celebrate

Things to celebrate today -- one of my students got through two rounds of an annual public speaking contest and has qualified to compete with two other speakers at the final tomorrow. I've been accepted to contribute to an encyclopedia which will be published in 2008 (I don't want to reveal details because I haven't received/read the contract yet). I only have 19.5 more speeches to grade (I stopped halfway through the first one to blog, damn adult ADD). Denny made it safely to Eugene, OR on his solo move to Seattle. Upon last update, he was in a movie theater in Eugene, OR and was the only one in the whole theatre.

housewives

So I don't have many channels with basic cable. Most of them are home shopping channels for some reason. So if I'm taking a break I watch whatever's on and remotely interesting, usually it's on the Discovery Channel. Today I landed on a show that turned out to be Desperate Housewives which I've never seen before but have heard of. Maybe it was a rerun, I'm not sure. It would almost be a funny show had it not been for the repulsive stereotypes. Gabrielle has a maid/surrogate mother named Shao-Mei who, of course, speaks in horribly broken English. Of the few minutes of screen time for this character she is demanding (dragon lady) because she, as Gabrielle's surrogate mother, is able to hold the unborn baby hostage in return for making her boss reverse roles and take care of her. She complains that her meal served in bed does not come with crackers and throws a pickle on the floor. Gabrielle threatens to send her back to Shanghai where she'll "be on all fours in a rice paddy" as soon as the baby is born. Shao-Mei then disappears after stealing all of Gabrielle's clothes. Gabrielle goes down to a Chinese Restaurant looking for her and when the waitress doesn't cooperate, she threatens to send the authorities to "see what really is in the mushu pork." I can't even begin to count how many anti-Asian stereotypes were in this episode alone. There's no way I can watch another one. That was just vile. Fuck you Desperate Housewives.

distractions

So my students have started delivering their final speeches. This project is called the advocacy speech (formerly called the protest speech) and it involves motivating a sympathetic audience to take action. The speech is given out on Red Square which is a central area in my school where there is a lot of foot traffic.



So the students are graded partly on their ability to deal with environmental conditions whether they be seagulls flying overhead, hecklers, noisy airplanes flying by or what have you. Well my students sure got to deal with their fair share of challenges today. My first class had a mentally unstable homeless man walking around the area making very loud noises that I can only spell as "mreeeh." I saw him walking towards the speaker and I started to worry a bit but luckily he detoured toward the garbage can nearby, still making these loud noises. After that, another speaker was up. During her speech a couple of ducks, regulars in Red Square, decided to walk in front of her, down the steps, and for a little sight seeing around the audience's ankles, and then back up the steps in front of her. Damn they were soooo cute. Distraction #3 was the crowd of elementary school kids. They were actually not terribly noisy but one of the idiot teachers instructed them to run up the steps toward Kane Hall, right in front of my speaker. WTF?

In my second class, one of my students was doing a speech advocating that our state mandate the HPV vaccine. Just as soon as she said "teenagers are having sex" you could see the two crazy Jesus folks walk towards us with this HUGE, I mean like 12' tall sign held up in harnesses they were wearing. The sign said something like repent for your sins among other things. I'm pretty sure I remember seeing the word hell. One of those crazies decided to park himself right behind the speaker so we could all see his big huge sign. On top of that, some folks decided to set up and test an amplified sound system for an ROTC event to take place later that afternoon so that speaker got to compete with someone saying "test, test 1, 2" through a microphone.

I have to say nothing beats teaching. Everyday is different and usually pretty interesting in one way or another. You can't say that for most desk jobs.

fast

A former professor of mine who is only a few years older than me sure had a big year. He released a CD, got engaged (I didn't even know he was dating anyone), bought a house, and got an awesome new job on the other side of the country. Man things sure happen fast when you hit your 30s. I am so happy for him. He totally deserves all of that. I like it when good things happen to good people.

Admittedly that also means I hate it when good things happen to bad people and when bad things happen to good people.

weekend

What happened to the sun? It was nice out yesterday. I got a chance to run around Greenlake and get some work done before having a friend over to watch Art School Confidential yesterday. The movie was a little dark and twisted for a comedy but pretty creative. Today I got up at noon and had a solid 3 waking hours to do work and watch Anaheim beat Detroit before taking a nap. I just cannot stay awake without more light. I'd sure be screwed if I lived up in Alaska.

Couple more weeks of papers and grading before I get to head to Vancouver to unwind and then to the Bay Area for the summer.

skate

I just finished watching The Lords of Dogtown (2005) which documents the real life stories of the pioneers of professional skateboarding who started the sport in a rundown neighourhood in Venice, CA in the mid-1970s. Did you know three of those original pro-skaters were Asian American, and one of them female? Yup, Shogo Kubo, Jeff Ho and Peggy Oki. Unfortunately they're secondary characters in the movie (if that).

Jensen

Yesterday I attended Robert Jensen's talk titled "The Academy and Activism: Neutralizing Neutrality and Moving Past Polemics" and this afternoon he joined the graduate students in my cohort for a class and a dinner. Jensen is probably best known (I'm guessing) for his article U.S. just as guilty of committing own violent acts, which was published in the Houston Chronicle three days after 9/11 and invited a number death threats and poorly articulated diatribes about being callous and unAmerican. Here is a quote from that article:

... this act was no more despicable as the massive acts of terrorism -- the
deliberate killing of civilians for political purposes -- that the U.S.
government has committed during my lifetime. For more than five decades
throughout the Third World, the United States has deliberately targeted
civilians or engaged in violence so indiscriminate that there is no other way to
understand it except as terrorism. And it has supported similar acts of
terrorism by client states. If that statement seems outrageous, ask the people
of Vietnam. Or Cambodia and Laos. Or Indonesia and East Timor. Or Chile. Or
Central America. Or Iraq, or Palestine. The list of countries and peoples who
have felt the violence of this country is long. Vietnamese civilians bombed by
the United States. Timorese civilians killed by a U.S. ally with U.S.-supplied
weapons.

