (e.g. no exoticus pages)
- I'd prefer if she developed the site herself (versus paying a web designer) but OK if she didn't

please leave me the urls in my comments section.

Nepalese food

Went to Little Nepal on Cortland for dinner. Never had Nepalese food before but the menu looked basically like a mix of Thai and Indian dishes. I had the tandoori lamb which was way overcooked and dry. Apparently everyone else's dishes were great though. I think I'll give it another chance just because the service was great, the place is super clean and the decor is nice.

rain

It doesn't rain much here but when it does it comes down in buckets and people on the highways don't slow down and find themselves in 5 car pile ups. I would like to not be at the bottom of one of these pile ups, so pleeeeease slow down!

Speaking of rain, I've booked my flight home. Dec 19th to Jan 9th. Goals include snowboarding as much as possible, seeing friends, eating sushi, renewing my passport, and avoiding those organically enhanced brownies and cookies from hell.

Hyphen Magazine blog

Hyphen has launched its own blog. Full of interesting and timely tidbits from the brilliant editorial staff. For example, the author of The Rape of Nanking recently committed suicide. Rather tragic news but news that I probably would not have heard about otherwise because it is simply not possible for me keep abreast of news and current events, complete my moutain of homework, and keep the apartment from turning into a dump, all while maintaining some semblance of sanity.

pjs

It's 4.41 pm and I'm still in my pajamas hammering out a paper. I haven't been outside and haven't seen or spoken to another human being since Simon left this morning. Gotta head out to tutor soon and then back to the paper and hopefully to bed at a decent hour so I can get my ass out of bed by 7.15 am. I think this is an indication of what my life is going to be like til this semester is over. Thank goodness for IM or I wouldn't have any form of communication with another human all day.

********************
It's pathetic really, when I'm in a shitty mood, that I look for things on the web to make me laugh. This kinda made me chuckle. http://www.sorryeverybody.com not as funny as the narcoleptic dog but funny nonetheless. Ah poor Rusty, I think I've seen this video more times than I've seen the South Park movie now.

one of those days

*sigh*

So I get a letter in the mail today that reads like this:

We regret that we were not able to name you as an initial winner of one of
the BEA scholarships. However, you have been selected as an alternate recipient
should one of the primary winners be unable to accept their award (and it does
happen). Given the intense competition, you are to be congratulated on achieving
alternate status. This is, in itself, high praise of your demonstrated
abilities. We will let you know if there is any change in status, which could
take place at any time up to enrollment for the Fall of
2005. Thank you for taking the time to apply. You may yet turn out to
be among this year's scholarship recipients.

I find it hard to be happy about being an alternate, like I am waiting for someone to default on a technicality or drop out of school. I'd feel bad about hoping for the misfortune of another student. This fucking sucks. I need money and scholarships are hard to come by especially since most of them are reserved for citizens and/or people with really unique backgrounds e.g. children of parents from whatever union or company, people tailoring their education for a specific career in something like radio broadcasting or scriptwriting etc. I'm going to buy a damn lottery ticket. This added to the stress of having more homework than is physically do-able given my time constraints AND not really knowing where life is going to take me in the next 5 years is making life really un-fun.

narcoleptic dog

OK some comic relief from all this politics and shit. Check out this video of Rusty the Narcoleptic Dog http://www.milkandcookies.com/links/8653/ I got hooked on watching this over and over and over.

comments

Sorry Songco and Blogger TS for all the emails, I got the turn off comments feature working, there seemed to be a delay in refreshing my page.

I'm going to keep the comments turned off until all the crazy people cool off and go away. It's not like they're going to change my ideas and opinions and I don't care to hear their bullshit about my evil liberal views and those of my peers, posted below.

I don't go on conservative blogs telling the writers how wrong their values are and how they should adopt my beliefs. People believe different things and have every right to believe them and blog about them. Go preach to people whom you might actually be able to sway. Honestly, you'll be more effective. You're wasting your time with your tirades here.

spoiled votes caused Kerry's loss?

I don't know what to say but WTF is wrong with this country?

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/kerry_won_.php

"Bush won Ohio by 136,483 votes. In the United States, about 3 percent
of votes cast are voided—known as “spoilage” in election jargon—because the
ballots cast are inconclusive. Drawing on what happened in Florida and studies
of elections past, Palast argues that if Ohio’s discarded ballots were
counted, Kerry would have won the state. Today, the Cleveland Plain
Dealer reports there are a total of 247,672 votes not counted in
Ohio, if you add the 92,672 discarded votes plus the 155,000 provisional
ballots. So far there's no indication that Palast's hypothesis will be tested
because only the provisional ballots are being counted."

aftermath (updated)

I am so disappointed in American voters who thought it would be a great idea to keep this monster in office for four more years. Let me tell you, especially my Canadian readers, that not all Americans are proud of this. Some comments heard around school today, mostly from the other grad students and faculty and my friends at Toastmasters:

- how's the real estate in Canada?
- I am so jealous that you are not American
- next thing you know, Bush is going to invade North Korea and no one is going to help us out
- with Bush in office, the whole world is going to hate us more than they already do
- I almost cried on the bus this morning
- my friend and I cried when Kerry conceded (this seems to be a theme)
- it's Kerry's image, we'd have had a better chance if it were Edwards running instead of Kerry
- this is surreal
- I'm wearing all black today and would've worn a veil if I could find one
- people in the cities tend to vote Democrat because we discuss, critique, deconstruct the media messages. we get a variety of media with different viewpoints and conclude that Bush is going to jeopardize the future of this country; the rural folks just get TV and church
- the west coat and northeastern states should just break off and form a new country without all those motherfvckers in the middle and south

I honestly didn't realize, being in this Bay Area bubble, just how conservative and misinformed most Americans are. I can sum up the events of the past 48 hours and what I've learned about American politics in one word - scary. If I can't stay on the west coast or perhaps in Democratic east coast states, I think I will be ready to pack up and go home where I don't have to fear lunatic right wing conservatives.

Those wondering how Canadian politics works, hang tight, I will post something on that when get past some homework I need to do. The basic difference is that we don't have a bi-partisan system, we get to choose from several major parties (working left to right) - the New Democratic Party (NDP), Liberal (my party), Progressive Conservative (PC), Alliance (formerly the Reform Party). There are also some small players like the Green Party but they typically don't get more than a few votes just to make a statement. I am by no means a political expert. I take an interest only at a level that I feel any good citizen should. Anyways, more info when I get a chance.

election day

Don't forget to vote today. Probably one of the most important presidental elections in a long while. I was just watching MSNBC and they are keeping track of calls from voters who have issues, questions and complaints about the whole voting process. Apparently Republicans in S. Dakota have a history of using threats and scare tactics to get the native indians to vote in their favour. They hang out in the polling stations and talk in a threatening tone about the negative consequences of voting democrat and have also been known to walk around copying down their license plate numbers just to scare them a little more. In addition to that, several Republicans were recently charged for illegally notarizing applications for absentee ballots. At least this was reported in the media. With this and the whole Florida scandal in 2000, it's a wonder people still have faith in what this nation calls a democracy. Somehow, the words freedom and liberty don't come to mind when I think of the nation's first people being threatened in a parking lot outside a polling station in S. Dakota.

not at all vague

I was helping to check out some jobs for my cousin who is now in between jobs (as of last week). He's currently in Nevada volunteering for http://www.actforvictory.org/ canvassing door to door getting people to vote (with a slight Kerry slant, yay!) . I would've readily joined if I wasn't buried in homework.

