Happy Canada Day

...Belated Canada Day that is. I spent yesterday recovering from a severe hangover induced by celebrating at the Canada Day Bash at Kell's pub on Thursday night. No cover band playing Bryan Adams hits this year but it was OK. This year Canada Day and 4th of July share the same weekend so we won't be doing anything especially Canadian this year but I think I will bust out a Cadbury Wunderbar and a cup of Red Rose just for old times sake. Oh and last night we watched some show on VH1 which essentially teased the hell out of us but it was kinda funny. So how Canadian are YOU?

Take this test (especially you Americans) and leave your score in the comments section
http://www.okcupid.com/tests/take?testid=11689202949138017783

Here's my score:

Pretty CanadianYou scored 85 Canada speak and 75 Canadianess!
You know a lot about us. You probably know someone who owns a Ski-Doo up at their cottage.

grad school advice

I just sent an email to a Cultural Studies list asking for Phd program recommendations and got an email asking about advice for grad school. I just wrote a long ass email so I figure I'd post it for all to benefit:

- know your program well and take just what you need to take or you will never graduate (like some of my peers who've been in the program 5 years +)
- go to office hours and get to know the personalities/academic specialties of your profs, and be quick to find a couple that will really know your work well. you need to start thinking about who you'll choose for your thesis/exam committee
- time flies FAST - do not leave things (like figuring out which profs you want as advisors, committee members etc)
- be sure to stand out. grad school is the time to form relationships with profs so they'll write you good letters for scholarships and doctoral programs -- this is really important
- participate a lot in class but dont take over dicussions no matter how smart you (think you) are -- participate too little and people think you're creepy, participate too much and the class will hate you
- go to the parties and be fun but behave - you'd be amazed the value of friendship and networking with your peers (this is not the time to be a hermit or "that creepy dude")
- try to start thinking about your thesis topic so you can work on the same topic in more than one class e.g. research methods, criticism, intro to grad study etc.... that way you have chipped away at your lit review so you have less work to do when thesis time comes around. (this saved my ass, trust me)
- even if you have a job already, try to TA because it gives you teaching experience and increases your exposure to profs, which then makes you more eligible for department awards and scholarships
- talk discretely with more senior students to get the scoop on the profs (and go to ratemyprofessor.com). You'll want to make sure you don't get too close to faculty who are known to be dishonest, tempermental, or just plain crazy
- make sure you are well equipped - computer, printer etc. I've seen a lot of students scramble because of technology failures/relying on campus resources

small world indeed

So I recently had my second "small world made smaller through blogging" incident. Let me retrace the first one that happened last year. Simon has a friend named Sheldon (York Univ friend) engaged to a gal named Natasha. Those two had been reading my blog for a while because it was linked from Ben's blog because Natasha knows Ben since, long ago, she dated his friend Mike. So anyways, Simon went to a wedding in Toronto that I did not attend. Shel and Natasha were also guests there. When Simon arrives there's a name card for me at the table with my name spelled right. He's thinking, how do they know who I'm dating and how did they figure out how to spell her name correctly. Well apparently Shel and Natasha told the married couple my name and the spelling of it because they had discovered my blog and saw pics of Simon in it and put 2 + 2 together.

Here's number two. I'm friends with Eva who has a sister, Celia who is dating Oliver. I've never met Celia or Oliver because I befriended Eva in the States and those two are back in Vancouver. But we all read each other's blogs apparently. Well recently, I posted pics from my cousin's wedding where my friend Jane is pulling a bottle of Crown out of her purse. Oliver recognizes Jane.....Jane is the former roomate of his brother's wife.

A non blog related incident also involved Jane. We were at Red Room club in Vancouver when we ran into her coworker Larry. Larry is from Toronto. He was with his friend Jason who was visiting from Toronto. Jason mentioned he was a DJ out there and I asked if he knew Simon's friend Nigel, also a DJ. Turned out he not only knew him, but Jason and Larry went to high school with Nigel and Simon and all the other folks you see in the wedding pics below.

There are theories that explain this kinda weird stuff http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_world_phenomenon

I actually learned about that in the communication networks section of my intro to communication course in undergrad. I have a feeling that with communication technology, that 6 degrees of separation will be cut down a degree or two.

photos from wedding #3 of the summer

The sign outside the movie-themed wedding held in, whatelse, a movie theatre

All of Simon's high school buddies and the groom Dan in the middle


Dan showing off his Austin Powers moves for Sarah

back to Cali

I'm back finally after 3.5 weeks in Vancouver and 4.5 days in Toronto. Toronto was so damn hot I think it was almost comparable to Houston in July. 38 degrees C with humidex, which is 100.4 degrees F. Yeah that's pretty damn hot. The Toronto wedding was particularly unique. It had a movie theme so it was held in a movie theatre turned event venue. The sign outside the theatre announced "Austin Powers starring Sarah and Dan" and there was all sorts of groovy Austin Powers-esque dancing such as when the wedding party was introduced before dinner. I have to say the departure from the standard ceremony/banquet made it really fun and memorable. The tables were given movie titles instead of numbers (I sat at Tombstone) and the staff did a wonderful job keeping up with all the thirsty guests.

I am happy to be back though. Where the sun shines eveyday without turning the place into a damn oven, where I can sleep on my big bed with 400 thread count sheets and I can go out and see friends without trekking across town via city streets a la Vancouver.

Yesterday night I took Bunny out for a walk in the front yard (yes that's a leash)

but all he did was lay around in the grass and dug a small hole

and when we got back inside he was so tired he just sprawled out on the floor

I will miss Bunny and everyone else here in Vancouver. My 3.5 weeks are up already and it's time to go to Toronto for yet another wedding before heading back to SF.

far

Today was the first full day of beautiful sunshine and warm weather here in the Vancouver area in about a month but I didn't leave the house. Most of my friends have regular jobs and the one who works from home is about 45 min away so I had no one to call out for a hike or a walk through a park someplace. Actually, freakin everything is about 45 min away since my parents live out here in the sticks outside Vancouver proper and I am way too lazy to do 45 min of mostly stop and go city driving (our highway system runs diagonal to the city and gets you basically nowhere). The only thing that gets me down more than shitty rainy weather is nice weather and nothing to do (or, rather, no one to do stuff with). I think that not having ready access to friends to hang out with gets me into a funk, which really scares me because what if I go away for my Phd next year and get stuck someplace where everyday is like this? I think my emotional stability is far too fragile to withstand such a situation. Man, even thinking about the near future is freaking me out. Better hit the sack before this consumes me.

impressive weddings

Typically, talking about weddings is rather nauseating for me. My own is nowhere within the foreseeable future and formalities generally make me uncomfortable. But I have to say that there are some little things that people do with their weddings that stand out my mind and I have to admit I take a little mental note (even though I'd never be able to afford most of this). Here's my shortlist:

- a guy stationed at a table rolling cigars the whole night for guests and a blond chick there to help put the cigars in a zip lock bag for you (OK so I don't like having the chick there, just the Cuban cigar roller)
- a huge bar carved out of ice
- bride and groom riding to a beach wedding atop an elephant
- a big seafood BBQ on the beach after the ceremony
- a chocolate fondue fountain
- releasing monarch butterflies as the newly married couple leaves the altar
- invitations that look like this!!
- customized fortune cookies
- having a fun theme wedding for friends separate from the boring banquet for family and people you don't really even know

Bravo to couples who come up with such unique ideas and keep the guests from getting bored!

highlights from my cousin's wedding

Some of my favourite pics from my cousin Tim's wedding this weekend (not including the dull ones of all the formalities).


Semi-dry wedding? No problem

Spiking the punch

Troublemakers at table 7 (me in purple)

Groomsman's drinking injury from the stag (walked into a glass door)

Dan and I simulating Electric Circus with some shadow dancing

4 hours and the groom has lost track of the wife already

wedding 2

So wedding #2 of my trip home took place yesterday. It was my cousin's wedding. I don't know what it is about attending weddings that leaves me completely drained for at least 48 hours. It was a really efficient wedding too - no games, no speeches, no 3 hour delay between ceremony and dinner. None of that stuff. It's finally sunny outside, I have some homework to do and only less than a week to hang out with friends before I take off but I am too drained to do anything but lay around and watch TV and take naps. It's kinda depressing actually. Ah shit gotta go get ready now for wedding dinner part two. I'll update this entry tonight.

the one

After stuffing ourselves with sushi at Sushi Garden, I headed to Starbucks Metropolis with my two closest friends for coffee. After reviewing last night's dramas and catastrophes for one of my friends (who was too drunk to remember the evening except for when he walked into a glass door and hurt his nose) we got onto our usual topic of relationships. I was telling them about some of my mini reunions with old girl friends from high school and stuff and how several of them have mentioned that when they first started dating their husbands, they knew within months or even days of dating that the guy was "the one." I keep hearing that from people and I find the whole idea kind of unbelievable, that there's some innate sense about us kind of like how babies can identify their birth mothers at a young age. They suggest that people can just know when they've found "the one" and figure it out right away. Well my friends disputed this today at Starbucks calling this a "white person's fantasy." I thought, hmmm, you're right all the people who keep telling me this are, indeed, white. They argue that Asians aren't idealistic like that and believe you have to make a relationship, not just magically discover it. There is no "the one." I even asked my engaged friend as he sipped his frappucinno if he just knew his fiance was "the one" and his answer was "hell no."