You can probably see why that article ruffled a few feathers.

Tonight I spoke with him one on one and I cannot describe how exciting it was to have this opportunity. I thanked him for writing that article because it voiced a very unpopular opinion, one that I held but did not dare to discuss with anyone but my closest Canadian friends. I thanked him because when "my people," and I mean this in a collective sense meaning anyone of Asian, South Asian or SE Asian descent, make claims like this we're immediately dismissed and often told to "go home" if we "don't like America and all it stands for." Opinions like this are, after all, used as "proof" of our unassimilability in this country. In Asian American studies classes we talk about the millions of lives lost in SE Asia at the hands of the United States all the time, but this sort of thing doesn't enter into the wider discourse unless someone like him -- a white male professor -- initiates that dialog and he did and I couldn't imagine if he hadn't.

I also thanked him for writing The Heart of Whiteness: Confronting Race, Racism and White Privilege. I confessed that one of my most terrifying teaching moments was introducing the idea of whiteness and white privilege to a racially diverse class that included many white students. I told him that I made a very conscious and deliberate decision to front end the lesson with articles written by white men about white privilege because I felt that being an Asian woman simply wouldn't give me the credibility to get the message across. I admitted that at the end of the class I felt guilty and disappointed that I would not feel comfortable giving that lesson in my own words in my own skin. It's not fair that I feel that I have to direct students to articles written by white men in order to teach about a topic that I can articulate myself, but I feel like I have to and I hate it. We joked about our differences: white - Asian, male - female, older - younger (looking), tall - short. "Well you're screwed," he concluded with a laugh. But in all seriousness, Bob reminded me of what's really important. It's teaching and helping people to understand these things. It's about being strategic and doing what works for you. You can try to overthrow the system and I think we (as in people of color) are taking baby steps to at least shift the so-called system, but sometimes in the here and now you need to just work within it and do little things to make a difference. I forgot to thank him for this conversation. So, Bob, thanks for this (and for being a privileged white man who gets it).

phone pics

Finally downloaded a bunch of photos from my cell phone. Thought I'd share. So this one I took at Long's Drugs during their closing sale. That sale was funny because as the merchandise made its way out the door they started consolidating so you'd have stuff like pork and beans next to the engine oil next to the condoms. I took this photo because the actual La Victoria is a taco place in San Jose where we'd go eat afterhours in the rare event we actually went south to party instead of up to San Francisco. People would get in deep shit for stealing the sauce from the table because it's their own hot sauce and is actually sold in stores even in Seattle. From what I remember they even had a security guy at the door.


This is my campus in March. The cherry blossoms are beautiful. Those clouds were not as threatening as they appear in the photo. That was a warm sunny day.


This is a used bookstore up the street from my campus.



Here is the aforementioned cat.

This is what you get at Cafe Ori in Bellevue for under $7. Yes, for that much you get the big bowl o' noodles AND that huge pork katsu (2 pieces stacked).

There is a little tiny shack on the way up to Snoqualmie Mountain that serves ostrich burgers. Yum. I think the building is red and you'll miss it if you're not looking for it.

Summer

To do list:

- work
- edit my friend's wedding video
- go to gymnastics class in Mountain View
- take a course at a community center, maybe an instrument
- write one paper and submit it to a conference
- do lots of reading (reading list needs to be developed still but definitely some hard core theory and cultural studies stuff I need to catch up on)
- pick up running again, aim to do 10Ks without feeling the need to throw up

stranger

I recently met a person, pardon the vagueness as it is deliberate. You know how you aren't supposed to talk religion or politics with people when you first meet them? In my first conversation with this person (whom I will probably have to tolerate for at least a year), he asked about my research interests and then argued with me that Oriental is not an offensive term and that Asian is more of a problematic term because it leaves out some people in Asia, like Russians and people from Kazakhstan. I made a failed attempt at being patient as I explained that Asian is a term of collective identity that gives us (as in yellow people) some political strength through solidarity. He would not compromise and just pushed the argument harder. He was in complete denial of the social and political implications of this racist notion of Orientalism as it is constructed in the west. He argued that black people call themselves the N word so "Oriental" is also okay. I responded that Asian American people DO NOT call themselves Oriental and even if they chose to reappropriate that term (like queer for example), it doesn't give other people permission to use it unless that permission is granted rather than assumed. Asian American history really needs to work its way into the public school curriculum because obviously there are a number very misguided people out there.

Oh and did I mention this heated argument took place in MY HOME within five minutes of meeting him? Aside from taking Ethnic Studies 101, this person also needs to take a lesson from Miss Manners on how to make small talk with people you've just met.

Canadian accent

What do you do when you don't feel like working on a paper and people are generally pissing you off so that you can't concentrate on anything and you want to hurl someone or something out a 10 storey building? I look at cuteoverload and then I do dumb quizzes like this:

What American accent do you have?
Created by Xavier on Memegen.net

North Central. This is what everyone calls a "Minnesota accent." If you saw "Fargo" or "Drop Dead Gorgeous" you probably didn't think the characters sounded very out of the ordinary. Some Americans may mistake you for a Canadian.

Canada. You probably get irritated when British people and Europeans think you're from the States, but over here we wouldn't make a mistake like that.

Take this quiz now - it's easy!

We're going to start with "cot" and "caught." When you say those words do they sound the same or different?

Same Different Same, no wait I mean different, maybe, a little bit different...

just gettin' by

It's week 6 and I don't see the light at the end of the tunnel. I have a paper to rewrite in an attempt at publication, three final papers/projects to work on, advisor (or lack thereof) issues to resolve, students freaking out about their speeches, and speeches to grade. Everything was pretty manageable but all of a sudden I feel like there is more work than hours to get it done. Oh and the Canucks are fucked if they don't win tonight. I have to put aside a couple hours to watch that 'cause it's do or die.