Anyways, I was helping to look for VLSI Design Engineer positions (if you know any, please leave a comment) for him and came across a post from Intel. Companies used to be pretty vague about their visa policies and took it on a case-by-case basis, or restricted visas only to engineers. Well Intel certainly leaves nothing open to interpretation. Check this out:

Intel hires qualified candidates who are authorized to work in the U.S.--
that is, authorized to work without restriction as to a particular employer.
This includes U.S. citizens or nationals, U.S. legal permanent residents,
temporary residents granted legalization under the Immigration Reform and
Control Act of 1986, asylees, and refugees. For foreign nationals who do not
fall in one of the above categories, we limit our hiring of persons
requiring visa sponsorship or individuals currently on a non-immigrant
visa (e.g., H-1, J-1, L-1, F-1, B-1, TN) to candidates at the MS and PhD
levels (or those who have equivalent work experience) who are applying
for positions for which there is a demonstrated shortage of qualified
U.S. candidates

Pretty detailed huh? In any case, I'm going to do a plug here for my cousin. Here's a quick copy and paste from his resume. Please let me know of jobs that suit him. He's got 4+ years experience and, no, I haven't a clue what any of this means. I'm just happy to have abandoned the tech industry altogether:

· Successful experience in RTL design, validation, and methodology including use of Verilog HDL, VCS, Virsim, Signalscan, Perl, SPARC assembly language, LEDA, Verplex
· Extensive experience with silicon lab bringup and debug including use of Lecroy and Tektronix oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, DMM
· Functional knowledge of digital interfaces: Serial I/O modules (UART, I2C, SPI, IR), IEEE JTAG standard 1149.1, SDR and DDR SDRAM
· Experience in a broad range of project activities working closely with other groups' engineers for lab bringup systems issues, ATE test vector program, software and customer applications support of hardware features, mixed-signal issues, DFT, as well as working with EDA vendors

panic

It's that time of the semester where I realize I have, in total, about 50 pages of writing to do between now and 12/16. This makes me panic and it hurts my head to think about it. Bigger problem than that, next semester is my last semester of classes. The one after that is supposed to be focussed on my thesis only. That means, I need to know exactly WTF I'm doing with this thesis. It also means that it's getting late to be searching for grants and scholarships to fund this horribly expensive career change. Finally, this all means that my program is coming to an end soon and my PhD program applications will be due in about 11 months. Which means I ought to know where to apply and where I'll be comfortable living for 4 years starting Fall 2006. This is way too much for my little brain to handle. I don't know why the path I choose is always full of uncertainty and instability, totally inconsistent with my personality. On top of all this, I'm way too fucking old to be running around like this. I wish I could pick a place to live and be happy and just stay there.

Halloween

No homework got done this weekend. Too busy running around in our costumes. Went to a great party at 111 Minna on Saturday night. Today, thanks to day light savings, we were able to watch the Exorcist at home, hit golf balls, go for dinner at Joy Restaurant (mmm stinky tofu is really starting to grow on me) AND take the BART up to the Castro (SF's gay area where Halloween is a huge big deal) to see everyone parade around in their costumes. There's certainly less chaos in the Castro now that there are security gates, cops, performance stages and the whole nine yards. Whereas in past 30 years (pre-2002) the whole city would just run around Castro street drunk in elaborate costumes. When I went last in 2001, beer bottles went aflying as a fight broke out near me. This year was more tame but the costumes weren't nearly as creative. As usual though, there was the one naked guy walking around who really should've kept his private parts private.

Most commonly heard comment "hey they're iPods". NO, we were NOT iPods dumb asses. We were iPod billboards/advertisements. Apparently there were a couple others like us but I didn't see them. We did see a guy wearing a box that was marked up to look like an iPod though. My favourite costume on Castro other than our own was a group of people holding up squares, rectangles and T shaped blocks cut out of cardboard. The were moving the shapes around in an attempt to be Tetris. It was pretty funny.

lame

I pretty much quit going to DrinkClub almost a couple years back because the music wasn't to my liking and the people I used to go to see also stopped going. The latter was my primary purpose in dragging my ass out every Thursday (aside from when I worked the door for no reason other than to make some cash). Those fine folks I saw each week (Lily, Rich, Denny, Jonathan, Chris, Tan, Joe, Karen, Winston, Shinob, Elton, Jen, etc etc etc) have moved away or found better things to do on a Thursday night and have since been replaced by a homogenous crowd of barely 21 year olds, the guys dressed in black, the girls barely dressed at all. Everyone posing and preening and the ladies sporting the least amount of clothing frequently perched atop some stage or podium gyrating to loud hip hop music while scanning the crowd for guys who might be checking them out.

Still, I try to make it out there for Halloween as the costume contest always makes it worthwhile. I could always count on Denny and friends to come decked out in something outrageous. So last night Simon, Lisa, Shannph and I got dressed up and headed to Loft 11. In we walked and there we were in a room of about 60 people, mostly guys, all dressed in the typical Asian party attire - black clothes. I rejoiced for a brief moment, thinking we'd surely win the costume contest. But common sense kicked in and I realized that there's no way Kelvin would give away a prize only by default. We sat, drank a bit, sat some more, waited to see if anyone from the old crew would show up. No one did. We headed outside to Crepes a Go Go, talked to some admirers of our costumes and then left. I kinda miss having a place where I know all my distant friends and acquaintances will be on a given night. Kinda like Funktion Fridays back in Vancouver. There's no longer a place "where everybody knows your name", a place where I endured music I truely dislike in order to catch up with friends. And I was really disappointed in the lack of Halloween spirit! Are young people too cool to dress up? Maybe it's time to start an unofficial DC alumni lounge night. Someplace quiet where we can hang out, drink and talk.

get me a free iPod!

OK Hougee, I am one of your referers so now I need 5 people to sign up too

http://www.freeiPods.com/default.aspx?referer=11027891

according to Wired, it's legit. check the articles on http://www.wired.com/news/mac/0,2125,64614,00.html

Just go to the site, pick your iPod, refer 5 friends or send out the url it gives you, then complete one of the sponsor offers. I picked the inkjet one and got the cartridges cheaper than usual (I used to get em with Carrot Ink) and they also put in free blank CDs and free mag subscription to Forbes (well I chose that one because I didnt really want Blender or Bride or Golf).

You might sign up for some junk mail, but that doesnt tend to bug me too much. what bugs me is spam but I'm sure you all have those clever emails for offers like this so that spam gets consolidated there.

crunch time please vote

I can't vote in this country so I figure the least I can do is encourage others to. And it's not an impartial message. I want you to vote for Kerry. I like Nader's ideas and beliefs, but get real. The US is in dire straits, people are at war for nothing, now is not the time to waste a vote on that guy just in an effort to make a statement.

Here's some un/underreported news about the war in Iraq, much of it from recent vets and families of the troops deployed to Iraq. It'll blow your mind. Please read and please vote.

Letters to Bring Them Home Now .org

Interview with founder of Iraq Vets Against War
Iraq Veterans Against War Web Site

Halloween

I think I like Halloween more than I like Christmas. Last year I was an Extreme Makeover contestant (plastic surgery show) and Simon was a surgeon. Before that, priest and molested altar boy, and before that ghost and ghostbuster.

This year's costume is secret, and definitely may not be as comfortable as last year's costume. But we still don't know what we're doing for the evening. We've done the Castro street thing which was fun but chaotic so probably will pass on that this year, despite the new safety measures, bag checks and security. A nice multi ballroom party (i.e. not too crowded) with a bunch of folks around my age in elaborate costumes for $20 or less would be ideal. Suggestions? The Alf and Alf thing at the Hilton is the only one under consideration for now because Mykonos will be spinning.

Jon Stewart media hero

My favorite part of the CNN Crossfire bitchslap from razor-sharp comedian Jon Stewart. Boy did he catch the hosts off-guard. They were expecting him to come in and crack some jokes but were left grasping at straws when Stewart got serious about his disgust with the show and its thinly veiled conservative agenda (what he called "being part of the strategy"). This will be considered a media masterpiece for decades to come.

STEWART: You know, the interesting thing I have is, you have a responsibility to the public discourse, and you fail miserably.
CARLSON: You need to get a job at a journalism school, I think.
STEWART: You need to go to one. The thing that I want to say is, when you have people on for just knee-jerk, reactionary talk...
CARLSON: Wait. I thought you were going to be funny. Come on. Be funny.
STEWART: No. No. I'm not going to be your monkey. (LAUGHTER)

See it here: http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2652831.

icq

I got on icq back in '97 or so, when I was getting on the Internet via SFU's freenet dial up. ICQ was, to my knowledge, one of the first consumer-oriented IM clients (I'm not including IRC and all the stuff that non-technical people had no understanding of) and I thought it was the greatest thing since sliced bread. But after most people made the switch to the faster, lighter Y! and MSN messengers I uninstalled icq. I think, but I'm not sure, that many of my old acquaintances in Vancouver are still exclusively on icq so I just reinstalled it. Low and behold there they are, some of them anyways. But most of my contacts appear to be offline....which leads me to ask, does anyone use this thing anymore? Or have I permanently lost contact with some old acquaintances? I used to use Trillian but it was kind of a bitch, had to install patches everytime Y! changed some settings so it wouldn't log in.

duped

Just read a few chapters from a great book "Branded: The Buying and Selling of Teenagers" by A. Quart (2003). It discusses the duping of teenagers by the MTVs, Abercrombies and other mega corps. Good read, I recommend it.