I think it goes back to our Confucian and Buddhist roots and philosophies that emphasize dealing with the fate you're dealt and accepting suffering. No, not as magical or idealistic as the idea of finding your soulmate but finding someone and creating a solid relationship makes more sense to me. The real test according to my friends was not getting that magical feeling about the person being "the one" but rather whether or not you can picture your life without your significant other. If that life you picture seems empty or boring or unappealing, you might be onto something.

sewing

I had predicted that getting approval to start my thesis would be a total pain in the ass so when I first got into Vancouver I headed straight to the textile liquidation place by my house to get an armload of fabrics and patterns. Good thing I did because, as predicted, I have not yet gotten approval to start because of miscellaneous stupid things out of my control. Anyways, so far I've made two tops, a skirt, and a dress. It has been a huge test of my patience but I like to sew when I'm back home because I have ready tech support at my side (mom). Stuff I make on my own is often a huge disaster. The thing about sewing is that you really never know what the hell you're going to end up with. It's like buying clothes without first trying it on. You don't know if the pattern will really fit your body or look flattering on you and you don't get to find out until you've spent hours and hours making it. So far everything has turned out OK (though not great) with some adjustments. But there's a certain satisfaction you get from sewing that you don't get from just purchasing clothes. There's the satisfaction of saving a few bucks and turning a piece of fabric into something wearable. There's also the fact that I made it with my own hands instead of giving away what little money I have to big corporations that use sweatshops to make the clothes and then jack up the price by slapping some meaningless brand name on the label, or worse yet, on the clothes itself (yuck!)Call it my statement against consumerism.

little off

I was sitting in the recliner downstairs last night watching British home buying shows on HGTV Canada when I realized the room was spinning a bit. You know that slow spin, reset, spin, that happens after about 6 or 7 strong drinks. But I hadn't had anything to drink. Earlier yesterday I had started to cough a bit too. This was all kinda weird because when I get sick it's a predictable pattern of throat tickle and fatigue before other symptoms like congestion. I was thinking, shit, this might be my first ear infection. Luckily after 9 hours of sleep the room stopped spinning, but only after some crazy dreams about surfing (again). I'm one hell of a surfer in my dreams even though I've never done it. It's a recurring thing though. Anyways, I seem to be battling a bit of a cold, but nothing horrible. Someone once told me that oregano oil is a great anti-everything bad like fungus and bacteria and viruses. 3 drops of pure stuff under the tongue fixes colds better than echinacea. Unfortunately I dont have any on hand and I'm too lazy to make yet another trip to the mall. Apparently, dropped on things like infections of the toe nails (that nasty stuff they show on the commercials about toe nail thickening due to fungus), oregano oil makes it all go away. It's about $20 CAD for a small bottle. I think I'm going to fight this cold off though. One more night of good long sleep starting now. Nighty night.

bait cars

It's been raining/drizzling for a week straight now and not expected to let up for at least another 10 days (except for just a cloudy day tomorrow supposedly). It's hard not to laugh out loud when you check out the weather forecast http://weather.yahoo.com/forecast/CAXX0518_c.html.

Rain all day means more time spent at home. It's kinda nice that we have a newspaper subscription so I can spend the morning pouring over the local news and flyers. One interesting program they've launched here has been really successful. It's called the Bait Car Program. The cops have cars out all over the place - underground garages, parkades (that's parking garage in Canadian), on streets, lanes, etc - with GPS devices , mics, and cameras hidden in them. They just sit out there waiting to get stolen and when they do, you get a recording of the whole ordeal, including conversations that the thieves have with each other (or themselves) about how they're not going to go to jail this time. Often they show the recordings on TV. Once the cars get stolen, they use the GPS to track down the thieves and off they go to jail. It's pretty damn entertaining to watch the recordings of these people frantically prying away at stereos or taking off with the cars. They've even upped the ante by putting out bait cars that are carrying ATVs, motorcycles, and jet skis which make them even hotter. Check out some of the videos here.

poutine part deux

My trip back home has been nice and relatively uneventful. I checked out a restaurant called Guu on Saturday night on Robson @ Bidwell. It was awesome. Basically it's authentic cooked Japanese food, served tapas-style and very tasty with a big bottle of Sapporo to share. Kinda like Oidon but way the hell cheaper at about $20 per person to stuff yourself silly. From there we headed out to a friend of a friend's house where the host's cat bit me (how weird is that?), then out to Tokyo Lounge (now a house club) and then to Red Room (formerly the Drink and Madison's before that). My weekdays have been spent sitting at home sewing and makin' some jewellry with my new skills passed on from Jenn. Traffic is getting really bad by my house with so many people moving to my area. Having the biggest IKEA in BC 5 minutes away doesn't seem to help. I haven't minded staying home and chilling. I have a little shadow that follows me everywhere (at least upstairs because he's unable to maneuver down stairs.) Meet Bunny. Bunny sits next to me whenever I get on the computer.


Bunny hanging out with me in the computer room right now...

Oh yeah, today I had poutine with chicken at the Zellers (think Canadian Kmart) cafeteria today. $4.25...add chicken for $2. It was awesome. Big huge plate with chunks of cheese curds that melted really nicely with the hot fries and gravy. Not all cold and chunky like Burger King. The added chicken was a nice touch. I think I have to end my poutine testing now though. I went out to the mall to try some stuff on after my poutine meal and it was rather disastrous.

poutine

Denny is in town so tonight, after I spend my day trying to sew my own shirt and make dinner, I'm gonna pick him up and we're gonna do Canadian things like eat poutine and drink beer like Kokanee, Shaftbury's, Granville Island or maybe some Labatt's. That is afterall how you celebrate Canadianess.

I spent yesterday lunching with friends and walking around downtown in the sun. It's back to rain again now though. Anyways, it was really strange to walk around Granville, Robson and the other main drags. Everything is different and renovated and, since I'm a person who gets around by recognizing landmarks - stores and such - I got a little disoriented. The jewelers is now London Drugs, Eatons is Sears, Winners/Futureshop is where my bank used to be, and holy cow Granville street is clean. Back in high school when I used to love wandering downtown, there used to be what we called Granville street family, a bunch of runaway teens and their dogs who lived on that street. There's no more kids in doorways on Granville and, in fact, very few homeless in the area. Just lots of newly renovated clothing stores leading to a string of new upscale bars and lounges. But on the news I learned that even though downtown is cleaned up a bit, Vancouver's dirty little secret, an area known as Main and Hastings (aka skid row aka the Downtown Eastside) has only gotten worse. Even since I can remember this corrider right next to Chinatown and Gastown is crammed with people openly dealing drugs and shooting heroine when they're not shooting each other in drug deals gone awry. It's a very very ugly mess and an area I even avoid driving through as drug addicts often stumble right into the middle of the street. While it's "nice" to have the city's ugliness contained to a couple square blocks, that also makes it easy for the government, politicians, and law enforcement to ignore. There was a little news piece by Mike McCardell on Global comparing the area to NYC. McCardell noted that NYC, his hometown, has cleaned up and crime has gone down dramatically while the Vancouver Eastside has spiraled out of control. I once heard that the small area has the highest per capita crime rate in North America - lots of drugs, homicide, and prostitution and very few people actually "living" there, i.e. who have an address.

PK

I'm sitting here debating whether to head to an adult gymnastics drop in close by my house. This kinda thing is usually really expensive in the states and nowhere near home but my end of semester weight gain is what's keeping me from jumping on the opportunity because you feel every pound gained when you try to get airborn. Anyways, I was Googling for adult gymnastics to see if there were any mentions in the gym forums. What I found was a discussion thread on PK or Parkour. I'm thinking, what the heck is PK? I've heard of acrogym, tumbling and various circus related offshoots of gymnastics workouts but PK? The funny thing is that Chinese folks know PK to stand for Pook Kai which literally translates to "trip on the street" (or figuratively it means fuck you). Which is ironic because parkour, according to http://www.parkour.org.uk/ is some sort of underground "urban free running" activity that started in France and is spreading through the UK and I guess Canada since folks on the message board are practicing out at UBC and at Club Aviva. It was popularized by a couple of indie films that I have never heard of. Anyways, what people do is literally run through the streets balancing on rails, vaulting walls, and jumping between buildings. Here's some photos. Kinda crazy stuff that I could see leading to a hell of a lot of injuries if not practiced carefully, which I'm sure it is not by many. Hmm, anyways, I think I'm going to be brave and check out the adult gym drop in and see if I run into any traceurs (people who practice parkour).

lookin' for wifi

So I got to Vancouver Thursday evening and since then it's been nothing but wedding related tasks. Rehearsal Thursday night, packing a bridal emergency kit for Gi Friday, and of course the wedding on Saturday which was a blistering 30 something degrees Celsius. Yesterday I had to get Simon to the airport and after two days of sleep deprivation I could do nothing but go home and sleep. I even missed the wedding day-after party. Just couldn't do it. But last night I recuperated with a wonderful 12 hour sleep and ready to take on my next set of tasks - getting a new passport and revising my human subjects proposal so I can start on my thesis data collection here. I realized that the public library here in Coquitlam does not have wifi but I found this great site http://vancouver.wifimug.org/ Cafes with free wifi. Guess I'll be camping out at the Coquitlam Centre Blenz to edit and send out some documents since I dont have an ethernet port or whatever the hell you call it on my laptop which is holding all my important stuff.

worst case scenarios

Just finished my Pedagogy class which dealt entirely with how to teach at the college/university level. I tended to dwell on how to deal with potential worst case scenarios in the classroom and it became an ongoing theme for the class. I have to say it was the most entertaining and probably most practical class I took in grad school. I thought I'd share a portion of the self evaluation (ie what I learned) I had to turn in at the last class. It's kind of a collection of all the worst case scenarios I asked about or our instructor shared with us. They are pretty bizarre and mostly based on real life situations.