It doesn't help that Facebook has been such a distraction. It's been cool though to reunite with some of my closest friends from high school/junior high and also some neighourhood kids I used to play with.

I survived

I survived a workshop that I delivered to a bunch of teenagers on the weekend at the Seattle Center, a project that we had to do for a graduate seminar on public scholarship. The group I got was, however, not a group of teenagers. I got a bunch of preteens which is not what I had prepared my material for. This was a workshop on race and the media. When I showed a clip from NCIS of a non-profit office burnt down and a bunch of Middle Eastern men being interrogated by white cops who suspected they were terrorists, the kids thought the characters were Mexican. Things went downhill from there, with the highlight being the scuffle over pens at the next table which was also mostly pre-teens (AKA children).

After that we we went to a bar to celebrate and ran into this crazy junkie bitch. Two of my team mates arrived first and sat at a 4-person booth. The crazy junkie was sitting in one of our chairs but they let her be since we hadn't arrived yet. When we arrived my teammate asked her to move since the rest of the party had arrived. Her response, "Uh no, this is not your seat. Can't you see I'm sitting in it? So no I'm not going to move." The next booth where her two friends were sitting had two empty chairs since she was sitting in ours. Yeah, after dealing with the drama of the workshop we practically get in a fight with a crazy woman. Luckily her friends convince her to move back to their booth and sit in one of their chairs and so we get our seats back. Needless to say, the first thing I ordered was a beer, and with that a big sloppy cheeseburger and fries. When I got home I had to sleep. I was knocked out for 2.5 hours and still woke up with a headache.

time capsule

So my department opened up a time capsule that has been sealed for 50 years. Or so they thought. Sometime between the late 70s and early 80s someone broke into it and added a few extra items.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003683287_webtimecapsule26m.html

In another article I read it said the undies were dirty. That is just gross.

I'm impressed that they were able to get this thing out of the wall and undo the bolts to sneak the stuff in. Kinda funny.

OK, gotta go watch hockey and grade speeches.

flushing

Man I love my people. Thanks to Denny for this. I'm sure Vancouver is a ghost town right now with game 7 on. I'm trying to do my grading while I watch the game. I'm so happy I get CBC. Go Canucks!

As Game One of the Canucks first round series against Dallas stretched on and
on, it seems few in the Lower Mainland were able to pry themselves away from
their televisions. Instead, not wanting to miss a minute of the action, most
Canucks fans appear to have decided to wait until the intermissions to make a
trip to the bathroom. So many decided to wait until the end of a given period
that by the time each intermission was finished, the Burnaby area had
experienced a steep drop in water pressure.

From http://canucks.com/view_archive.asp?sectionID=5&id=2042

sigh

Tomorrow is Monday. Fuck.

hockey etc

I got back from Michigan at 11:30am yesterday. I slept the first leg of the flight from Lansing to Minnesota and most of the second leg from Minnesota to Seattle. That's about 4-5 hours of intermittent sleep which I thought would do but no. No longer can my body handle short trips across three time zones. I used to do these trips from San Francisco to Houston, Raleigh, and Orlando and be able to get back to work. Yesterday I got back and had two naps, graded some speeches, caught up on email, watched the Calgary v. Detroit game and then the Canucks v. Dallas game (thank the gods for CBC in Seattle) and was in bed by 10:30pm. This morning I got up at 10am which means I slept 11.5 hours.

Tonight I watched Calgary v. Detroit's game 7. So over 24 hours I've watched 3 games which is more than I have all season (except in December when I'm back home and watch NHL, Jr. Hockey and Spengler Cup). And all 3 games, my teams lost. I told Denny that this is all my fault. He claims it's his mom's fault. She's been watching the same games. I think together we're messing with the chi that helps Canadian teams win. Still I have to watch Canucks' game 7 tomorrow. It might be their last.

In other news my long lost best friend Caron from high school found me on facebook. Yay! Facebook has been a mixed blessing. Reconnecting with old friends has been fun. Seeing everyone all settled with kids (some of them school age already) is kinda scary though. All the ladies with kids are stay at home moms or working in administrative or service jobs and did not finish a four year degree. Does that mean women can't have it all, or do the ones with lofty and possibly unattainable career goals just start the family stuff later? (way later when they realize this career shit is all a waste of time...or not at all, no family, perhaps just a cat or 12)

done

I gave the shittiest conference presentation ever. I never read my papers but since I wrote this one back in Fall and could not remember my own arguments I had to read it. And reading makes me nervous because I get all ADD and lose my place and read my own words wrong. I should take my own advice as a public speaking teacher and NOT read a presentation. And my audience got really weird for an Asian American conference. All these undergrad looking white kids poured in, some of them in the middle of my presentation and they were doing what most undergrads do at a talk -- fidget, squirm, make faces, look around the room, and exchange glances with one another. Apparently someone had their students attend for extra credit or something. Fuck this kinda thing throws me off my presentation groove. Oh well. I got to have dinner with a friend I had met at APAGSO last year who is also a fellow blogger, though I only found out about her very hilarious blog tonight.

I guess all in all it was a good experience to hang out with her, to see a bit of Michigan, and listen to an incredible key note speaker. So it's all done now. Back in my hotel room procrastinating because I have to read, grade 10 speeches, and prep for leading my class discussion this week. I have to get up at around 5:45 am tomorrow to catch my flight, which is insanely early... or in west coast time it's 2:45 am if I want to think about it that way.

Lansing, MI

I am in Lansing rehearsing my presentation in my hotel room. This is the first time I've set foot in Michigan. My first thought upon arriving at the Lansing Airport, "holy shit, am I the only Asian person here?" My second thought, "wow this airport is tiny." When I got outside there were only 8 cars waiting to pick people up at the curb and 3 people (including me) at the curb waiting to get picked up. There was no honking, no backed up traffic, and no cops yelling at people who aren't actively loading or unloading passengers. Actually there were no cops anywhere within sight. It was...eerie.