I would've thought that by now teens would've smartened up and started a massive anti-trend movement but those marketers are just too clever. I'd argue that, in fact, people are being duped even into their twenties, marching around with labels emblazened on their chests, backs and bottoms as if to say, you can tell the kinda girl I am because I wear Juicy. It saddens me that people cannot find a means of constructing an identity without the help of deliberately overpriced brand name goods to tell a story for them. What irks me even more is that what used to be anti-trend and counter culture is also being packaged up and sold. There is some chain store, the name escapes me, that sells all the stuff you need if you want to be a skater, goth or punk. Back in my day, that used to mean removing labels, making your own clothes or buying it from a second hand store. Doing anything to be unique and not getting duped by all the mass identity vendors. But that is no longer, for you can buy yourself an "alternative" identity. In Quart's book she made mention of a couple enlightened teens who have publicly expressed their disgust with the attempts by corporations to buy them. One dressed up as an Old Navy employee and walked around telling all the customers about the child labour that goes into making the merchandise. Another protested their public school's acceptance of sponsorship by McDonalds. If only all young people had the smarts to understand the manipulation.

about nothing much

Friday night and like the last two weeks I'm sitting at home grading papers and surfing Craigslist for free shit. If I were feeling better I'd be at DNA Lounge watching Kaskade spin for $5 (deal or what?). But after triumphantly getting over that "tickly throat, cold coming on" feeling a couple weeks ago, I started getting all drained and headachey again. Time for more ginseng tea and rest.

We were talking about blogging in class the other day. Brent asked, would bloggers actually read to a room full of strangers their innermost thoughts and musings? Probably not, so why do they publish them online? I didn't answer because I didn't really want to reveal my blog to my class but the answer comes from the words of McLuhan himself. The medium is the message. Delivering your thoughts online is quite different from doing it in person. The message is mediated, it's received differently. Reading written work is more personal and thus it seems more appropriate as the sender to share personal thoughts and feelings with an anonymous audience than to stand in at the front of a room broadcasting them verbally. Am I even making sense? I don't know. In any case, I don't really go into anything all that personal on this blog anyways. It's mostly my outlet for ranting, sharing insight (on the rare occasion because I'm not all that insightful) and poking fun. I also think my head would explode if I didn't do this.

Moveon.org Go Game (scavenger hunt) happens tomorrow. I hope I don't wake up sick. Meet us at Medjools in the Mission at 5pm if you want to catch the afterparty and slide show of the event. Our team is called the Canadian BushWhackers and we even have team shirts so you won't miss us.

city stuff

Probably the only good reason I can come up with for living in SF proper would be the many cultural events that take place on weeknights. I just can't free up the time to make it up during the week for film showings and such. *sigh* Hopefully some of you can. Check these out on the Manja site. I think I'll try to get to the Mountain Warriors Asian American Comedy thing and to the Maxine Hong Kingston reading on the Saturday afternoon. (Anyone else wanna come with me?) I'll have to miss all the others. Sucks. There are just no good APA cultural events in the peninsula.

giving thanks

Since it's Canadian Thanksgiving still, you're supposed to give thanks. But for most of the last 5 years I've been more pissed off and unhappy about my life than thankful. Mostly because everytime something good happens, something shitty happens right after. So I'm going to write a smart ass list of things I'm thankful for. Really I'm not this negative in real life (see #3 below).

I'm thankful that:

1. I made a small wad of money on a weird stock option grant 4 years ago that has allowed me to blow it all on my overpriced graduate education now, I'd otherwise be in Vancouver working some shitty job for some shitty software company or not working at all.

2. I can lose weight almost as quickly as I can gain it. I'd otherwise be depressed about how hopeless it is to maintain a decent build made stocky from years of gymnastics. (find one slim ex-gymnast out there, yeah there are none)

3. I can express myself with words. I'd otherwise pent up all my negativity (rather than let it all go here on blogger so I can maintain an outwardly normal demeanor)

4. I don't live at home (ie with parents). I don't think this one really needs explanation. I'm 28 for Christ's sake.

5. I don't currently live in Vancouver where it can rain for 20 days straight (no I'm not joking) which really wears away at my emotional well being.

6. I have a car. I would die if I had to take public transit. I love our environment and do what I can to protect it (but I won't get on a bus with a bunch of stinky crazy people and cranky bus drivers)

7. I am healthy. Except for mild asthma, tendency to get nauseas and allergies to damn near anything that is edible.

8. I am not allergic to alcohol like several people I know. What the fuck would I do if I couldn't get wasted once in a while.

9. I'm not shy. I know people who are and it's a huge obstacle in their lives. Being able to carry on a conversation with strangers is really a life skill, and way more fun than hanging out in the shadows wishing you were invisible.

10. I don't have any handicaps or disfigurements. Near sightedness certainly doesn't count. I saw a guy on Discovery Channel and half his face was basically a huge red mole that kept growing throughout his life. It even changed the shape of his eye, nose and mouth and his bone structure. It would be really hard to live his life.

wired

I was wondering how Bush managed to say all those big words and names without mispronouncing them or garbling the order of his words and changing the meaning of what he intended to say during debate #1. Well now I know. Check out this article on Bush's mystery bulge which appears originally on Salon.com (but requires subscription) so I found it on the Guardian. It's hilarious. I still cannot get over how many people can be duped to support this clown.

Canuck Thanksgiving and baby hams

Simon and his sister rescued a couple baby dwarf hamsters from a pet store today. They asked for baby dwarfs and the person at the store said they don't sell them anymore because they had some that were nasty and bit people. But they had some in the back that some people had dropped off at the store so they got 'em for the price of feeder mice (i.e. snake food), which is what they would've become if they hadn't been rescued.




Just got back from our Canadian Thanksgiving dinner over at Dereck's place. As usual we debated why Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving and why we do it earlier than the Americans. As usual everyone seemed more interested in sharing a precious moment in solitude with their Molson's or Labatt's, than in figuring out an answer so I've done some research:

From http://www.thanksgiving-traditions.com/html/canada.html:
The Canadian Thanksgiving makes an interesting counterpoint to the holiday celebrated by its southern neighbor. As mentioned earlier, the first North American thanksgiving event occurred in Newfoundland in 1578. In the 1600s, Samuel de Champlain and the French Settlers who came with him established an “Order of Good Cheer.“ This group would hold huge celebrations marking the harvests and other events, sharing their food with Native American neighbours.

From http://www.kidzworld.com/site/p2614.htm:
The origins of Canadian Thanksgiving are more closely connected to the traditions of Europe than of the United States. Long before Europeans settled in North America, festivals of thanks and celebrations of harvest took place in Europe in the month of October. The very first Thanksgiving celebration in North America took place in Canada when Martin Frobisher, an explorer from England, arrived in Newfoundland in 1578. He wanted to give thanks for his safe arrival to the New World. That means the first Thanksgiving in Canada was celebrated 43 years before the pilgrims landed in Plymouth, Massachusetts!

slow mo

Friday night and yup I'm at home. It's become a rather comfortable habit. The alternative is typically to be in a crowded bar in semi-comfortable shoes getting drinks spilled on me and losing my hearing as the loud bass chips away at my ear drums. Shit am I ever getting old. But really, I have an excuse for being home. It's midterm grading day tomorrow at my prof's lovely home in Bernal Heights. I have even made a pot of fried rice for the occasion. So much homework to do this weekend but I will have to take a break for Canadian Thanksgiving dinner Sunday night at D's place.