Worst Case Scenarios Handbook for New University Professors:

1. Outsider attends your class several weeks in a row and becomes a huge distraction for the class. -> Notify department chair and have campus police remove him from the class (you never know, s/he might pull a knife!)

2. Student stalks you and/or threatens your safety -> Notify department chair and campus police; have the student removed from your section.

3. Student comes to class sweating profusely and then takes off his/her clothing until s/he is sitting in class topless -> Dismiss him/her from class; refer him/her to campus counseling

4. Student has a nervous breakdown in your office, climbs up onto your desk, and fails to respond to stimuli of any sort -> call 911

5. Student confides in you for personal/psychological problems -> Express empathy but explain that you aren’t qualified to provide the help s/he needs; refer him/her to counseling

6. Students stands up just before break, tells you to fuck off (or some variation of that) and leaves -> do not allow him/her back into the class; explain to the class that that is inappropriate; send the student to the department chair for disciplinary action

7. Student delivers a thinly veiled death threat in a paper or assignment -> Make a copy; notify the department chair; have the student removed from your section

8. A colleague or superior makes unwanted sexual advances -> Notify the department chair (if the offender IS the chair, notify the dean)

9. A colleague or superior treats you unfairly, delivers incessant personal insults, and makes unjustified threats -> Document everything/create a file; Notify the department chair (if the offender IS the chair, notify the dean)

10. You come to class with your shirt inside out, everyone points and laughs -> Double check your appearance on the break; use this opportunity to illustrate your fallibility and demonstrate that you too are human

11. Student writes you a love letter -> Explain the inappropriateness of teacher/student romance; if s/he begins to stalk you see #2 above

12. Student reports to the department chair that you’re a terrible teacher -> Try to uncover reasons for his/her complaint and deal with them; if the complaint is unwarranted and you can’t resolve the issue, ask if the student can turn in remaining work to another teacher for grading

13. Students turn a class discussion into an invitation to openly launch personal attacks at other students -> Do not let the attacks continue; remind the class that the goal is to critique and evaluate ideas, not each other; prevent this from recurring in the future by outlining behavioral expectations at the beginning of the semester

14. Student turns in a paper that is indistinguishable from hate material -> Challenge the student’s ability to justify the hateful claims and grade accordingly; if the student challenges your grade, offer to have your chair grade it; keep a record of the paper in the event that the situation progresses to hateful outbursts or other behavior

15. Student spreads nasty rumors about you coming onto him/her (or something similarly nasty) -> address the student directly; ask him/her why s/he spread such rumors; direct him/her to tell everyone that s/he lied

16. A worst case teaching scenario comes up that is not discussed above -> Consult a more senior faculty member (chances are, it’s happened to someone already before)

dear KodakGallery.com

Dear Kodak,
The new look of the slideshow view is driving me crazy. In the past everything fit on the screen, now you can't add or even see the comments or photo captions unless you scroll down. Please make it fit without scrolling (by default) like it used to with Ofoto. Furthermore, it's rather annoying that shared photos dump you directly into slideshow mode. I prefer to see the thumbnails first and click to slideshow mode only if I choose to. Please bring back the old UI!! What the heck happened?

*ah* that's better. I always love sending letters of complaint.

counting down

Only about 48 hours until I get on a plane back to Vancouver where I'll be for 3.5 weeks. I haven't had a chance to think about packing because I have a big project yet to finish. I checked out the extended forecast and, surprise, rain. I don't even remember how to dress for rain anymore because when it rains here I stay home or park closer to my destination if I need to be out. I guess I need to pack more than just flip flops and flats and my favourite runners with the holes in the bottoms. That would not work out so well in rain.

Luckily I booked my flight on points because air travel suddenly got really freakin expensive. I have been checking for flights to TO (wedding), Calgary (for a Banff wedding), and Victoria (another wedding) and I swear the prices doubled or even tripled since I looked a couple months ago. What the hell is going on??

snotty brat

I was tutoring again today at the local public library. I was working with a boy who used to be in special ed (and probably still should be if the teachers in that program weren't so horrible). I'm pretty sure that kids at his middle school know he's a special ed student and I don't imagine that he has many friends since he's rather slow in social ways too. Sadly many students know of him because his little brother, from the interactions I see at the library after school, is very smart, charming, and wildly popular.

So I'm working with this kid and I see a table of girls about his age, 13 or so, snickering. I see them all the time and they don't do much but mess around and try to attract attention to themselves. All of a sudden the prettiest one in the group, a blond dressed in white capris, a pink top and matching pink scarf belt, comes walking over to me. With book in hand she leans over me, book touching MY arm and in a deliberately babyish voice asks "can you tell me what this word means?" I stare her down and respond "I'm not here to help YOU. There's a dictionary right there, why don't you get it and look it up?" I wish I could've shut down her attempt at teasing my student by adding "you arrogant little bitch. I hope you get knocked up and live in a trailer the rest of your life."

madness

It was a crazy weekend that I had hoped would be a little bit more low key given the amount of homework under which I am buried. Friday night was a little grad student get together at Red Devil Lounge where I got a little more than buzzed because I hadn't eaten dinner. I had planned to be there only 7-9pm but I couldn't drive so we ended up at Tango Tango where I learned that it's really fucking hard to sing REM's "It's the end of the world as we know it" when you don't know any lyrics other than the chorus.

Yesterday was Gigi's bachelorette weekend (Canadians call em stagettes). My deep cleansing facial by Jill at Refresh was awesome. The shoulder/neck massage part of it was so good I fell asleep and a little while later snored myself awake. How terribly uncool. I hate when that happens. The other girls enjoyed their treatments as well and it was nice to be able to bring in a big fruitplate to share at the end of it all. Afterwards we headed to the Pan Pacific Hotel where we checked in and got Gi dressed up in her dominatrix outfit. The look on her face when we pulled out the spiked dog collar was priceless.

Dinner at Roe Restaurant (next to Thirsty Bear) was awesome. Tonnes of food and enough people to be able to order a bit of everything to taste. The partying that followed was wild. We were lucky enough to get a couple limos on the street to pick us up which was a huge bonus. All I'll reveal is that there was much pole dancing, bar top dancing, and posing with drunks, cops, firefighters, and cop cars. Now I'm paying for it with a big headache. I can't wait to hand in my last paper and sit on my ass for a while.

teaching philosophy

My final assignment for my pedagogy class is to write a teaching philosophy. What I value in teaching and how that affects (or rather will affect) my teaching style. I've been thinking about it on and off and I've realized this is almost as hard as writing a statement of purpose for university admissions.

ADHD

Two of my classmates are doing a documentary on the use of stimulants to control ADHD in children. They're interviewing a couple of families who have their children successfully managing their behavior with ritalin and two families whose children have died as a result of taking the drugs (not overdosing, just taking as prescribed). I had no idea that the risks included death due to heart failure. What's really interesting is that they believe that ADHD is just a made up problem. That there's no such thing as ADHD, just a range of differences in our levels of stimulation. ADHD people are said to lack natural internal stimulation and are restless because they are subconsiously trying to keep themselves stimulated. My classmates think the diagnoses is just a scam that keeps the drug companies profitable. It's a really interesting topic for me because I was a really hyperactive kid and I know I have a really hard time keeping my mind focussed (which resulted in my running out of time on the GRE and having to take it twice) -- so do I have adult ADHD? Or am I just on the low range of the natural stimulation scale and need to work a little harder at focussing? I've actually considered getting tested but now what's the point if those drugs can kill you?

Britney

I like to do stupid stuff when I get overwhelmed with my homework. I either blog, read blogs, surf Craigslist, or search Google for silly information to take a mental break. Tonight I made the mistake of Googling for pics of Britney Spears to see if she was indeed pregnant. Big freakin mistake man. I was suddenly bombarded with pop ups which I attempted to right-click close. In doing this and clicking Xs where available (and when they weren't fake Xs that were actually links) I must've mistakenly clicked on something. It took AdAware, Microsoft Anti-Spyware, 2 reboots and Simon's help for half an hour to finally kill all that shit off. I'm pretty web savvy and don't get suckered into this garbage but those bastards are sneaky. There's just no avoiding it sometimes. Oh yeah don't forget to install the Google toolbar and turn on the pop up blocker.