After checking in I headed across the street to get a gyro for dinner and some baked goods for tomorrow's breakfast. It dawned on me that I'm in a predominantly white city just a few days after a disturbed Asian American student went on America's biggest shooting spree. As I walked through the half empty shopping plaza I saw only white people and a couple of them glared at me briefly from out of the corner of their eye with a look that didn't exactly say "welcome to Lansing." And I don't think I'm just being paranoid.

Just as I was in Illinois and all through childhood, I'm feeling a little uncomfortable in my own skin. I couldn't imagine what it must've been like for people of Middle Eastern descent in New York the week after 9/11.

Mental illness affects people of every color and that shooter could have been white, black, or brown. If he were white there certainly would be no discussion of race in this situation at all because to be white is to be default, normal, colorless.

I hope and pray to every god in the universe that there are no acts of retaliation against the Asian American community.

Oprah

As I sit here grading speeches the TV is on and Oprah is having a "townhall" about the Imus issue. This is great to bring attention to issues of race. I applaud Oprah. But where was she when the Tsunami Song about "screaming chinks" came out, or when Adam Corolla did his "ching chong" parody of the Asian Excellence Awards? How about when JR Gach did the piece about slant-eyed gooks? How about that part in the movie Dodgeball with the opium smoking Chinese people throwing human heads? Why are all her panelists either black or white? Why is this sounding like it's never happened before? Or that it only happens to black people? Racism is an issue that is not just black and white and this Imus incident is not the first. When is it going to matter that Asian Americans are frequently the target of racism in the media? We need more Asian American leaders in the media.

Step It Up

It's 10:15 on a Saturday night and I wish I could be at 1015 (as in the San Francisco nightclub) instead of here. I've got field notes and interviews from the Step It Up event I went to today to type up, a conference to prepare for, 2 papers to edit, and readings to read.

The Step It Up rally and march was pretty fun. It was great to see people from all walks of life concerned about global warming (I think climate change is a stupid euphemism and I refuse to use it). Unfortunately it poured rain for a bit and my research partner and I bailed before the big event with the speakers. We were just too drenched and having collected 20 interviews together, we felt our job was done.

Message from me for the day, if you don't do something about global warming we're all going to die -- that includes your children, their children and all those cute animals. Even before that time comes our earth is going to change in very noticable ways very soon if we don't do something now. You can do small things at an individual level and/or you can write to elected officials to make sure this is a priority and that we're not going to forget about it. Here are some more ideas:

http://www.earth911.org/master.asp?s=lib&a=globalwarming/iprevent.asp
http://www.wikihow.com/Reduce-Your-Greenhouse-Gas-Emissions
http://eartheasy.com/article_global_warming.htm

facebook

Unlike Friendster and MySpace, Facebook has the unique ability to let you find people you went to high school with. I just joined a group for those who graduated from my high school between 93-95. I have a strong urge to post a bulletin that reads, "I fucking hate all of you and there is something satisfying about knowing that most of you live pathetic meaningless lives and haven't moved beyond 5 km from that miserable 'municipality' that we grew up in."

bus

Today the bus I was riding took a corner too tight and ripped the bumper off a car. You always see them come *this close* especially when you're the one driving in the next lane. I guess this time really was too close. All the passengers had to get off and walk to the next bus stop to wait for another bus. Luckily mine came within 10 minutes. Alright, that was my excitement for the day.

I've got a busy three weekends. Tomorrow I'm helping some other PhD students with some field work/data collection at the StepItUp.org event, the following week I'll be out in the midwest presenting at a rinky dink little conference, and the week after that one of my grad seminars is running some teen workshops downtown. In May it's final project deadline time so I guess there's no resting until June.

weekend

Friday night was interesting. After surviving two hours of teaching I stunk up the entire hallway that joins the graduate student offices by microwaving my cod with black bean garlic sauce. I knew it would be stinky but (1) I need to eat (2) I had nothing else to eat (3) I didn't know it would be stinky enough to elicit comments like "who is cooking fish?" or "oh my God what is that smell?" Last time I did this was at my start up company where I reheated some Chinese dumplings with leek, cabbage and pork. Turns out those things are full of garlic and onion powder that stink when you cook 'em and also result in very nasty burps. Anyways, after surviving another 2 hour lecture that afternoon it was off to my friend's place to pick up some furnture she was giving away. Using all girl power we managed to move a couch (to another friend's place), a dresser and a nightstand. We then spent the evening at another classmate's apartment indulging in deep thoughts and pizza.

At 10:30 that night I get a phone call from one of my best friends in Vancouver.

J: Hey what are you doin'
V: Hanging out at a friend's place
J: Can we come down and visit?
V: Sure, when?
J: Um, now? Oh and there's 3 of us
V: uh.... bring sleeping bags. Call me when you get here

My friends are impulsive and crazy and that is why I love them. This is the same friend who on a couple hours notice drove from Vancouver to San Francisco (15 hours) without stopping to come visit. Apparently conversation that spurred the decision to make the 2.5 hour drive went like this:

JH: It's such a beautiful night. Let's go hang out in White Rock [which is by the border]. Actually, since we're driving all the way to White Rock let's go a bit further and hit the Tulalip Casino
JL: Well shit, since we're going to the casino we may as well go a bit further and drive to Seattle to visit V. Hmm let's call A and C and see if they wanna come.

Before you know it there is a 5-person caravan headed to Seattle in the middle of the night. They arrived at midnight. By the time I got back home to meet them they were all standing outside my apartment building with sleeping bags in one arm and an open beer in the other. We hung out, drank, watched half a movie, made fun of each other, gossipped, ate some pizza and went to bed. 5 people fit quite comfortably in my living room. The next morning we went to Kona Kitchen for brunch and then they headed back as one of them had some work to do on Saturday. Man I love my friends.