Honestly I think my clubbing days are over (with the exception of a hard core night when a good DJ comes to SF). I like the bar hopping and lounging but even that is getting tired. My ideal evening would be dinner and live theatre, comedy club or out for a film (and I'm not talkin' a Hollywood blockbuster). Even if, God forbid, I ended up living the single life again, I don't think I could do the meeting people at parties thing. I'm just too damn exhausted all the time.

keep your germs to yourself

I feel like shit. My head is in a fog, I'm exhausted and I have that tickle in my throat. And I know it's because sick people have been wandering around spreading their damn germs. You know I don't care about your work ethic and how you want to show the world you are tougher than your cold/flu by coming to work/school when you are sick. You end up touching doorknobs and coughing germs into the air and making people like me sick. People like me who have 10 pages of writing to turn in this week. Damn you! And those of you with children. I see them sneezing into the air or, even more pleasant, sneezing into their hands and wiping it on their pant leg. Keep them at home and away from me!

work area

In response to Lucky Kat and Wilco's recent posts, I am sharing with you the place where I spend countless hours reading, writing papers, blogging and shopping for bargains. I wish I had a work space as big and neatly organized as Lucky Kat's. Mine is rather tight and lacking adequate storage. I also wish I had a monitor setup like Wilco's. This monster of a monitor takes up all my desk space and it's noisy too. I should learn not to stick post its, RX refill stickers and pictures on it. Looks so sloppy. Note the kick ass rice cooker. I took that off a homemade necklace Denny was wearing after some costume night at DrinkClub.


my work area

play the MoveOn Go Game

Will sent me this and it sounds like fun. It's a Go Game fundraiser for the MoveOn PAC. I didn't know what a Go Game was until I went to the Go Game site. It sounds like some combo of Amazing Race, Bay Area Backroads and The Apprentice all with a cell phone. From the Go Game site:

Teams of 4 to 8 individuals compete with one another to complete missions in the
most ingenious, daring, and creative fashion. These missions are downloaded to
each team's web-enabled cell phone. The mission may be a clue, a creative
challenge, directions to the next event, an engineering problem, a public
display of outrageousness…the list goes on! The answers to the challenges, or
the "Proofs" are created by each team in the form of digital photographs,
digital video, audio recordings and text input.

The MoveOn fundraiser will take place in the Mission district 10/16. I'm going to try to convince Simon to do this. If we can't contribute a vote, the least we can do his help raise funds for anti-Bush awareness.

queen of craigslist

In 2 hours, two of these chairs will be mine, all mine. I cannot begin to describe my talent in finding used treasures and selling my crap on Craigslist. I will soon bid farewell to this piece of shit kneeling chair that I despise so much. I already sold the last one for something like $40 (hey Simon paid a lot for them originally and they sell for $90 online now). Yes he had two piece of shit kneeling chairs. I'm sure they are great for your back and posture but only if you consciously sit up straight as a board. But when you're slaving away at papers for 6 hours or more, ya want something with some back support.

Next goal is to find a chair mat for $5 or less. Bless all of you fine folks at Craigslist! I can satisfy my need to shop with little to no money!


soon to be my chair!

SF Love Parade

I've never seen so many people rolling in the middle of the day while dancing madly alongside really lame floats on the Embarcadero. It was a beautiful day and a great party. Glad I got out because it doesn't look like we'll make it out tonight. Here's my favourite pic from the event today.


Dog at the SF Love Parade

And last night, while I planned to watch a old Wayne Wang film, I turned on the TV to PBS Independent Lens and there was a great documentary about an amazing woman I had never heard of. Maggie Kuhn was an activist who fought for peace during Vietnam, for the rights of women and ethnic minorities and every left leaning cause under the sun from the '50s until her death in 1995. In her old age she fought for the rights of older people and told them to take advantage of the freedom they have to speak out without persecution (for the most part). She explained that when you're old, you have nothing to lose and you can say whatever you want. What an amazing woman.

weekends

They come and go far too quickly. Staying in tonight while Simon works late on some RFP. Boy do I not miss working late on documents about software bla bla bla. Probably pop in a movie in a few minutes (Dim Sum by Wayne Wang, old indie film I read about and borrowed from the library) before I hit the sack. Going to judge a Toastmasters area competition for the first time tomorrow morning and then hopefully head to the SF Love Parade tomorrow afternoon with the Foster City crew here. A parade of partying, sunshine, electronic music and always the random naked people running around. What could better define this great city. I will miss it so much if/when I ever leave. There just isn't the population, arts/music community or government to encourage or support big events like that in Vancouver (the no fun city). There are street fairs, food fests, comedy fests, film fests, and art and wine festivals galore. Even people who claim they're "too old to go out" have so much to do during the daytime. Been thinking about whether I should/need to move away to do my PhD in 2006 and it pains me to even consider it. Life is too unpredictable to deal with sometimes.

nucular and stuff

Is it me or did Bush recite the same non-sensical answers to about 4 different questions? And what was up with the eye ball rolling, smirking and shuffling around while Kerry was speaking. This isn't a high school debate, get serious for Christ's sake. Lucky for Bush he correctly pronounced the names of the world leaders. Must've done a lot of flash card practice with his advisors (although the one with phonetic pronunciation of the word "nuclear" must've fallen out of the stack).

A few of my favourites from Kerry:

"I made a mistake in how I talk about the war, but the president made a mistake in invading Iraq. Which is worse?"

"I think we need a president who has the credibility to bring the allies back to the table and to do what's necessary to make it so America isn't doing this alone, the president's not getting the job done."

He said Bush's policies could be summed up in four words: "More of the same."

From Yahoo News:
Bush was forced to spend much of the debate defending his Iraq policies against Kerry's charges that Bush blundered in diverting attention from Afghanistan and the hunt for Osama bin Laden and shifting it to Iraq.

***
Some Bushisms for ya:

http://www.seeyageorge.com/bsh.html
http://slate.msn.com/id/76886/
http://www.bushisms.com/index1a.html

Bushism of the Year
"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." —George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Aug. 5, 2004

complaining and stuff

First off, thanks to the lurkers for saying hello on my last blog entry's comments. It's always nice to be able to say hello to you guys directly. Trust me, it's not like I don't know people are reading my shit. If I wanted to blog to nobody, I wouldn't list myself on Rice Bowl Journals. Actually, if I wanted to keep my thoughts to myself I wouldn't blog at all. But I have too much stuff in my head not to dump it all on this here web site. It's cathartic for me, kinda like cleaning the apartment and yelling profanities when no one is home.

Anyways, that's not the topic of this entry. Today I was going to bitch about Comcast. My cable was out yesterday from about 7am to 1:30pm. I called to complain and they told me it was a known issue they were working on. Usually it takes 2-4 hours to take care of such known issues the kind lady said. Well it was out for longer than that and it really messed with my plans to get some reading done. Reading that I needed to retrieve from my library's web site now that pretty much everything in universities these days is online. Then I thought, what if I were an entrepreneur who worked from home and had a serious deadline to meet and Comcast was the only thing preventing me from getting my shit done? I asked to be reimbursed for a day's worth of cable, both TV and Internet (whopping $1.77, and they will do this as long as you ask) but the value of a potential project that might be due for a client could be worth thousands, and your reputation and credibility? Priceless. What then you bastards at Comcast?? When companies fuck you over, ALWAYS complain.

just say hi

OK Mr. Sheldon, Simon's friend, I wrote a blog almost exclusively for you (below). I know you (or perhaps someone else at your company) is reading this. Don't be shy say hi!

Gotta love sitemeter. I also wonder who, on Shaw Cable (isn't that just in BC?), made 26 page views at 5:08am PST yesterday. My blog couldn't possibly be that interesting. And who are these faithful and devoted readers of mine from Abgenix, Nesbitt Burns, Aqueduct, and E2Open? I love lurkers. I'm a lurker myself on many blogs. C'mon, you can do it, leave a comment! I'm always curious if some of my readers are people who actually know me from a long time ago or something. If not that's ok too. If people didn't read, what would be the point of blogging anyways?

parking

For those who live in SF and have collected a pile of parking tickets you'd rather not pay for, you can actually choose to "work off" your tickets through volunteer work that amounts to $6 per hour toward your fine. Check out this article. Unfortunately it's a bit of a hassle to do this according to the SFgov site which states:

To sign up for Project 20 you must first go to 1380 Howard Street, 1st Floor,
Monday - Friday, between 8:00 am and 5:00 pm. After signing a contract outlining
terms and amounts, you will be sent to the Project 20 offices on 7th Street,
near the Hall of Justice. Project 20 will charge an administrative fee.
Community service and payment plans are not an option if your vehicle has been
booted or towed and you are trying to reclaim it.