Oh yeah, so I didn't manage to find any pics of a pregnant Britney.

I think I'll stick to reading blogs and surfing CL from now on when I get bored.

race

No I'm not talking about the Bay to Breakers. I had hoped to at least go and watch the race but the last week and a half have been nothing short of madness. Racing to meet deadline after deadline complicated by a huge thesis proposal rewrite that damn near killed me (around 30 pages, 42 if you include the appendix which also needed revision) and a bunch of major loose ends to tie up with Toastmasters as we head into officer elections. Add to that a bachelorette party that I need to figure out before Saturday and a wedding that I need to get on a plane for the week after that. To make things more fun, I have to resubmit my human subjects application form for my thesis and hope to get that all clear so I can begin doing interviews with import models in Vancouver. If I get rejected, I'll won't be able to do any interviews in Vancouver and that would totally suck. I thought things would slow down towards the end of the semester but shit hit the fan in a way I never expected and the party planning is taking more administration than I thought. I need a personal assistant.

I'm also not liking that I'm so busy before I head back to Vancouver for a month. I like to enjoy my time here because honestly, when I go back, I get homesick for the Bay Area. My twin size bed in my drafty old house where I freeze my ass off when I get out of the shower is kind of a bummer. I also miss the freedom to come home at odd hours without having to tiptoe everywhere so I don't wake my parents. Living out in the burbs where there's no one to carpool with also sucks and there's something I don't like about crashing at friends' houses. What's the point really if you're home to visit your home? Shit I guess the point is, unlike most normal people, I don't really feel like going back. I get really apathetic and I end up rotting away at home all day and night anyways. Driving into downtown Vancouver from my parents' place seems like a chore that I just cannot deal with. And when it rains, I don't even get out of my pajamas all day. I hope I don't get into my crawl into a hole and ignore the world routine again when I head back this month.

Japan

I'm not liking the fact that there are Chinese Canadians and Americans protesting against Japan. I realize the Japanese committed a number of atrocities many years ago, but these protests are really a step backward in terms of developing a united front as Asian Canadians and Americans in a society that doesn't really differentiate between Chinese, Japanese or any other Asian ethnicity when they discriminate. Our fighting each other weakens us when we need to support each other. It also creates hostilities against innocent Japanese Americans and Canadians. Most of the people guilty of the torturing, genocide, and other war crimes are no longer a threat (OK most of them are dead of old age). But these protests most certainly threaten the safety of innocent people of Japanese ethnicity. Sure the Japanese government could maybe cough up a stronger apology, but these protests in my humble opinion are doing more harm than good when we've got our own fights for justice on this side of the Pacific. Here's a (poorly written) article on one protest

It starts out with "VANCOUVER, United States (AFP) - Hundreds of Asian-Canadians... " -- Since when was Vancouver, BC, CANADA part of the fucking United States? Wishful thinking for some I'm sure, but TRY AGAIN !! WTF! Oh and one more thing, that crazy protest photo is really misleading - it's a crowd in Shanghai, NOT in Vancouver as you realize after reading the 6pt font. Bastards!

cereal

I finally finished this box of Smart Start cereal that is supposed to be good for your heart and all this other stuff. I had actually purchased it as a Costco size set of two boxes but ended up giving away one of them to the food bank after I opened the other. It was just soooo sweet, like I'm talking Frosted Flakes sweet. I couldnt imagine that crap could really be good for you. I had to start mixing it with Grape Nuts to unsweeten it a bit.

So on the weekend I headed to Trader Joe's to try out some new cereal since I've gotten sick of Kashi GoLean (it's only good for the first few boxes and then it gets a little tired) and will never again buy Smart Start. So I bought the Apple Cinnamon More and Less (more protein less carbs). I figure you can't go wrong with Apple Cinnamon and anything at TJs is usually pretty tasty. Man was I ever wrong. I have never tasted cereal more awful. It is low in sugar to the point of absolute tastelessness unless you get lucky and spoon up one of the 5 or 6 tiny dehydrated apple pieces included in the cereal. And when it mixes with the milk it ends up tasting and taking on the texture of wet cardboard, yes if you've ever imagine eating papier mache, this is what it tastes like. I hate wasting food so I'm going to have to pull my old trick of mixing it with a tried and true cereal like raisin bran or something.

Anyone want to warn me of other shitty cereals before I go trying them? (no kids' cereals, I never buy them anyways)

batteries

I'm not sure what the heck is going on. Everything powered by rechargeable batteries I've had in the last little while has been dying on me. First my laptop battery went, so I ordered a new one. That one came in the mail and it wouldn't hold a charge either. Then my cell phone. That needs to be constantly charged too. Then the Sony Clie I borrowed wouldn't hold a charge longer than a day so I switched to a hand-me-down, hardly used Pocket PC. As soon as I got the software going and the thing synced, that died yesterday too. I love portable electronics but they obviously don't like me.

slump

OK I have to admit my IM conversation with a friend got me thinking and not in a good way. He asked "where are you in relation to where you once thought you'd be at this stage in your life?"

Well the short answer is, nowhere near where I thought I'd be. Let's see, even in my early twenties I would've thought that by now I'd be married, or at least engaged, making a bunch of money, and able to call myself a home owner. You know, kinda established in the career, a little more credibility, semi-settled. Currently I'm none of the above. Yes I made a conscious decision to change careers to do something that will make me happy in the long run but that doesn't mean I can't be miserable about the state of things right now. It seems like every month or so, a friend is getting engaged or married or about to buy a home. Feels like the closer I get to embarking on this 4 year commitment to my education, the further I get from these other life milestones. A friend who has been trying to get me to work at his company in San Diego once told me that a Phd is a road to certain poverty. I know there's more to it than that but all of this combined makes me wonder if I'm just going to end up like my aunt and so many other women profs I know of - middle aged, single, and renting (and in my mind miserable and lonely). I think the only thing worse than that would be working in the marketing department of a software company again. Actually maybe they're equally bad. Damn the dilemmas in my life. Why couldn't I just enjoy a career with a straightforward and predictable career path like, say, accounting.

hate radio (again)

First Miss Jones and now this. Quoted from Asian Media Watchdog Citizenspeak Campaign. (please click to that and fill out the form)

To Whom It May Concern,

[your personal statement inserted here]

During the April 25th (Monday) edition of “The Jersey Guys”, hosts ‘Carton and Rossi’ displayed the most heinous and irresponsible radio talk show “entertainment” that New Jersey has ever heard.

Carton and Rossi repeatedly displayed Edison Mayoral Candidate Jun Choi as an enemy of New Jersey residents and Asian residents of New Jersey were repeatedly referred to as if they could not possibly be American citizens. They also repeatedly mocked Jun Choi’s name and incited racial animosity by insinuating that all Asians will vote for the Korean American candidate.

Among Carton and Rossi’s ON AIR hateful quotes were:

- “Damn Orientals and Indians.”

- “There should be like Asian-only rooms in casinos”

- “Well you know, ching chong, ching chong, you bombed us”

More info here http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/middlesex/index.ssf?/base/news-0/111458008975470.xml
Here's a lovely quote from that article

"I don't care if the Chinese population in Edison has quadrupled in the last year, Chinese should never dictate the outcome of an election, Americans should," Carton said.

Ah, there it is again. Another example of Asians as perpetual foreigners. Chinese people who are American citizens are not considered American, but rather Chinese. Third generation Chinese Americans are still considered Chinese and not really American. When American skater Tara Lipinski beat fellow American Michelle Kwan, the headlines read "American beats Kwan." Yes keep excluding us you bastards. It's the same shit over and over and I'm so sick of this. Third generation Dutch or German Americans would be considered "real" apple pie eating baseball playing Americans because, well, they are white.

green card

So from conversations with married and soon-to-be-married non-Americans lately, I've learned a few things. If you go into a greencard process already married, it appears that the spouse getting the gc from their employer also scores a gc and working permit for his/her spouse.

If you get to a certain point in the gc process I-485 (?) and you're not married, but just engaged, your future spouse gets screwed out of a work permit and greencard. You just end up as "spouse of greencard holder" meaning you're free to live in the country and go to school and stuff but you don't have a right to work without finding a company to sponsor a work visa.

Any immigration lawyers out there who can confirm this?

What is the point of no return, the point at which you better elope or your future spouse gets ripped off big time?