Today is Sunday. It was unusually sunny out so my roomate and I went and ran around Greenlake. Unfortunately I forgot my watch so I don't know my time, but I did manage to run the whole 3 miles (actually I hear it's more like 2.8) without stopping, walking, or throwing up. After that, I headed over to my roomate's friend's place down the street and gave my car its first wash since leaving California. With all this activity it's been hard to get my homework done so that is what I have to get back to doing now.

New free furniture, a girls night, a visit from my best friends, a car wash, a run. This is the most productive and interesting weekend I've had in a long time.

post

I read PostSecret from time to time. Not often because it makes me kinda sad that so many people out there are so troubled.

I have to say though, this recent one is among my favorites.

warm

So it was like 23 degrees C today (that's in the 70s in F) today. All the girls were in their flip flops and the shortest skirts they could find. I even got off my ass and went for a jog/walk which, with my hay fever, asthma, AND poor physical condition, was very difficult. Once upon a time, like last year, I was doing 3 - 4 mile runs back in good ol' Foster City, CA but when it rains every fucking day from Fall to Spring you just don't get the opportunity. Anyways, I'm a little annoyed by the newscasters celebrating the warm weather. One woman said, "it's 20 degrees above average in Medford, OR. Spring has really sprung!" No you fucking idiot. That is not Spring. That is global warming. Mr. Gore, thank you for bringing the issue to America's attention but it looks like people are too stupid to get it so you might need to go recruit those seal hunting assholes from Northern Canada and have them club idiots like that newscaster over the head.

fuck Duff

So I went to CNN to find a link about something that happened at school today but I got derailed when I noticed that one of CNN's "top stories" is http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/TV/04/02/hilary.duff.ap/index.html

CNN has these "story highlights" (for people who find Internet news isn't convenient enough and need their news written in 3 bullet points) and for that story the highlights are as follows:

• Hilary Duff says she feels pressure to be thin
• 19-year-old says media can be "judgmental and mean"
• Duff has sold 13 million albums worldwide

Are you fucking kidding me? Sure it is the last item in the list of "top stories" on the CNN home page but who the hell gives a rat's ass that Hilary fucking Duff "feels the pressure to be thin?" Go whine to your Hollywood therapist you spoiled little brat. There are unreported cases of genocide taking place all over the world, the country is still at war, there are random hate crimes happening all the time, children are being sold into slavery, global warming is going to render us extinct soon, and the CNN home page has a story about Hilary Duff's emotional insecurities and her concerns that the media can be "judgmental and mean." Fuck that.

Anyways what I was going to write about is the fact that ever since I started going to the UW, there have been shootings like crazy, mostly in the U District by the frat houses on weekends. Today though at 9:30am an admin in the architecture building was shot by her ex who had been stalking her for months. He shot her, then turned the gun on himself. I find this out 20 minutes before it's time to go teach. Horrible way to start a week and it totally threw off my concentration. This woman had a restraining order (which is basicaly meaningless) on the guy and had even sent out emails with the man's photo to her co-workers because she suspected he might come and harrass her at work. But emailing photos is no good when dude arrives with a gun. People like this should skip the first step in their mission (shooting other people) and just start with step 2 (shooting themselves).

noise

So get this. Some asshole filed a noise complaint against my roomate and I. That is complete bullshit. They were complaining about bass (which the idiots in the management office spell base). I have a very tiny sub attached to my computer speakers and the only bass that might ever come out is whatever bass is in fucking meditation music because that is all the music I can handle these days. And I don't ever play it that loud because I am always reading when the music is on. So I gather one of two things happened. My next door neighbour heard the noise coming from downstairs and thought it was us. Or the asshole downstairs whom I've complained about 3 times is trying to get back at us by issuing fraudulent complaints. It might not help that when I hear them pumping up that punk rock music I tell them to knock it off by jumping up and down really hard.

so uh

that happened kinda fast. The blogger groups told me to:

1. be logged in and change the url name
2. create a new blog and give it the original url name and in that blog post a redirect to my new url

Guess what, after I renamed it, I couldn't create a blog with the original url because _ is no longer allowed.

So I'll have to contact you all individually. Sorry!

test

test post on new url

url change

So the original reason that my url for this blog is my own name is that I thought my mundane ramblings would, by some stroke of luck, get me some sort of fame or book deal. It's been a few years and I've given up on that fantasy so I intend to change the url soon to something slightly more anonymous so I can feel free to be more potty mouthed and offensive. I'm just trying to figure out how to do that and not lose any of my regular readers in the transition. stay tuned

I'm back

I'm a week into a new quarter and did two things today that I hate doing. I sent in my taxes to a tax preparer and got an oil change. This is a big deal for me because I tend to put these things off and to hit two in one day is huge. I got a coupon for a $19.99 oil change at Jiffy Lube down the street. I was greeted by a young lady with piercings the circumference of my pinky (does that hole ever shrink back?). The fellow who took my info tried to upsell me to synthetic oil and then asked if he could buy my car. Weird. When I got my car back I noticed there was no oil change sticker so I went back in and another young lady with insane tattoos all over her neck said they had run out. I don't know what's with this place. I thought I had walked into some juvenile detention center where there is no one over the age of 18 to supervise. I wonder if I even got my oil changed or if I just handed over my $23 for nothing.

Oahu

Went to Hawaii from March 15-20. Here's a quick recap:

Thurs: arrived 11:30, checked the luggage since it was too early to check in. Walked to Ala Moana Center (world's largest outdoor mall) for lunch and wander a bit. Then checked in, walked to Waikiki Beach and then had an expensive but mediocre seafood dinner at Chart House

Fri: 11:30 surfing lesson at Waikiki Beach. Stood up on the first try. Paddling out is hell when your only exercise the last 6 months has been typing and holding up heavy books. Got a sunburn, had a few wipeouts but all in all, very exciting. Went to Germaine's Luau that night. With 3 drinks, entertainment, and a free tote bag with playing cards, beach mat, and water bottle for booking online, it was sort of worth the $65 but probably won't go again. Here's a pic of the guys pulling the pig out of the ground where it had been cooking on hot rocks since 5am.