If you don't live in the city, it'll prolly cost you a bit of money to pay for gas to get to Howard St. then a few more bucks in parking to go into the office to sign the contract. Then for a $50 ticket you'd have to work over 8 hours. I think it'd only be worthwhile if it's not a huge inconvenience to get to this office and you were planning to do volunteer work anyways. Damn.

my global village

McLuhan coined the term "global village" long before the Internet became available for consumer use but boy is it ever applicable now. So Simon went to a wedding on Saturday in TO that I did not attend. He had rsvp'd himself plus "guest", not knowing who he might bring. I didn't know he was planning on finding himself a date, but that's another story. So anyways he showed up at this beautiful wedding at Casa Loma for a friend from York and finds my placecard on the table with my name spelled perfectly. He asked around and finally figured it out. Natasha now dating his friend Sheldon had stumbled across my blog somehow because I am linked to Ben K who is linked to Mike P whom she once dated. She must've seen pics of Simon and I and Sheldon must've recognized Simon in them. *waving hi to Sheldon and Natasha* Now I understand that blog she wrote (which I can't find) tracing the degrees of separation. I didn't understand at the time the significance of the linkage. Anyways, hope you guys are still reading and hope to meet you in person in the near future.

drinkin'

I'm one of those lucky Asians who *usually* doesn't turn too red from drinking, or at least not with just a couple drinks. I do however get blood shot eyes that makes it look like I smoked a fat J all by myself. I sometimes also get a little asthmatic from red wine and hard alcohol on an empty stomach (a bad idea altogether anyways). Does anyone else get that?. From what I hear, some people go "blind" or get whited out vision from drinking even though they don't feel intoxicated. Those are the folks who typically claim to be allergic to alcohol. I've heard that Reactine (available OTC in Canada) or other allergy meds before drinking does well for that and Pepcid works for reducing the flushing (but H2 blockers in Pepcid cause you to get drunk faster). Want more info? Check out echeng's blog and comments. Never seen so many comments on a personal blog, much less seemingly educated responses to the question about how to reduce the Asian drinking curse, i.e. turning bright red on a few sips. Hooray for medical science and blogs!

return of dragon lady

This time she's not hot. Nip Tuck this week dealt with some reject of a plastic surgeon who lost his license because of his addiction to laughing gas or whatever it is that comes out of that thing he's inhaling. He meets some crazy middle aged Asian woman with a heavy accent who whips him into shape by helping him set up a plastic surgery "chop shop" and booking appointments for him so he can continue to perform surgery while high. After he accidentally kills some lady that he's performing lyposuction on, the evil Asian woman orders him to cut her body up into pieces so they could more easily dispose of it. Add this character to the dumb China doll on LAX and it looks like we're off to a great start this season. After watching the Emmys and seeing no minority women among the winning directors, producers and writers, I can understand why old stereotypes just keep resurfacing. Good thing screenwriting as a career was just a passing thought and not something I really tried to get into because I bet would've just ended up depressed and flipping burgers at McD's.

Gotta love Amazon reviews

If you haven't already seen this, go to http://www.newamericandimensions.com/weblogs/meltingblog/ and read the commentary and Amazon reviews for the book "How to Date a White Woman." Hilarious.

not quite zen

Woke up this morning to the sound of a massive downpour. It hasn't rained here in months, literally, and it had to rain the day of the Morrissey/Tears for Fears concert at Golden Gate park. Luckily it cleared up and it was shockingly sunny and warm in the city. But on the way up I get a call and find out that the main reason for my attending the concert, Morrissey, had cancelled. Laryngitis, which in rock star speak is synonomous with bad hangover in my opinion, was his excuse. They were offering refunds online but we were already on our way up and it was turning out to be a beautiful day. Found parking and got a nice spot on the grass to sit down. First set was some guy named Howie Day who was mediocre, then Dashboard Confessional who are apparently a big hit with the middle school crowd (bunch of them sitting next to us who left after the Dashboard performance before Tears for Fears even came on). Public displays of affection must be some status thing among 14-year-olds because there were a couple of them who couldn't stop making out. Tears for Fears finally came on but only performed about 5 or 6 songs, one after another hardly taking a moment to address the crowd. It seemed like they were not too into their performance but, hey, we saw Tears for Fears probably for the last time. Got back to the car and found a hefty parking ticket. We thought we were parked in front of the no stopping sign in the 3 hour parking zone but apparently there was another no stopping sign in front of my car, bent 90 degrees and facing the street so we didn't see it. I wish I had a camera to take a pic and contest the ticket but I didn't and it would probably cost me $10 and a headache to go back to that very spot to get a picture. Just my bad luck I guess. Oh well at least the weather turned out nice and I got a couple tops from some vendor for $5 a piece. Oh and BBQ chicken was a buck a skewer on the way out too (sorry Shannph, they lowered the price again after you bought yours :)

Ivana and LAX

I don't normally comment on the results of (un)reality TV shows, but I gotta give it to Ivana on the Apprentice for taking one for the team and attempting to "redeem her people" after the not so strong showing (read: depiction) of the token Asian woman last season. Tonight didn't go so well but at least she didn't get fired, at Bradford's expense unfortunately. I think I'm hooked on this one til 24 starts. At least I can say it is somewhat educational.

Did anyone catch that garbage of a show, LAX? Seriously what the hell is with the accented, dimwitted, subservient China doll character eager to please any American man (no matter how fat and ugly) who will sponsor her? Most Asian women don't look/act like that, and no we don't all need to be rescued thank you very much! This show is as stupid and nauseating as the OC.

reality

Lecture in my media criticism class had all, or mostly, to do with the topic of 9/11 and the media. One topic that came up was whether or not it's ethical for cameras to keep rolling in the wake of tragedy. One of the students whom I have noticed is particularly articulate chimed in with her experience with being on TV and how there most definitely is a time for the camera people to stop rolling and lend a hand. So I had to ask... on TV in what capacity? Turns out the articulate curly haired woman in two of my seminars is none other than Irene from Real World Seattle, the woman who was slapped as she took off in a car with another cast member (yes the event that made the reality TV top 40 memorable moments). She was so disgusted with the manipulation of "reality" on that show that she left the show early. The Seattle season took place back in 1998 when I think reality TV was still relatively new and people were not aware that it's not as real as people think e.g. the re-enacting of scenes from Survivor and the Restaurant so that the cameras can get a better angle, resequencing of events to tell a more dramatic story etc. In any case, being nosey as I am I found her site and read her bio and I gotta say she's done a lot for herself since then - delivering lectures and speeches on media manipulation across the country, winning Clio awards for other work and now doing her master's. I think I need a good kick in the ass to strive to achieve some of the things she already has.

in suburbia

In Vancouver I always wanted to move downtown, perhaps Yaletown or by English Bay. But never have I had the desire to move into San Francisco. Traffic is horrendous, parking (at home) costs an additional $250-$350 per month or you can endure looking for street parking every evening just so you can go home, and there's various big city issues like homelessness and crime. I like living 25-30 minutes out in a city that looks like Pleasantville, where I have easy access to parking (at home and elsewhere), big stores like Target, Ranch99 and Costco, and I can leave my car door unlocked (usually by accident) without anything getting stolen. What sucks though is that there are about a million young families in my area. I never really understood the appeal of adult-only condos/apartment blocks but I certainly do now. There is always some kid screaming in my neighourhood and some parent screaming back. Our pool on weekends is literally exploding with children. I want to have kids of my own someday, and I actually spent about 6 years working with kids, but having them in my home environment is really fucking annoying. Even better, Foster City High School is being built directly across the street. The only thing worse than screaming children is loud punk ass teenagers.

hockey, prime rib & crazies

The cruelest thing that can happen to a Canadian is have the cable go out when you're watching world cup hockey. Damn you Comcast. Luckily I was able to haul ass to my cousin's place in SJ in a mere 25 minutes just in time to see our second goal at the beginning of second period. Great game although going into overtime really shouldn't have been necessary because Luongo and the defencemen shouldn't have let in that tying goal from the Czechs 6 seconds after face-off with 6 minutes left of the damn game. Anyways, I will have to sadly miss the final because I have to tutor during the game. Go Canada.

****
After 4 years of living here, Simon and I finally made it to the famed House of Prime Rib. We got a reservation for 9pm last night. The place was absolutely packed late on a Sunday. I couldn't believe it. They seated us 40 minutes after our reservation (but we did come 15 min late so no big deal). Even then, I found out it's customary that you get a free bottle of wine when you're seated late. Black Angus and Bucca di Beppo should learn a little something from them. Those bastards keep you waiting at least an hour with reservations with hardly an apology (unless in the case of Black Angus, you're in the company of someone who "works for corporate" which freaks the shit out of them). Anyways, the prime rib was ridiculously delicious as were the yorkshire pudding, mashed potatoes, and salad (even though we saw them dump a bunch of msg into it). The creamed spinach was OK too but not great. Something slightly salty and funny tasting about it. No way I was able to get dessert after that. My whole meal was something like $26, includes all the sides. Great deal for excellent prime rib and really professional service.