If our layman's logic serves correct, the lesson here is do the drive-through wedding before your partner gets too far in the gc process or someone loses out big time.

health insurance and stuff

Got a flyer today at school for cheap health care, $48 per year! But I just checked out the website and you need to be under 24. So I guess if you're a poor 29-year-old student you're fucked. That's fantastic especially since I chipped my tooth yesterday eating barbeque pork (siew yook). Oh and my vision is blurry out my right eye (again). And did I mention I don't have dental or vision coverage? *sigh*

I learned last week that Assistant Profs in the CSU system make $55k/year. So if I end up teaching at a Cal State School in 5 years after I finish my Phd, I would've paid $20K tuition for my MA (Phd should be paid for thru stipends and assistantships) so that I can take a $20K pay cut from what I was making in software. That is such a grim way to look at it. But I just have to remind myself that when I'm up at 2am pounding out my thesis proposal, I'm enjoying it a hell of a LOT more than flying back and forth to Houston and going in to work 60 hours a week to write brochures and sales programs for some piece of software that I don't give a flying shit about. Life's too short to do a job that doesn't stimulate, challenge and excite you.

around the world for AIDS

Every once in a while you come across a really inspiring teenager. One who has the maturity to spend time doing things other than copying Jack Ass stunts, to think beyond what he's going to buy next to show off to his friends. Well one of those teens happens to be my cousin's (Lonny's) cousin on the other side of the family. Relatives on my side of the family (myself included) are... uh not so outstanding, but I digress.

His name is Bevan Barton. He's a senior (that means he's in grade 12 for my Canadian readers) at a prep school in Oakland and an accomplished athlete. He's planning to defer college one year and ride his bike around the world starting this summer to raise money for AIDS reasearch. Check out his web site http://www.rideagainstaids.com/

mini-update

Thanks to Densetsu for busting the 420 police radio code myth. Check this out
http://www.snopes.com/language/stories/420.htm

Got a vmail from the campus police from some detective. I'm being called in to check out some photos of perverts to see if one of them is the guy I reported on Tuesday. How exciting, my first trip to a police station. No really, I am excited. Anyone who loves to watch cop shows like Law and Order would be.

what I learned at school

When I first moved down here my roomate was always talking about 420. I never knew what the hell she was talking about until she said it refered to smoking pot. When I asked her why she said she didn't know. Well today while shootin' the shit in the grad lounge I learned something new. 420 is the police code for pot, whether they mean the possession or use of, I'm not sure specifically. Not sure why I never learned this in Vancouver, maybe the police codes are different? Who knows. Anyways, apparently 4/20 as in today's date is an unofficial day of celebration. I actually heard people say 420 a bunch of times on campus. Celebrating this day is supposed to involve toking up at exactly 4:20pm on April 20th. Ya learn something new everyday.

my 1st police report

Something rather unpleasant happened to me today. I was leaving campus at 5pm. I was walking up Holloway, crossed Juniperro Serra and walked a bit more just past the stone column at the entrance of the Ingleside neighbourhood. A white guy in his early 20s in a red shirt and khaki track pants was standing behind that stone column jerking off. He had his manhood right out there in his hand for all to see. He made eye contact with me and didn't say anything. He obviously did this with the intention of getting reactions from female passersby. I walked past him quickly and kept walking but I looked back twice to try to remember what he looked like. Each time I looked back he looked straight at me and for a minute he seemed as though he was going to start walking after me which freaked the shit out of me. I turned a corner and grabbed the cell phone out of my bag and turned it on. I kept walking and looking back but I guess he didn't follow me afterall. I had my Snapple in one hand and my laptop bag in the other so I waited to get to my car another block away to call the campus police. They dispatched the call as I was describing the guy on the phone. In 2 min the cops were at my car taking a statement. Unfortunately, he was gone by the time they went looking for him. Dammit. Quite the wake up call though. I don't think I'll ever forget my cell phone or leave it uncharged ever again. Sad thing is, this is the second time this has happened to me. An old man was doing the same thing in a drug store in Vancouver when I was about 5. I was wandering down an aisle by myself when I passed him. Fucking sicko.

blog alert

Another friend has joined us. I've created yet another blogger. This is my friend who will, because of the sensitive nature of his blog, remain nameless. But he's an old friend from Vancouver and we sometimes call him Tiger so that might help you figure out who it is. Still...shhhhh
http://beans0308.blogspot.com/

I'd recommend linking to this one. He's one of the funniest people I know for damn sure.

consumption

Just wanted to share a little quote from a guy I'd consider a media rockstar. Sut Jhally, Simon Fraser University (Go SFU!!) alumnus now at UMass Amherst.

"Society does not fall from heaven fully formed. It's made and constructed by
ordinary people. Deep down, people know the world in which they live is not very
satisfying because they're geared towards consumption. In America, people just
work way too hard. Why? To buy stuff. What for? Because the market system has us believing happiness will come from it. Well, happiness doesn't come from it."

Friday

and a weekend of homework to look forward to. Yay.

Borrowed from daydreamy from http://fridaysfeast.blogspot.com/

Appetizer
What was your first "real" job?

Age 16 coaching recreational gymnastics at my gym club

Soup
Where would you go if you wanted to spark your creativity?

Someplace warm with a view of some body of water

Salad
Complete this sentence: I am embarrassed when...

I see Asian women playing dumb and cutesy (or sexpot trashy). I'm embarrassed both for them and by them.

Main Course
What values did your parents instill in you?

Pinch your pennies and never waste food.

Dessert
Name 3 fads from your teenage years.

Tight rolling my jeans so they're narrow at the ankles, Esprit tote bags, teased bangs with lots of hairspray.

there

So my very tech savvy research methods prof today talked about there.com. Actually the topic of the day was ethnographic research and whether it's really possible to do such research virtually but she got to mentioning there.com. It is the weirdest thing. It's an online "meeting place" but not like NetMeeting or Webex because those have goals and things to accomplish for business type stuff. Kinda like party poker but even on that site you're there primarily to, well, play poker. On there.com you are just there. I kinda figure it to be like a chat room but with avatars to represent you and others in the room. Or perhaps kinda like playing Sims but you (are supposed to) play yourself. I dunno. I guess it'd be appealing to those with extreme social anxiety disorder and stalkers? I wonder if it'll ever catch on.

In unrelated news, I got a letter from Blue Cross saying they accidentally billed everyone twice for the month of April. I'm thinking don't they automate that shit?? I read a little further, "Please contact us at the address below to request a reimbursement." How the hell is that fair? You guys screw up and I have to do extra administrative work to get my money back? You idiots, just credit my account!

neighbours

My next door neighbour is this couple. Nice skinny soft spoken guy about our age, or a bit older, and his wife who I hear yelling at him at the top of her lungs all the time. They've been getting along like this pretty much since we moved in a couple years ago. I'm really not sure how they keep it together. What I do know is he delivers pizza at night for extra money because he said he likes driving around anyways. I'm thinking it's more like he needs the extra time out of the house. Simon and I have actually not met the wife because we're scared of her so we walk extra slow or hide behind a post when we see her coming up the stairs. The weird thing is that often they fight at like 6:30-7am. Weekdays and weekends. It actually wakes me up most times. I have to admit I strain to hear what they're saying. Can't help it. If they're gonna wake me up I deserve a little amusement. My question is what the hell is there to argue about that early in the damn morning?

classmates and wine

Classmates.com is huge but if you are too cheap to pay like I imagine most of us are, you don't find out much about your old classmates except that they're alive, married (or not), their pets, country they live in and political views. But alas, there is always a free, though not quite as popular, alternative. Might I suggest http://graduates.com/ and I was going to suggest kitnetwork.com but dammit it got bought out by reunion.com. Bastards.

On an unrelated note, I have finally found dozens of people with the same sensitivity as I have to red wine. http://www.nobody-knows-anything.com/mtarchives/2003/10/wine_allergies.html

With most reds, my nose gets stuffy, I get abnormally red, my head throbs, and then the asthma hits and if my inhaler is not in my purse I get pretty damn uncomfortable. I get this (namely the asthma symptoms) once in a while with other alcohol especially if I drink on an empty stomach but not the way it hits me with red wine. What works for me is a Reactine (non drowsy allergy med I get in Canada because it's not available here without prescription) an hour before drinking. I've been assured by a doctor acquaintance that that is OK and typically it keeps the symptoms tolerable. Anyone else have weird alcohol allergies? I have friends who either pass out (literally) or black out (ie conscious, standing, talking, but can't see while their eyes are open) from drinking.

living vicariously

Simon called twice tonite from LV where he's whooping it up for his friend Dan's stag. First call, he shared that they were invited to come watch the taping of Celebrity Poker in their hotel, the Palms (one of the guys has lost a lot of money on several occasions, hence the free room). That sounded pretty cool. I can't begin to explain how many hours of that show I've had to sit through. I didn't recognize the names of the celebs he listed except one, Wendy Pepper. The middle aged lady whom everyone hated on the reality show Project Runway. Apparently she's lost weight but still looks awful in real life. Phil Gordon and the other host whose name escapes me were also there but their commentary is taped in a back room by the loser's lounge. I'll let Simon share the details when he gets back. His second call was a more exciting one. "I just shook Tony Almeida's hand!!" he exclaimed. Apparently Tony from24 (does anyone really know the guy's real name?) was hanging around the hotel, probably next in line for another taping of Celebrity Poker. Simon said to him, "hey you're Tony from 24!" Despite the popularity of his character, I guess the guy doesn't get much attention on the street. He was apparently visibly excited to be recognized and shook Simon's hand. Simon says he looks a lot younger in real life. He's my favourite character on the show next to Jack and Chloe. I wish I were there. Instead I'm at home doing homework, blogging and watching the Lifetime network.

APAs aren't notable?