Sat: Honolulu Chinatown and Nuuanu Pali mountain where it's really windy and you can see an island called (grrrrrr) Chinaman's Hat. Got a massage at the hotel. Dinner at Odoriko Japanese Restaurant. Had a huge seafood hotpot we could barely finish. It was raining intermittently in sheets. Tropical rains are crazy.

Sun: Snorkeling at Hanauma Bay where it was kinda windy and rainy that day but the fish were beautiful and plentiful. Below is a picture of some chickens hanging out at Hanauma pecking and scratching at someone's belongings. That cracked me up. Took Simon out for a bday dinner at Tenaka of Tokyo East.

Mon: Pearl Harbor which was interesting. I almost lost it during the film when they said that fateful day was tragic but really "united America." Um, united white America maybe. There was absolutely no mention that they locked up all the Japanese Americans after Pearl Harbor which forced them all to lose pretty much everything. In fact there was NO mention of Japanese internment at all. Anyways, went back to the beach that evening even though it was a bit chillier than it had been earlier that trip. Dinner at Aqua Cafe in Waikiki Shopping Plaza. Food sort of sucked.

Tues: hit the beach in the morning, got late check out, then visited Bishop Museum (below) and had dinner at Singha Thai. Flew out at 9pm

Good trip, wish it were longer and that it had rained less. I could've stayed there for a couple weeks easily.

Spring Break

I am so drained I can't keep track of what day it is or form coherent sentences. I handed in the last of my schoolwork yesterday. Last night I slept nine hours, went to a TA meeting this morning, came back and slept again for over an hour. I think my brain has shut down as a defense mechanism. I'm headed to SF then Oahu, then SF then back here over spring break. Hopefully that fixes whatever the hell is broken in my head.

obnoxious

What sorta noise do you find most obnoxious? I get all sorts here in Lake Shitty. Aside from the punk rock from downstairs, the loud talking college girls upstairs and children tearing down the hallway there are also the regular fire truck sirens, assholes playing loud bass from their cars as they drive into the parking garage, and the bigger assholes who peel out of the parking lot across the street such that their tires squeal. The tires squealing is really annoying but what bugs me more is that one day their car will skid out of control while they're trying to assert their masculinity by peeling out of the lot in their little shitboxes and they will hit a pedestrian. People who speed or mess around in parking lots really piss me off. It's just irresponsible. I wish there were an IQ test, maturity test, and I'm-not-an-asshole test that went along with the written and road test for drivers licenses.

flying hamster

I'm having a so-so day, which is why I was delighted to see that today's cuteoverload.com features a hamster. This is what happens when they run really fast and then suddenly stop. Since physics is a little beyond them, they get super confused when the still spinning wheel sends them flying right out onto the bedding. I'm impressed that anyone captured this in a photo because it happens really fast.

wikipedia

So citing wikpedia is generally not allowed in university and here's another reason why. I admit I love wikipedia to get an overview of theories and concepts I'm not familiar with when I'm reading, but if you're looking to cite something look at the list of references and search for those instead.

4

I don't know why I'm doing this since the theme is 4 things and 4 means death in Chinese, but another blogger whom I cannot name because her/his blog is anonymous did it and I thought it was funny.

Four jobs I've had:
1. TA
2. Product marketing manager
3. Marcom Manager
4. gymnastics coach/choreographer

Four movies I can watch over and over:
1. Harold and Kumar
2. Better Luck Tomorrow
3. South Park The Movie
4. Office Space

Four places I've lived:
1. Seattle
2. Foster City, CA
3. San Jose, CA (yuck)
4. Coquitlam, BC (also yuck)

Four places I've vacationed:
1. Puerto Vallarta
2. Orlando
3. NYC
4. Paris

Four of my favorite dishes:
1. black cod with black bean on tofu
2. anything from Guu on Robson in Vancouver
3. gawn chow ow haw (no I'm not translating it)
4. BBQ duck

Four sites I visit daily:
1. Cuteoverload.com
2. Gmail
3. MyYahoo
4. UW Libraries (um yeah)

Four places I would rather be right now:
1. getting a massage
2. at a rave in 1998
3. on a beach someplace tropical
4. in that hotspring pool in Banff

oh Ann

From Slate.com Ann C0ulter shocked nobody last week by calling presidential candidate John Edwards a "faggot" during her appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference. Everyone in their right mind knows that Coulter is actually satan in a blond fucking wig. But still, the fact that she goes so far off the deep end does not mean that her hate filled tirades don't have some effect on the American consciousness. I think the problem with her and her buddies Rush and Pat is that they make other Republicans seem liberal by comparison, which artificially shifts the whole fucking spectrum to the right. And that's all I have to say about that cuz I don't talk politics on this blog. I have to go back to worrying about my insomnia now. $#@!

sleep, deux

So tomorrow I have to be at school at 8:10 am. Like in the classroom at that time. It's for a mini conference and folks have been wise enough to notice I can't talk at that time in the morning so I don't present until the end, closer to 11am. Which is good. But having to be there a mere 20 minutes earlier than every other Wednesday I've arrived for class means that I started stressing out earlier than usual about how I won't be able to get to sleep tonite. It's kind of ridiculous to start worrying about this sort of thing at 4:30 this afternoon in the middle of a friend's emergency-post-thesis-defense pub run but I did and it made me all sorts of crazy doing all this worrying about not sleeping. I really should not leave the house or attempt to socialize in that condition. I cannot wait until tomorrow is over. It'll be the last time I have 7 consecutive hours of lecture (8:30-3:30) followed by a 2 hour break and then another 2 hours of lecture (5:30-7:30) packed all into one exciting day. I will never ever pack that many hours of lecture in a day, especially starting that early in the morning ever ever again.