***

A little news from the UK that didn't make it here. US Secretary of State Colin Powell described neo-conservatives in the Bush administration as 'fucking crazies' during the build-up to war in Iraq...The 'crazies' are said to be Vice-President Dick Cheney, Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his deputy, Paul Wolfowitz. Still I am deeply frightened by the fact that Kerry is trailing behind Bush. As we discussed in my media criticism seminar, it doesn't help that Clinton had his bypass surgery lately stealing the attention from Kerry.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1302834,00.html

sex and the city

Until last night I had never seen Sex and the City. We were just too poor/busy to justify anything beyond basic cable. But now it's on some other channel and they're starting the series from the very beginning so I had to watch it. Everyone (OK more like every woman I know) talks about the show like it's the greatest thing ever. People have explained what it's about and it seemed like it could be interesting. So yeah. There were 3 30-something year old women on the show and it basically followed them as they went on various dates and slept with some of the people they went out with. They looked like they were rich and had too much time on their hands. They had weird conversations with their dates e.g. about having one ovary and feeling the need to freeze her eggs. People were constantly talking excitedly (or having sex) throughout the show and after about 20 minutes, I just couldn't watch anymore. The situations were silly, there was no diversity of any kind, the dialog wasn't all that interesting, it wasn't funny or entertaining and it, for a reason I can't put my finger on, annoyed the hell out of me. I don't get it. Good, more time to watch Law and Order and 24 instead.

warnings

Warning emails are better than virus emails, even when they end up perpetuating an urban myth. But my prof doesn't like them so much :) Here's what she forwarded us today

I hate hoax warnings, but this one is important. Please send this to everyone on your e-mail list.

If a man comes to your front door and says he is conducting a survey and asks you to show him your ass, DO NOT show him your ass.This is a scam; he only wants to see your ass.I wish I'd gotten this yesterday. I feel so stupid and cheap.

dishonest Dubya

There are a lot of Bush jokes and animations out there. But I have to share my favorite one - Dishonest Dubya Lying Action Figure. Wait for the thing to load and keep clicking "say something stupid". The "hold us hostile" quote is particularly good. There's a fine collection of stupid things he says complete with audio and animation.

Also see http://www.toostupidtobepresident.com/

not long enough weekend

First off I have to comment that blogger is really freakin slow lately. I wonder what they're up to behind the scenes. It took forever for me to comment on Ben's blog just now and forever again to reach the "create new post" page.

Anyways, I'm all confused because today is actually Tuesday and I keep forgetting what the hell is going on. I don't have the mental capacity to deal with the week after long weekend. A weekend which was a lot of fun by the way. Hmm let's see, RX Gallery, 111 Minna (11 year bday party, free cover yay), BBQ at Christines, long walk to Stinger where the jackass at the door wouldn't let us in cuz the guys were wearing shorts and wouldnt let me call the owner, beer at Entertainer pool hall on El Camino, Millbrae art and wine fest, lots of swimming, and Christopher Lawrence at Mezzanine (Spundae). I am now pooped.

smokey smoke

If you were driving home to San Mateo/Foster City at around 5pm and saw a LOT of smoke and wondered if your house was on fire. Here's why:

"A grass fire near a Pacific Gas and Electric Co. substation in San Mateo has not damaged any PG&E equipment, but more than 6,000 residents are without power, a PG&E spokesman said today... (skipping to the good part)...golf course lost power...and she could see plumes of black smoke coming from the area of the fire. The pro shop and restaurant are closed due to the power outage, but golfers are still out on the course. " (more)

I was kinda shitting my pants as I drove closer and closer to the smoke, seriously wondering if my place was on fire. If I were out playing golf when the explosion went off and grey smoke filled the air, gee I dunno, I wouldn't shrug my shoulders and tee up my next shot. It's been 2.5 hours and the air seems to finally be clearing up. Yuck did it ever stink.

snapshot from Cache Creek Casino

As promised, pic of Denny with his very grown up looking suitcase which must've contained not much more than one pair of underwear and a toothbrush since he pulled those four big cups and bag o' dice out of it.

Boo the Rose & Crown Pub and John Squires

After John Squires told a number of Asian fetish and other racially controversial jokes at the Rose and Crown Pub in Palo Alto Monday, an Asian American woman in the audience got a little uncomfortable and at the end of the show she asked the manager for the contact info for the comedian. The manager got defensive and snatched the flyer out of her hand and refused to "agree to disagree" on what's appropriate comedic material. Then according to Sandra Chen, it "escalated into verbal sniping until other patrons started bullying me to shut up or get out. "

I wasn't there to hear the content of the material for myself but Asian fetishism alone annoys the hell out of me. What bothered me more was the reaction of the manager to a simple request for information and constructive feedback. The woman was a customer after all. You should at least respect carefully articulated non-aggressive feedback, not turn around and rally the white customers to help in bullying her.

This I would not expect in the Stanford University area but it happened. Read more...

So what to do about it? Well bad press is sometimes good publicity for them nonetheless. I'm just going to boycott the bar and comedian and hope you pass this on.

marketing

So apparently you can now add ads to your blog and make some money off of them if your readers click on the ads (so long as you don't get all sneaky about clicking on them yourself or drawing specific attention to the ads - anyone remember the "fake surf" program for that stupid ad toolbar thing?). I was thinking, hmm shit, I could use some money. But right now I just cannot get myself to do it. I cannot bring myself to prostitute my blog for a couple bucks a month. Advertising is everywhere on the web already and it drives me crazy. If you have checked out Orkut.com or Friendster lately you'll see what I mean. I want to allow people to read my blog ad-free, sharing content for the sake of it, not for money. The only thing that might be interesting to see is what ads pop up based on the stuff I write about (ala Google of course). For example, would my blog below about how bad life sucks in your late 20s prompt an ad for anti-depressants to appear?

***

I went to empty my junk mail folder a couple days ago and noticed an ad for a Christian dating site. Sure if there's conservativematch.com, why not a similar site for all the God-fearing folks? So I'm deleting all this shit when another spam mail grabs my attention, it reads "Eliminate your debt the Christian Way!" There's a pattern here. In the early 90s, it was all about social issues marketing, we used everything from whales to rainforests to sell absurdly unrelated products like cereal and hair products. Now it seems that the marketing of God is really hot! I mean, how the fuck really do you eliminate debt the Christian way? Do you pray your way out of debt?Somehow I don't see Jesus coming to your rescue for pawning your wife's jewellry so you could make your poker debut on the World Poker Tour. I wonder what product they'll use God to market next. How about this - "Pray your way to natural male enhancement!" or "Say amen to new hair growth!"

casino

Just realized that my "homework" for one of my classes entails 70 pages of reading and a 5 page paper due Wednesday so I gotta make this quick.

Friday evening we headed up to Cache Creek Casino for Will's bday. It was pretty awesome that we managed to get enough folks to head up there (85 miles north of SF, about 40 min east of Sacramento). We'd never done an out-of-town, overnight stay, casino bday party before. Some highlights:

- seeing that Denny travels with a tiny purple Pochacco suitcase (photo to come if he allows me)
- realizing that 40% of the suitcase is occupied by cups and dice
- getting upgraded to a really huge jr. suite after they messed up my specific request for two queen beds (since we were planning on cramming 5 people in there refugee style)
- Elena getting stopped by security for carrying around this heavy silver suitcase thing that looks like a bomb or a gun (it's actually her box of goodies -- dice, cards etc.)
- me getting locked out of the party room, calling simon to open the door, and then having to call him a second time because midway across the room he got distracted playing with Will's Transformer and forgot to let me in
- realizing that casino bday parties are not terribly social affairs since everyone is sitting by themselves at some smoky blackjack/poker table
- due to the point above, making a point to spend at least two meals together as a group
- really fresh oysters and yummy meatballs at the Harvest Buffet ($14.99)
- the whole casino is really really surprisingly nice and newly remodeled

So there ya have it. I hardly saw anyone at this bday "party" except from afar as we waved hi to them from across the casino floor but we made the most of the time we shared (during the pre-casino drinking and over breakfast and lunch).

good night

I normally don't like to watch late night talk shows. I find the guests are typically nervous, affected, or in some other way annoying. And many of the hosts are just terrible hosts who don't know what questions to ask to establish or maintain any kind of momentum in their interviews. But tonight was a reasonably good night. Sarah Chalke (Elliot on Scrubs) was on Jimmy Kimmel. The interview sucked because he couldn't stop asking her stupid questions about her boyfriend and whether or not he pays rent to live in her new house. But I found out she is Canadian so that was kinda cool. After her, Robert Smith came on. He doesn't interview too well as he seemed to be shaking from nervousness or general discomfort with the whole situation but it was good to see him on TV. He performed at the end of the show too. And then on Craig Kilborn (God that guy is annoying), John Cleese was the guest and then Morrissey performed. Can't wait to see him at the Now and Zen concert even though he looks like he's in his 50s (actually he's 45) and so many think he's nothing but a vain, egotistical wash up. I think he's just a victim of the press. Who knows, who cares. It doesn't really change the music now does it?

don't like match.com?