For non-liberal arts/media scholars, cultural hegemony is defined as "the concept that a diverse culture can be ruled or dominated by one group or class, that everyday practices and shared beliefs provide the foundation for complex systems of domination." It's a theory rooted in Marxism and coined by Gramsci. According to Gramsci, the dominance of ruling class values is so engrained in the very institutions of a society that these values, no matter how contorted, become normalized and the dominated peoples are effectively complicit in their own subjugation. The most modern day example for me still is Asian Americans thinking there's nothing wrong with wearing Abercrombie after they put out that line of racist t-shirts and lost a class action suit for not hiring minorities or keeping them safely hidden in back storerooms. Sorry I cant stop blogging about that but I go to a college and every day I see that, it pisses me off to no end. How stupid can you be really?

But I have another example. I was tutoring one of my charming 13 year old students and was reading over his list of important Americans in history. He had to pick one to do a research report on. It was a two page single-spaced freakin list. Mostly white men. There were maybe 5-6 women listed in the "feminist" category and a couple token African Americans (MLK and Malcolm X of course) and Cesar Chavez, the only other non-white guy.

And of course, there was not a single Asian American. How about Fred Korematsu? How about the Asian Americans who dared to take a stand during the many decades of institutionalized and unjustified anti-Asian American racism around the turn of the 20th century? Or some APA scientists?

What does it say to youngsters when our list of "heroes" or "notable people" doesn't include people of their own color when there are numerous untold stories of heroism and bravery? And the fact that this list looks a lot like the lists of notable historical figures I had to choose from in jr. high 15 years ago (ie all white guys) means no one's spoken up to make a change. We've accepted lists like this as "normal." Just like it was normal that there were no Asian characters in the piles upon piles of Sweet Valley High books I read in elementary school. Just like it was normal that all the dolls in the store had white skin, no black, no yellow, no brown. Unless you want to contribute to this ongoing silent subjugation, you as an individual need to do something. The first step is to see that this is not normal or natural or right.

stags and stuff

SF International Film Fest is coming soon, thanks to GuppieLuv for the reminder http://sfiff.org/fest05/ Who wants to catch a film or two? I had some bad luck at the SF Asian American fest because tickets sold out before we could get there because we missed the cut off for online purchases. But I did get to at least catch Cutie Honey when it ran last month. I wish there were a (free) indie film channel. I'd never leave the house.

This weekend Simon is off to Vegas for Dan's stag. (is that a Canadian word cuz apparently Americans don't know what a stagette, aka bachelorette, is?) I'm thinking I'm going to use the time to hibernate at home and catch up on my thesis proposal which so desperately needs my attention. Also got 2 hours and 50 min worth of lecture notes due for my pedagogy class. Crap I have a lot of thinking and writing to do. Need to go out drinking less and do more homework and exercise. Oh and do taxes. Dammit. I need another spring break really badly.

taxes

Just need to vent. I HATE filing taxes. I typically get a refund but it's not incentive enough to want to do them. Just seeing the jargon and grids and questions (yes even in Turbo Tax) makes my head hurt. Honestly, I'd rather do 3 hours of academic research or write a paper than do my taxes. HATE it. I can't believe I know a woman who just completed her Masters in Tax. I'd rather chew off a limb than do that degree.

BTW a tip from my friend Randolph (haven't tried this yet)

If you go to the IRS site, you can link to turbotax and file for free. It's only free for federal taxes and it only works if you link from the IRS site.

http://www.irs.gov/app/freeFile/jsp/index.jsp?

To file state taxes for free, go to the California Franchise Board website.

http://www.ftb.ca.gov/online/calFile/index.html

You basically take the info you got from the Turbo Tax site and it'll automatically calculate how much you owe

really dumb

Simon says he'll give me $5 to link to his blog again now that he's been blogging regularly and posted Google Ad words on his site, so here it is again --> http://simonma168.blogspot.com

So I did something profoundly stupid tonight. I get really annoyed when there's food stuck on dishes and utensils that go in the dishwasher, especially rice because it sticks to everything and hardens. So before I put the rice scooper thing in the washer I like to eat the rice clean off the scoop before I put it in the wash. Well, not sure if you knew but poor kids in Asia sometimes use a grain of cooked rice as glue to stick paper together. You just smoosh it together, let it dry and voila, cheap glue. It works I tried it when I was little. So anyways, I stuck the whole rice scooper thing in my mouth (I really like rice and really hate wasting food). The rice had kinda half dried and the effect was much like licking a really frozen popsicle. It stuck to my lower lip and stupid me, I pulled it out of my mouth and took some skin with it. Dammit. Last week I got a deep cut in my thumb from eating crab, in Cabo I broke off a disturbingly large chunk of my toenail when I had had a few too many Dos Equis and tripped on a stair on my way to the bathroom in some karaoke bar. Kinda reminds me of my gymnastics days when I'd nail a beam routine and then turn around and trip on a crashmat or walk into a door. It only takes a small lapse in concentration (or a couple drinks) before disaster strikes.

San Jose

We made a rare trip south to go for drinks on Saturday, all the way down to downtown San Jose. The Sofa Lounge to be exact. The place itself was kinda nice, lots of seating, hardwood floors, some art on the walls and a couple plasmas showing Austin Powers, and later JackAss. Drinks are cheaper than in the city too. But the DJ was trainwrecking left and right and when more people filled the lounge, he made the switch from downtempo to hip hop. blech. We left early to meet up with some late comers but apparently last call happens at quarter past one and you can't get in anyplace. I ended up ducking into a biker bar to use the bathroom. We ended up at La Victoria for some late night Mexican food. The place sells their hot sauce for $6 a bottle so they have a guard at the door making sure no one makes off with the hot sauce provided at the tables. When you walk out to your car, the streets are lined with cops, 5 or more of them standing with hands on their hips, side-by-side. I dunno. It's just weird. I think I'd rather be out for drinks close to home at Stinger. I just wish the place were a bit bigger and in a more happening neighbourhood like downtown Palo Alto or something.

gym deal $8.25/mo or $14.50/mo!

Finally found a deal worth taking for a gym membership. 24 hour fitness was my old gym but it was DIRTY, overpriced, crowded and some of the aerobics instructors were horrible. Went to Gold's on the weekend because the radio ad claimed that they were having a deal - $29/mo, no enrollment fee. Sounds good. Went in there, the REAL deal is $29 a month for 1st 3 months, $49/mo thereafter, PLUS $49 processing fee. Thanks but no thanks. It was also packed on a sunny Saturday afternoon, I couldn't imagine how many are in there on evenings. Got a direct mail from Foster City Athletic club, $98 per year. I'm thinking this must be bullshit. So I called. The catch is you can't come in Mon/Tues (the busiest days) and you have to buy 2 years in advance (not uncommon).

But c'mon, this works out to $8.25 a month. No extra hidden fees. That's less than a 1-day drop in at the Y or Jewish Community Center. So I went in today to check out the facilities and signed up Simon for the 5 day (no Mon Tues) $98/year deal and got myself the 7 day for $173/year which works out to be $14.50 per month and again no fees, that was the actual cost. So I'm happy. They have pilates, yoga, karate and even samurai classes. They have an aerobics studio, racquetball, basketball, spinning, jacuzzi, sauna and all the regular gym stuff and unlike 24, they have someone cleaning for 3 hours every night plus a fulltime person just for cleaning. They even have lotions and cotton balls and stuff in the locker room. Oh and the average number of people per class is 15. Hooray for not packing up the studio like sardines. Those of you in south bay, they have a sister club in Mountain View, but don't all of you sign up at once or it'll get all busy and I won't like it.

more library drama

Simon moved his stop-and-start blog again. Now it's here http://simonma168.blogspot.com/

So I spent 3 hours in the library today somehow. The one at school this time. I decided it was time to watch a couple old but well known indie docs on Asian American women in the media - Slaying the Dragon by Deborah Gee and Picturing Oriental Girls by Valerie Soe. Did you know the song "I love being a girl" was sung by Nancy Kwan in Flower Drum Song (the first full length film with an all Asian American cast)? Yeah the same one that that god-awful Sarah Jessica Parker sings in the Gap commercial. Anyways, I was sitting there in the Media Access Center watching my films with my headset on when I heard some old lady in a nearby booth exclaim, "did you hear him? He called me a bitch for asking him to be quiet!". Unfortunately we're all sitting in little study carrels so I couldn't just stand up to see what all the racket was all about. I was just writhing with curiosity but poking my head up would totally get me busted for being nosy so I put my headset back on and kept watching my films. I heard the lady get up and leave. A few minutes later some asshole gets on his cell phone and has a loud conversation. Let's keep in mind we're in a fucking library. You know the place where people are quietly reading. I guess I know who the old lady was talking about. My film was almost finished and I wasn't in the mood to throw any shit at the fan today so I just packed up and left. Besides, yelling at someone to create drama is only fun when you have a supportive audience and you don't become equally as disruptive and rude as the person you hope to yell at.