hi

I really hate it when people title their email "hi." I think I hate it more than emails with no subject at all because I figure if you are going to go to the effort of inserting any title at all it should be a little bit more descriptive or creative than fuckin' "hi." Actually this was not meant to be the subject of this post but typing the word hi suddenly reminded me of this reaction that "hi" elicits when it populates the subject field of an email. What I actually meant to post was a "hi" to my students Dennis and Russ whom I recently learned are reading my blog. Yes a wake-up call to me and others that blogs are public and that is why I follow a few rules when I blog. Never blog about friends, coworkers, employers, or students (unless it's something nice). Be especially careful not to name them or put up photos of them without permission if you're blogging about something they said or did in a private forum. Don't blog anything that you would not talk about openly to a coworker, student, employer etc. Oh and don't blog anything that would give a crazy stalker with tendencies to injure people enough information to find you in real life. I think I generally do a good job of sticking to this though I curse a lot more in my blog than I do in normal conversation with say a coworker. But, fuck, whatever.

online PhD

When I am at home slaving away grading papers and trying write a paper that demonstrates my brilliance while also worrying about another 15 page paper, 2 presentations, teaching observation, and 2 versions of a teaching portfolio that I need to turn in, the last thing I want to see is a commercial about how easy it is to get an online Ph.D at Walden University. For example, they say "With a Ph.D. in Psychology, you’ll be better prepared as a researcher, educator and practitioner, helping individuals and groups with family, mental health, career and educational issues. " Come on...

I'm sorry, you're going to learn all this with nothing but an Internet connection from the comfort of your own home? Who are these faculty who "teach" online? Oh, I see, you have to call the 1 800 number or fill in their special form to "request information." That's not a whole lot different from that junk mail you used to get where you put the little sticker in the box with the "degree" you want and send it away for your free information pack on how to get your degree from home.

The thought of these bozos walking around with "Ph.Ds" earned "online" without taking GREs, spending months on applications, and enduring the physical relocation, heated academic debates, pain, politics, and sleepless nights that REAL PhDs go through infuriates me. They do not deserve that designation and having everyone walking around with a graduate degree dilutes the value of mine! If a school needs to advertise its graduate programs on TV, it's not a real school as far as I'm concerned.

sleep...

or lack thereof. So I think I've mentioned that I have an early class on Wednesdays (8:30) and that knowing I have to get up at 6:45am puts me into this stupid panic that I'm not going to wake up in time for class. This panic makes me do weird things like check my alarm clock about a million times to make sure it is set correctly, to am and not pm, and that it is actually on alarm mode. So after that OCD induced ritual (I actually turn it off and back to alarm and then off and then alarm many times just to make sure it is definitely on alarm), I get into bed. Last night I looked over at my clock with the very large numbers for very nearsighted people like me and it was 3 am. I still couldn't sleep. Just knowing that I need to sleep early so I can surive 7 or 9 hours of lecture (alternating weeks) prevents me from falling asleep. I think it must've been close to 4 before I finally got to sleep and in the morning I hit snooze until 7:05am. So I spent first class (as usual) basically in a coma but with my eyes half open. And for some strange reason I'm not sleepy now. Why? Probably because there is adrenaline pumping through my body which, when it stops, will cause me to sleep for 15 hours or something like that. My friend Will can sleep about 6 hours and run a fucking marathon or triathlon. I can't even speak coherently without 8 hours MINIMUM and it is not likely I will ever get off my ass to run a marathon (even if I sleep 30 hours the night before).

In other news the demolition people have torn down half a block of businesses on Lake Shitty Way. Maybe this area will start to look less like a slum. As long as that doesn't drive up my rent, that's a good thing.

Kenneth Eng

I cannot believe my eyes. Kenneth "Asian Supremecist" Eng, you are a racist, an idiot, and an embarrassment to the the Asian American community. And Ted Fang of AsianWeek, are you out of your fucking mind? Like my colleague once wrote, you can't stuff the shit back into the horse. What in hell possessed you to publish that garbage?

Let's get something straight here. Often the media pit minorities against one another as a means of maintaining the invisibility of whiteness and white privilege. Cultural hegemony, perpetuating dominant ideologies serving the dominant class and and the naturalizing of inequalities to seem like common sense (per Gramsci bla bla bla). It's a distraction. Case in point: the construction of exaggerated Korean-Black animosity during the LA riots (see the film Saigu). But for AsianWeek to publish rubbish written by someone who is clearly (Asian and)racist will only drive divisions among people of color who need to be working together (not against one another) to extinguish deeply embedded racist ideologies, structural inequalities, and racial discrimination.

Suzzallo

I decided part of what is making paper writing so difficult is that I haven't had a change in scenery. I spent my entire weekend either in my living room or in my room (the only other rooms left in my space that don't belong to my roommate are my bathroom and the kitchen). I can't handle the noise/children in the public library and was too lazy to trek down to school over the weekend. Today I decided to put in a couple hours on my paper at the Suzzallo reading room in our graduate library. I like to call it the Harry Potter room because it reminds me of Hogwarts. It definitely feels like a place where graduate students before me did a lot of thinking and coming up with brilliant ideas. I figured maybe that would rub off on me. Not sure that it did but at least the fact that you can hear a pin drop kept me quiet and still for a couple hours. I think I'm going to have to force myself to visit this place at least once a week for some quiet time. If only they could pump in some meditation music and light some candles in there and maybe add a fully stocked fridge. That would be perfect.

noise

Yesterday the people upstairs invited a herd of children to run up and down the fucking hallway while I tried to write a paper. I promptly went upstairs, opened the hallway door, and there they were all 5 of them (I think) staring at me. Each was no more than 4 1/2 years old. Realizing that you can't yell at kids that young and have them understand a thing I'm saying, I said in my most non-threatening voice "could I ask you guys not to run up here because it's very noisy downstairs." I went back to our apartment and the running ceased (probably because their parents heard me issue that warning...or I scared them back into their apartment). I was hoping it'd be older kids so I could yell a little bit because I like to do that. Y'know, yell at other people's children.