Try conservativematch.com! I had to collect a list of conservative media web sites to balance out the readings for that media lit class and low and behold, a big huge banner ad for conservativematch.com, "not simply another dating site...a real community of people who share conservative values." I was overcome with curiosity and had to do a quick search to see if everyone on it was white, carrying a big gun, and from outside of California, perhaps more towards the south and midwest. Unfortunately you don't see the photos 'til you join but, yup, no Californians in the preview list there. But they do provide a nice quote from Rush Limbaugh, "...despite the liberal lads you've been dating, there is hope out there." Yeehaw!

learning to teach

Today was my first day as a TA. I'm helping a very popular prof with an undergrad media literacy class. To say she is a little eccentric would be an understatement. Luckily she is eccentric in a very good, very funny way. We were talking about how the campus is becoming a totally non smoking campus but in years past she'd let some students smoke outside while "attending" the lecture through the window of our ground floor classroom. So basically they'd be standing outside and looking and listening through the oddly shaped open window. Ok, but that's not the weird part. All of a sudden she decided to demonstrate that she can fit through the this long narrow window. So she took off her clogs, got up on a desk, squeezed through the window, jumped into the bush outside in her socks and ran back in through the front door. The students walking by outside were probably thinking, why the hell is there a petite 50 year old lady in her socks climbing out a window of the creative arts building? After the initial shock, the entire class was in hysterics. So lesson one for me, don't teach with a stick up your ass. Be yourself, make the students laugh, and get everyone to relax a little. It's probably good for the soul too. Maybe I'll show everyone in my future first lecture the tricks I can do with my mutant hyperextendable joints.

mornings

My classes start tomorrow. Excited about classes and about TAing for the first time. Not at all excited about getting up at 7am so I can find free parking about a 6 blocks away and making the 10 minute hike to campus with a 10 lb bag. I've been regularly going to bed at 2am after a 9pm dinner and 11pm jog and getting up at 10am. This is going to hurt.

not-so-roaring late 20's

From reading the blogs of other folks my age, it seems there is an overwhelming number of people out there who are lost, sad and generally not satisfied with their lives. Even though fourty is supposed to be "the new thirty", we all know we've been around a while already and, on the same hand, the clock is ticking.

Most of us have a degree (or two) and about 5-7 years work experience which, on paper, usually means reaching senior manager or even director level in a corporation. Many of us, unfortunately, have not. Still toiling away as individual contributors, or worse, sitting on our asses unemployed. Office Space and Dilbert are frighteningly realistic reflections of our lives. To add to the pain, many of us missed the economic boom, only to catch the bust and watch thousands of dollars in stocks and options slip through our fingers. Bad bad timing.

And as we approach the big 3-0 and watch as friend after friend gets engaged and then married, it's hard not to hear our clocks ticking louder, reminding us that now is the time to find a mate and settle. But those plans are hard to firm up when the rest of your life is an emotional and financial mess as are your career plans.

This all makes me wonder if we're pioneers in this lifestyle. For the generations before us, life was a little more scripted. The men got a lifelong job at XYZ corporation working 9-5, the ladies stayed home and took care of the kids, upon retirement they'd collect their pensions and move to Florida. OK so it was a little tougher for those of us with immigrant parents, that is for damn sure. But still, they somehow had this collective optimism that people of my generation just don't seem to have. Maybe it's because we've learned that there's no such thing as "the American Dream", we seen too many instances of hard work going unrewarded or even punished, and we just don't see the light at the end of the tunnel. We are the jaded generation.

medal controversies

So American gymnast Paul Hamm, whom one San Jose resident interviewed on Kron 4 news last night refered to as a jerk, won the all around gold because the judges miscalculated the scores. The Korean gymnast actually scored higher. Hamm is refusing to give back his medal, even though the world knows it's not really his gold if he scored the second highest. Great article on MSNBC that discusses this controversy... but also ties in bigger issues about America's image, good will in general, and even the Iraq war. Very worth reading. Here's a short snippet:

It’s just incredibly bad luck that Hamm’s medal was won at the expense of a Korean. But in that country, it’s taken as proof that America is an arrogant and bloated monolith that won’t be satisfied until it owns the world and all the gold medals in it. That’s an absurd belief, but so are a lot of the things we believe in. The point is if you collected all the ill will toward America on the planet and wadded it up into a ball, it would be a really big ball. We can’t turn all of it into goodwill overnight. But if we can perform one selfless act on a stage that the entire world is watching, we can put a dent in it....You have to ask what’s more important, doing the right thing or having a gold-plated hunk of bronze that tens of millions of people are going to say from now until forever that you wouldn’t have won if the dumb judges — and, aha, one of them was an American — had been able to count? (Celizic, 2004)

I miss CBC

Having to watch the Olympics on US television really sucks. If the US team is not in the running in a given sport, they typically won't air the event. And the commentators are so blatantly biased. A stumble for an American gymnast would be called a "balance check" or "teeny wobble", the same mistake for an athlete from any other country would be labeled a "big miss" or "huge mistake". Same with the comments in the swimming events. The chest beating and self-backpatting from American commentators is so nauseating I can hardly stand to watch anymore. I just turned on the TV and caught a few minutes of the Nigeria vs. Germany soccer game and the commentators were not even talking about what was going on on the field! No, they were boasting about the intensity of the US soccer team's training methods. The US team was not even playing. I couldn't believe it. These commentators need to stop chanting U-S-A long enough to learn a little something about fairness, balance and maybe a little humility in their reporting.

I guess I better get used to it. Hockey season is coming and I gotta listen to more of this garbage from Fox Sports etc. I miss CBC and in a few months I'll really miss Hockey Night in Canada.

good stuff

Hooray for Blogger tech support. They pointed to my own faulty code for the crap that was showing up on my page, but then, my page was fine 'til they added that nav bar that I am beginning to get used to. But they were fast. And it must be a small office cuz the rep also passed along a hi from Tineybopper. So hi back to ya!

Anyways, stitches are out, mole was benign, got our tix for Now and Zen and booked our room for our upcoming bday getaway to Cache Creeke Casino. Was a semi-productive day.

Oh yeah, Clara is in town, tonight til 30th. What is going on the next two weekends?

what the hell

I don't like this blogger nav bar because all of a sudden my page looks shitty like this crap up top and my custom coloured scroll bars are gone. What did they do to my site and how do I fix this. Grrrr.

gym

Are there any readers/bloggers/wallflowers out there who are ex-gymnasts or wannabe gymnasts? I need a buddy to go to an adult drop in with, or maybe take a class or two. Found a place called Twisters Gym where we can drop in for an hour and a half for $10 (Sat 12-1:30) in Mountain View. I will teach you cool stuff if you'll come with me. Last time I went to an open gym in Daly City I was working out all by my lonesome among preteen break dancers. So that kinda sucked.

Incidentally, Twisters has a drop-in rock climbing for $10 for a whole day pass which is quite a deal. They say on their site: We offer top-rope climbing to whoever knows how to tie a double figure eight follow through, belay with a gri-gri, and perform the safety checks for these systems. [$10 day pass]

Stanford might also have some adult drop in classes for I think $15, which seems to include instruction from some comp sci grad student.