Red Rose

Red Rose Tea is a Canadian tea I used to buy at Albertson's here but it's not there anymore and I can't find it anywhere, not Safeway, not Ranch 99, not Longs Drugs. I started my day with this stuff for 15 years. The only reasonably priced alternative is Lipton but it just doesn't measure up. It's light and flavorless. Has anyone seen this stuff anywhere? I've gone about 3 months without it, started drinking coffee and those instant Chinese milk teas more but I can't stand to do this much longer.

why I'm here etc.

This is in answer to Syndromes's question about why I'm here since Canada sounds really cool, which it is.

- came down here during the .com boom to get rich and advance my career (I did not get rich, but I did further my experience by leaps and bounds but in a career I ultimately abandoned last year)
- thought it would be enriching to get a higher education in a different country and since I study media and western media are largely produced here, it seemed logical to study closer to the source
- I hate extreme weather. I am a weather wimp. All it does is rain in Vancouver and I hate it more than words can describe. Shoveling snow out of driveways also sucks balls. SF peninsula weather cannot be beat and it makes me very happy
- I get bored easily and Vancouver just did not provide the stimulation I needed. Whether it be nightlife, arts, social activism, you name it, it's bigger and more exciting here. San Franciscans have a certain energy that I love. Vancouver is more laid back and smaller in population, perhaps too much so for my liking.
- you can get stuff shipped from online purchases easily here. You have no idea what a pleasure that is

Now I'm going to repost something from Syndromes's blog again

Click to my comments and

A. First, recommend to me:
1. A movie:
2. A book:
3. A musical artist, song, or album:

B. Ask me three questions, no more, no less.
You may ask me anything you want, but I can decline to answer anything which makes me uncomfortable.

C. Copy and paste this in your blog.

spend $$ or get fat

The more I think about it, the more I've come to realize that you can only get the good stuff in this country if you can afford it. State universities are run down, the programs are constantly being cut and the profs all complain about their pathetic wages, while private universities have gorgeous campuses, tonnes of $$ for research, and shopping areas built around them. For your basic HMO medical coverage you get idiot doctors who don't even care to know your name but if you have thousands of dollars burning a hole in your wallet you can get the country's best specialists.

My beef right now is with something much less important, or maybe not. Public recreation facilities. America has an obvious problem with obesity but you can't go anywhere to work out without paying upwards of $40 a month for a gym membership. I cancelled mine because I just don't have that money to spare even for crappy old 24 Hour Fitness. I figured maybe I'd check out the Y or go to a community center gym. Well turns out that the Y costs more than 24 Hour Fitness and there is no such thing as community center gym around here (except for the pricey and private Jewish Community Center). The public community rec centers have some meeting rooms and tennis courts but that's all. My campus gym sucks and is only available for general use certain hours on certain days.There are just no public facilities to work out in. You can really only get a free work out if you live in an apartment with a gym or work someplace with an office gym. Again, all private. You have to be privileged somehow to get access.

Back home nearly every public community rec center had a pool and a decent weight room and charged only about $2-$4 drop in fee. There were probably 5 or 6 such centers within a 10 minute drive of my home in suburbia. Here you can't even get fit unless you can front the money (or go hardcore and run outside a lot). Something is very very wrong with that.

I've checked the parks and rec sites for all the cities up and down the peninsula and found nothin. Anyone got any suggestions?

Cabo - Day 4 (scroll for 1-3)

There wasn't really a day 4. Just breakfast and bus out to the airport. One of my last photos was this one of the monitor displaying departing flight times. Unfortunately, it was continuously rebooting and we had to rely on a woman speaking really broken English to announce the flights.

Cabo - Day 3 (scroll for 1-2)

Monday was beach day. We decided to walk to Medano beach along the main strip so we could hit Mi Casa Restaurant for lunch en route. The place was closed so we ate at a tiny local place called Cabo Taco instead. The walk seemed to take forever especially when the sidewalks became dusty dirt roads. But we got there in one piece. There were loads of beach chairs and umbrellas and even 3 beach police toting machine guns. That was odd. There were also vendors, some as young as about 5 years old trying to sell you everything from flutes, to silver jewellry to Chiclets.

beach police with machine guns

determined to take a dip in the water (never made it past my knees until after I was soaked from jet skiing)

We rented a jet ski for a half hour which was fun because it was my first time. We took turns driving but being a passenger scared the hell out of me. I was trying to squeeze the seat with my legs so I wouldn't go flying off and now I'm so sore I can barely walk.

After dinner at Squid Roe we headed to Gigglin Marlin to meet up for drinks with a group of Asian girls from CSU Northridge we met on the snorkeling tour. We found out they were also playing count the Asians but they were up to something like 54.

Gigglin Marlin had some audience participation show that was pretty hilarious. They had guys in a contest being the best Chippendale's dancer. This old guy did a great job. He was pretty eager to take off his clothes.

Cabo - Day 2 (scroll down for day 1)

Sunday morning we got up early to head out for our snorkeling cruise which was supposed to be lunch, all you can drink liquor, snorkeling 2 reefs and a mambo lesson. We got the lunch and drinks and snorkeled at one reef (brrrr) where there wasn't much to see in the murky water and no mambo lesson. I'm not sure if it's because the wind slowed us down too much or if most of the people on the cruise were too wasted to do a second reef and dance lesson anyways. Or perhaps it was just another classic rip-off ala Mexico.

getting ready for snorkeling (in what we'd find out were really cold waters)

After we got back we hung out at the hotel pool until the spring break pool party just got too loud and out of hand. It was like trying to take a nap and do some reading in the middle of a freakin' frat party. So we grabbed a shower and headed out for an early lobster dinner at Lorenzillo's where you get to pick your live lobster from a tank.

selecting our lobsters from the tank

my lobster from Lorenzillo Restaurant

We spent the rest of the evening, drinking heavily at various bars. Squid Roe is a hugely popular one. We didn't stay long at any one place because everywhere we went people were getting out of control drunk. We spent the end of the night at Blue Jungle which is a bar outside with some chairs and a couch. $3 for 2 beers or $4 for 2 daquieries or margaritas. Dos Equis was my drink of choice. At that bar something clicked in and I went from sober to smashed in an instant. I was rushing into some karoake bar to use the bathroom when I tripped on a step and damn near fell on my face. I managed to stay on my feet but have a gross cracked toe nail now. I hate drinking injuries.

inside the roofless Squid Roe restaurant/club

recap of Cabo San Lucas

Day 1 Saturday
We arrived at the airport at San Jose Del Cabo sometime in the early afternoon. United Vacations included a free transfer to the hotel via tour bus but that involved a long ride to a number of different hotels to drop everyone off between San Jose Del Cabo (the "historic" smaller town in Los Cabos) and Cabo San Lucas (the party town where we went). Checked into the Costa Real Los Cabos.


our room at Costa Real

view from our room (that construction back there got really loud in the mornings)

Not nearly as glamourous as the Riu we stayed at in Puerto Vallarta a couple years ago but it was a solid 2 and 1/2 star I guess. The hotel is right in the marina, walking distance to all restaurants and clubs and a short water taxi ride away from the main swimming beach, Medano beach. After setting down our bags and getting into some shorts for the 28 degree C weather we ran (literally like Frogger) across the street to the Shrimp Factory. Got a big shrimp ceviche and avocado stuffed with crab.


avocado stuffed with crab at Shrimp Factory


writing my name on the wall at Shrimp Factory

Then I wrote my name on the wall like all the other customers do. After we finished our lovely seafood snack, Simon and I went for a walk down the main street. The streets were crowded with Spring breakers, ie drunk 18-22 year old white American college kids who all look like they stole their clothes right off an Abercrombie manequin. They were a frighteningly homogenous group. All the girls in cut off denim skirts or short Paris Hilton type skirt and a tank top that showed cleavage, mid-driff or both. Guys in some sort of logo T, shorts and flip flops. And my, was there ever a lot of drunken hootin' and hollerin'. Anyways, we bought tix for a snorkeling tour for $35, marked down from $45 (never take the asking price for anything in Mexico). That was for the next day. Then we headed to a sports book or something to place a bet on a boxing match - Morelos vs. Pacqiao. We decided it'd be cool to go somewhere to watch the match. Simon forgot that the main fight wouldn't come until after we watched the 3 fights before it. Long story short we ended up watching 3 hours of boxing in a run down bar with the locals. Simon's guy, Morelos from Mexico, won by a narrow margin after much blood spewing and we went and collected his $15 winnings. By then it was 10:30pm and we hadn't had dinner. Many kitchens were closed so we ended up eating on a patio at the Roxx. The food wasn't bad and we had a view of all the drunk college kids on the street and the girls enjoying free drinks in the club part of Roxx. After dinner, we decided to make up a game called count the Asians. Apparently Cabo is a hotspot for sorority girls and frat boys from San Diego, Cal Poly and a few from the east coast but it's not a big hit with the Asian kids. That night we counted 5. I was beginning to have flashbacks of my high school days. After a few drinks at various bars, we turned in early to get some rest for the next day's snorkeling tour.

my new favourite restaurant

MOCHICA a Peruvian restaurant on Harrison between 5th and 6th where that awful 24 hour restaurant Farralon used to be. Went there for Simon's bday last week. It was a bit of a gamble because I had never been there and there were only 2 reviews on citysearch (I've since added my own). I clicked on the link to go to their website which had some nice Flash thing and some music but the menu was not listed in English (although the icons signifying the type of animal you were ordering was cute), nor did they list their address or phone number.

In my head I was thinking, these people must not have their shit together if they dont post contact info on a web site. But now I'm thinking maybe it was because what they know how to do well is run a restaurant, but I mean REALLY well. We had ceviche, paella and bouillabase. The ceviches were all $15 or under and they are HUGE. My paella which usually runs $25-30 at places like Thirsty Bear was only $17 and it was delicious (though not served in a hot pan). Simon's bouillabase was basically a big bowl of soup and chunks of seafood. Candice's ahi tuna plate was also huge and she said it was really good. We were all so stuffed and happy. When all was said and done we decided to just split the bill evenly. With Simon's portion split up among all of us, appetizers, entrees, many drinks, cake, taxes and 15% tip (table >6), it came to $34 per person. Oh yeah and the service was attentive and everything was just perfect. Can't wait to go back. Be sure to order the Ceviche Mixto to share.

sirens

Man I haven't blogged in a while. Got slammed with a lot of homework and trying to rescue my Toastmasters club from an all time low membership. On top of that planning a stagette, a birthday and our trip to Cabo San Lucas ($443 pp on United.com covers 3 nights hotel, flight and all taxes, deal huh??). Not sure how I always end up with so much on my plate. I can't wait to go to Cabo.

So the weirdest thing happened this week. I was taking my 5 block walk to school from my car when I heard a voice coming from the sky. "This is a test of the public outdoor warning system". I had no idea there were speakers mounted all over the place. I actually couldn't see them but they must be on some lamp posts or something. I guess leftover from the cold war era when the threat of nuclear attack was what kids in school practiced for. After that muffled announcement, these sirens went off. I guess that's what air raid sirens sound like?? I imagined myself standing there in the 1950s hearing the sirens and fearing an attack from the evil communists. What exactly were people supposed to do back then? And if they're testing the system they must still be in use for some future incident. What for exactly? I started thinking about the nuclear meltdown on the show 24. I guess they'd use it to tell people to evacuate or something. But for what other purpose? For the record the system is not very good. I really had to strain to make out what the announcer said. The sirens came through loud and clear though. It was really all kinda eerie.

end of the weekend

Sunday nights make me sad. No activities today but we did go for a loooong walk all over Foster City...ie to Albertsons, then to the plaza on Shell, the dog park and back.

Oh yeah, Simon has a blog now even though he used to make fun of me for blogging and reading the blogs of about a million people I don't know. Bandwagon jumper. :)

Let's see how long you keep this up.

no pain no (weight) gain

Simon's new baby (no it was not hot yet)

Turkey before frying

Just no fried food for hamsters

One badass turkey

=====================================
I confirmed my hypothesis. My body does not produce enough bile to digest a meal comprised entirely of fried food. We christened the turkey fryer I got Simon as an early bday gift today. We had deep fried turkey, oysters, fries, and cheesesticks (recipe below). After 2 cheesesticks, 4 oysters and a bit of turkey and fries I was about ready to curl up on the floor in a fetal position. My stomach was killing me. 3 Tums and 1 Prevacid later, I was able to stand up nearly straight and play a couple rounds of poker (3rd place out of 5 on round 1, winner on round 2). I don't know how people in the south eat so much fried food. Quantity-wise I really didn't eat that much but I think I just OD'd on batter and oil and my body said NO. I actually felt a slight bit nauseaus for a while but some hot brown rice green tea really helped that (or maybe it was the Prevacid kicking in). I can see how a diet like this causes people to get fat and die of heart disease. Experiencing pain from eating should be a sign that something isn't right. I definitely prefer my mostly Asian diet of rice, fish, veggies, homemade soup, and small quantities of chicken and beef. People wonder why Asians age well. I am pretty sure it's our diet that makes the difference. Lots of tofu, fish, dark green veggies, soup and tea.

Here's the cheesestick recipe that turned out really well:

Deep Fryer Fried Cheese Prep: 15 min, Cook: 5 min.

• vegetable oil
• 1/2 lb. Gruyère or mozzarella cheese, cut into 21/2 x 1/2 sticks
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup seasoned breadcrumbs

Heat oil in an electric deep fryer to 375°F. Dust cheese sticks with flour. Dip in beaten egg and then into breadcrumbs. Press crumbs around cheese and dip again in egg and crumbs. You may refrigerate at this time until time to cook. Place 3 or 4 cheese sticks in hot oil. Deep fry 2-3 minutes, turning once until golden brown. Transfer to absorbent paper to drain. Repeat process until all are fried.

spring break

Thinking to get out of town this spring break. Cancun has some great deals but that would mean having share the town with a bunch of rowdy, drunk, sex-starved undergrads. In fact I fear all of Mexico's resorts will be overrun by college kids so I'm thinking maybe Hawaii or Costa Rica?

But I'm poor and looking to get away 4-7 days for $500 or less. Yes I know that is pushing it. Does anyone have any links to good cheap travel agencies? I went with www.suntrips.com couple years ago and that was a good deal. Flood me with suggestions!!

library drama

How absurd is that huh? But I speak the truth. One night a couple months ago an older lady maybe in her early 60s was at one of the Internet terminals at the Foster City library. Minding her own business, surfing happily away when along came this tall cougar woman (late 40s, wearing tight athletic wear, carrying an animal print handbag that screams LOOK AT ME). Cougar woman marched around the library like it was a night club with fresh young meat, speaking very loudly and drawing much attention to herself. She leaned over the shoulder of each person at the Internet terminals and asked in her loud cougar voice "how long have you been on this? There's a half hour (or whatever the time limit was) limit, you know". When she got to the older lady, the older lady said, "I've only been here 10 minutes, do you mind" (read: stop looking over my shoulder you bitch). There was also something I missed in the conversation because later that evening Couger was at that terminal and older lady was sitting nearby waiting to get on that computer. So that was months ago.

Tonight, the older lady was there again, surfing the net when the cougar lady walked in. Again in her signature skin-tight-look-at-me-I-just-did-pilates athletic wear and animal print bag. This time she also accessorized with a black scarf. Cougar made her rounds again, asking in a very loud voice how long each person had been at his/her terminal. All of a sudden the stars aligned for Cougar and the gentleman next to the older lady got up and left. I could just smell trouble brewin' at this point. They immediately recognized each other. Cougar tossed the chair back to allow for a dramatic entry into her cubicle, but in doing so slammed the chair into the fingers of the older lady who was gripping the armrest of her own chair. Cougar let out what I thought was some sort of giggle and "oops." Older lady stood up and said, "you just slammed that chair into my fingers!". No audible response from Cougar. And then came the tirade from older lady, "you walk around here and do nothing but attract attention to yourself. You are rude and self-important and have a problem and THIS needs to stop now!" Response from Cougar, "no YOU have a problem" and weak response from older lady "No, YOU have a problem." It was an odd scene because you could have taken that script from an elementary school scuffle. The ending was very anti-climatic. Older lady pushed her chair back, grabbed her jacket in a huff and walked away. Everyone in the area stared. If I hadn't been tutoring I think I would've jumped in there to start a brawl just to say I got into my first fist fight at a public library.

I see that Cougar from time to time, walking around in her tight clothes with this disgusting wiggle that suggests to me she believes that there are people checking her (long sagging ass) out constantly. More often than not I hear her loud-piercing-wannabe-New-York-socialite voice long before I actually see her. I think next time I'll chuck an encyclopedia at her head.

more on missile defence

It's past my bedtime and I just finished my homework due tomorrow. I need to catch some zzzs but first have to post this quote from another article about PM Martin's rejection of this missile defence program because it's just so damn funny.

...many Canadians believe the defense shield will never work and applaud their government for not being bullied into joining it.

"The U.S. administration is trying to peddle a system that doesn't work," said Robert Bothwell, a professor at the University of Toronto who specializes in U.S.-Canadian relations. "If Bush and Condoleezza Rice want to stamp their little hoofies, well that's tough."

Little hoofies hahahaha.

neck breaker

Simon just decided to build this because our last configuration encouraged the hamsters to pee and poo in the tubes. This way there is almost no horizontal tubing on which to go to the bathroom. I don't think he realized he built it to read 18. In any case, you can see that one of the our hams Fatty is making her way down the straight tube and about to break her neck. Snowy is there in the middle of the figure 8. Somehow this doesn't look very safe. A little slip in footing and you plunge to the bottom. I wonder if they make little hamster wheel chairs.



I'm going to have a parapalegic hamster

worrying

If there's one major thing I cannot stand about myself is that I cannot focus on today/the present without simultaneously worrying about tomorrow/the future. Even if I'm in a good situation where I should be relatively worry-free and able to focus on the present, I can't help but look into the future for the next thing to worry about and obsess over that. I think these things (combined with my Type A personality) will ultimately add up and cut my life short. Great, another thing to worry about is the consequence of my worrying. I can see now why some people just choose to chonically smoke pot. Maybe some of these potheads, when not baked off their asses, are constantly agitated, stressed out and on the brink of falling apart. Hmm that would make a funny sitcom.