C'mon, anyone?

days off

Finished my lit review which ended up a whopping 38 pages of blood, sweat and tired eyes. So I'm now officially on "vacation" til August 25th when classes start again, except that I have to tutor 1-2 kids per day but that's no biggee. Being the type A personality that I am, I have a list of things to do on my time off: help with G's wedding stuff, hem all unhemmed pants, sew a top I've been meaning to work on, file away all last semester's notes into binders, start doing some editing of the hours of video I've taken of various events like James' going away, and re-organizing our storage closet so I can get the golf clubs tucked away instead of hanging out in the living room. I don't think I can live a week without working from a to-do list. It's sad how scripted my day-to-day life is but it keeps me sane. As much as I'd sometimes like to be, I'm just not a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kinda person.

now and zen

So Morrissey and Tears for Fears are coming to Golden Gate Park for the Now and Zen concert. $35. Debating whether or not to go. Partly because I don't yet know what the weather will be like and I recall once going to something along the lines of Arts County Fair or something at UBC in the rain. People started a muddy mosh pit and some just started rolling around in the mud. People were hammered and I was on the verge of getting trampled. But then that was a bunch of drunk undergrads. I imagine people who might attend Now and Zen will be about a decade older. But still, not sure if I want to risk going in the rain or getting stepped on in the "open seating" (ie big field and a concert stage) arrangement. But by the looks of Morrissey, who seems to have aged about 30 years, there may not be another chance to see him. And $35 isn't too bad. Hmm I think I'm leaning towards going now.

comments

Sorry to those who have commented in the past. I used to use Blog Extra because Blogger hadn't yet come up with a commenting capability. Now that they have, bless their hearts, I'd like to kill the BlogExtra because it's a little messed up and some folks don't like the spawning of the additional window. So I'm going to kill all the old comments now. Please continue commenting with the nifty and searchable Blogger commenting tool below. That includes all you secretive blog wallflowers who read and don't comment...don't be shy, say hi!

all done

I gotta hand it to people in the medical field, even self-proclaimed "cushy" dermatologists. They do stuff that really grosses me out. Warning: the remainder of this post is graphic.

So the mole came off today so I thought I'd share the experience for others who might have to undergo the procedure, or who are just curious in a sick way. They laid me down and covered me up in sheets of paper like at the dentist, presumably to catch blood spurting out. So by this time I'm shitting myself. Nurse came in with a tray of instruments and a release form that says I agree that I may experience bleeding, infection and scarring. Great, that made me feel better. A needle was used to inject local anesthetic next to my nose. That kinda hurt, more than the "pinch" they said it would, and it took forever to inject fully. But it totally numbed the area and I didn't feel anything when he did the test poke. He then used a pen shaped cookie cutter like instrument and kinda stamped out and plucked out the mole and, I think, used scissors to snip it off. Then came the frantic gauze-to-face to stop the bleeding. Didn't feel a thing but it was really...weird. Then came the suturing. I didn't feel that either but it was really weird to see him pulling at the thread and watching my nose and cheek get pulled this way and that. That also seemed to take forever but he assured me that he wanted to make it "beautiful" so I wouldn't scar and the little line left would just tuck in next to my nose. Then the nurse slapped a dab of polysporin (not neosporin) on it, covered it with gauze and put this big bandaid (like the type for when you scrape your knee) right over it across my face. I was expecting a fancy small see-through bandaid, but nope, just a big plain bandaid. And that was it. Now it aches like a toothache. Will let you know how it heals and the biopsy results. Most likely negative I'm told. Stitches come out in 7 days so I'll have to look like Frankenstein for a little while.

driving distance

Driving from the sleepy suburb of Coquitlam all the way to Downtown Vancouver always seemed like such a long ass haul because the highway system cuts diagonally through greater Vancouver and leaves you to do about 10-15 min of city driving before and after getting on the highway to get to your destination. Here, the 101 is pretty efficient (at night), gets you real close to where you need to go (usually) and cops are lenient on speeding (120 km/80 miles is OK) so the distance you actually drive in the Bay Area is actually somewhat deceiving because you can get a long distance in a short time.

So I decided to do a comparison of the distances between home and downtown in Van, TO and here.

Si's old house to downtown TO (Yonge @ Queen): 19.5 km / 12.12 miles / 22 min driving time
My old house to downtown Vancouver (Granville @ Robson): 24.9 km / 15.47 miles / 26 min driving time (totally off, I'd say 35 min)
Our place to SF (1015 Folsom to be exact): 34.4 km / 21.4 miles/ 27 min driving time

I was right, we live a lot further from downtown now but it takes around the same amount of time to get there. I think if I had lived 34 km from Vancouver, that would put me somewhere in Surrey or Steveston :-/

allergy

I have been enlightened. There is a very long list of foods (many fruits, soy, melons, nuts) that make my lips itch and swell til I look like Angelina Jolie and also cause my mouth to itch and my throat to close in. When it's bad my ears itch inside too. And it seems the older I get the more foods I have to add to this list. It seems this condition is called Oral Allergy Syndrome. The only cure is avoidance. Sucks.

show

Simon's sister just got tickets for her and I to attend the TJ Maxx Tour of Gymnastics Champions in October after the team gets back from Athens. I think we got 4th row floor. I sometimes forget how fortunate I am to live in a city where artists and performers tend to make a stop. I remember what a huge big deal it was when someone like Oakenfold came to Vancouver. Here it seems like big name DJs are in and out of here all the time. And getting $35 tickets to see the Pet Shops Boys in a really intimate little venue like I did a couple years ago would be unheard of back in Van. Hopefully the Canadian cities will grow up and attain more international recognition so that it will be more bearable to move back...eventually.

weddings

Missed J's wedding in Thailand, just attended one in Toronto and so far for next year I've got 3 weddings to go to (among my friends, not counting Simon's). G's on 5/28, Tim's 6/18 and Josh's 8/20. I've talked to people who have 6-8 weddings to attend this year and half the bachelor/ette parties were out of town to add to the cost. Could the rest of you kindly space out your engagements to no more than 2-3 per year? thanks :) ps. as far as I know, I'm not even on the radar so you can count me out of your wedding budgets.

some TO pics

The girl that Jaffe was dancing with turned out to be Angela, a girl I competed against in gymnastics between 1987 to 1992. I got to know her pretty well because we went to a lot of out of town competitions and the Vancouver gymnasts were a lot nicer than the ones in my own zone (ie snotty white Christian bitches from Abbotsford and some bush party hosting hos from Surrey).
So here's a pic of what the Royal Ontario Museum will soon look like. They have destroyed the Asian and Egyptian wings of this historic building and are putting what looks like a sideways ice cube on top of it. Somehow someone with a lot of money and clout thought this would look nice. I have an open mind about modern architecture but this looks fuckin' ridiculous.


Rendering of the future ROM

quickie

I have 7 days to finish a really big project for my summer credits so this will be my quick bullet pointed summary of Toronto highlights and lowlights:

hightlights:

• eating bouillabaisse at Marche (Movenpicks) - awesome seafood soup they make right in front of you
• eating his parents' home cookin'
• meeting all of Simon's friends and checking out some of the clubs and lounges
• reuniting with Angela, a girl I knew from gymnastics when I was little (she was the friend of a friend's sister and was stopping in TO en route to Vancouver)
• eating hot dogs on the street in the middle of the night
• shopping Queen street (think Haight or Granville with more boutique shops and less of the used clothing ones), reminded me a lot of the shops in Montreal
• Beer Market
• seeing the inside of Lucid Club which used to be Playdium, now a ridiculously large and beautifully decorated club. we went on a dead Thursday night but Simon's friend Nigel (DJ Sin) was spinning some really good old school 80s (i.e. mix of DM, Madonna, Prince, Rick Astley, etc)

lowlights:

• Royal Ontario Museum had closed its Asian and Egyptian exhibits to build this monstrous ugly modern extension to its once beautiful historic building (photos to come)
• initial unbearably humid weather
• traffic from Caribana
• catching a fish and having it get away while we were up at Hastings
• coming out of a bathroom at Pearl Lounge, not finding my friends, figuring it would make most sense to meet them outside, getting locked in some stairwell while looking for an exit, then tripping and falling OUT of an exit door down two steps onto my ass in a lane as the door slams shut with one of my shoes behind it, then walking through the lane drunk with one shoe on and asking the bouncer for help retrieving my shoe (in front of a big line of club goers)

photos and details to follow next week after I finish my work and clean up our place.

T.O.

In TO for Simon's friends wedding this weekend. Somehow Yahoo says it was only 25 degrees C today but the humidity made it feel more like 35 (that's in the 90s for the Americans). Toronto has grown to be a big happenin' city. Lots of lounges, restaurants, and more clubs than I could imagine. SF seems bigger on neighbourhood bars and dives. I guess there's a big population of young people in TO to create the demand for nightclubs. Anyways back to this weather. I have not broken out like this since I was in grade 7. I normally have pretty cooperative skin so I left my trusty little tube of Murad zit cream at home. But holy crap do I regret it. Also, people tend to say hot weather makes people lose weight. I am living proof that the opposite is possible. Places we go to eat tend to have a/c so I eat normally, perhaps a little more in quantity (and fat) since we're going out a lot. But once I'm back in the heat I go into slow mo so I don't burn the calories. In a day or two, my pants have gotten tight and I'm growing a gut. But going to the Royal Ontario Museum tomorrow so I'm excited about that.