So now in an attempt to not completely lose my mind whilst writing, I have my candle burning and I'm listening to meditation music on shoutcast. Yes, meditation music. Laugh not. It's the only thing keeping me marginally sane. Thing is that I'm blasting this meditation music to drown out the rock music coming through the floor from downstairs. How fucked is that really? I hate my neighbors and I hate apartment living.

asshole in 14c

[this is my first letter to a corporation that isn't a complaint or suggestion].

Dear Alaska Airlines,

I am writing this letter aboard Alaska Airlines 375 from San Jose to Seattle (departure 5:35pm on February 20, 2007). There is a man seated in 14C who is also writing a letter to Alaska Airlines as I can see it from where I’m seated in 15D. He is writing a letter of complaint and I am writing to defend the actions of the flight attendants on this flight. Our flight was delayed about 10 minutes prior to boarding and then we did not actually leave until 6:20pm. The second delay was caused by a woman in the 24th row having medical issues. I overheard the flight attendants mentioning that the passenger was dizzy and having a hard time catching her breath and they had a medic checking on her to see if she was okay to fly. After a short delay the lady was escorted from the plane and the flight attendants apologized for the delay and let us know that they were tending to the safety and well being of one of the passengers. No one else on the plane seemed to have a problem with this delay.

During the delay the man in 14C was complaining loudly that Alaska is never on time anymore and that he spent 1.5 hours waiting on the tarmac aboard an Alaska flight yesterday morning. It was obvious he was speaking in a loud volume in an attempt to garner support from nearby passengers but I think most people, like me, were just getting annoyed with his loud incessant complaining. While the fight attendant apologized for the delay due to the medical issue, he continued with comments like, “whatever, we’re going to get there at what time now? We were supposed to land at 7:38.” As we prepared to take off a flight attendant asked him to turn off his MP3 player and he scoffed at her, rolled his eyes dramatically, and gestured as though it was unnecessary, then turned it off. As she walked away, he said loudly, “last thing we need on Alaska now is bitchy flight attendants.” The flight attendant (blond woman) came back and said to him, “this is your last warning, or you’re going to the gate and getting off.” After another round of dramatic gesturing as though he had done no wrong, he finally shut up.

On a second check through the cabin before take off a flight attendant asked him to bring his seat all the way up for take off and leaned over to push the button and get his seat back up. The man got all flustered again and as the flight attendant walked away this time, he said loudly, “what a bitch!” I’m not sure if the flight attendant heard but by that time the plane was starting to pull away from the gate and I think everyone just wanted to get to Seattle with no further delays.

His behavior, tone of voice, and body language were unnecessarily rude, obnoxious, and hostile. People have medical problems and I think the staff onboard took the right precautions in making sure the passenger was safe to fly. That, of course, takes time but no one else on board seemed to have a problem with a delay that you cannot fault an airline for. And calling the flight attendants bitches is absolutely uncalled for.

I too get frustrated with airline delays but I have to come to the defense of the airline for once. That man’s behavior was despicable and I hope you take my perspective into account when you review his letter of complaint (it’s a long one). The flight attendants did no wrong (in fact they were fantastic) and do not deserve any disciplinary action whatsoever.

Sincerely, Vanessa Au

packing

So I don't trust people particularly baggage handlers. I also don't like to check in bags because it takes too long for it to get to the baggage claim. Oh and stuff gets stolen and lost. So I decided that I'm only bringing a carry-on suitcase and my backpack. Problem is that I have to haul all the Wii shit down there for Simon and since I also fear getting mugged I've decided it's all going in my carry on suitcase and not in a shopping bag. Right, so that means 90% of my luggage space goes to the Wii, games, and my laptop and I get 10% for clothes and stuff. Miraculously it all fit. Being short and, as a result, having smaller clothes made it all possible. So yeah, a thin layer of clothing on top of what you see in the photo is all I'm bringing. Don't be taking me anywhere fancy. I won't be dressed for it.

Valentine's

I hate Valentine's day just as much as I hate Christmas and my own birthday. I just don't do well with these celebratory holidays in general (or in the case of birthdays, I'm just not into marking the passing of time). I guess I kinda like Thanksgiving because it's not focused on emotionality and sentimentality and spending money for no reason, and it's more about food, which I'm more than fine with (okay so I ignore the giving thanks part, whatever). Plus doesn't Valentine's just feel like a day of making single people feel like shit? Having a Valentine almost makes me feel guilty. Okay enough ranting. I had a shitty day, can you tell? I'm going to crack open a beer and finish grading papers.

locked out

For those who were eagerly awaiting the conclusion of the story of my friend locking himself out of his uncle's house while house sitting (and pictures) here it is.

story (you'll see from the pics that he had to smash a window and climb in)

pictures (click >> to advance the photos. Kinda funny how much smaller the window looks when Denny is climbing through it. hehe)

Spring Break

So the break between this quarter and Spring quarter is coming up and I'm thinking Vanessa needs a vacation. Either that or a good therapist or perhaps both. Was thinking to run around Manhatten but it's unseasonably cold right now and that's the last thing I need. Could make it a big snowboarding break but now that I live here I can go any time really. I think Hawaii is probably the furthest we can go without spending half the break on a plane. Definitely no more Mexico. After 4 visits there I need to really resist the cheap all-inclusive (read: drinking 24 hours a day and getting stupid drunk on the beach) and go somewhere else. Somehow we also have to fit in a big huge party for my friend Lieon who is finishing his internship here and going back to Duke to get that Phd. Hooray for Dr. Lieon.

Ivar's

Okay I thought McCormick and Scmicks had an awesome happy hour but tonight after yet another near break with reality due to too much work to do in too little time and really poor coping skills I decided I needed to get out and try to rescue my sanity. So happy hour it was. We went to Ivar's on Northlake and I had the cheapest raw oysters ever. $2.95 for a half dozen. I also got a crab quesadilla which was stuffed with huge chunks of real crab for $4.95. My heffie was $2.95. Check out this menu!!! Now I'm stuffed and over my grad school induced panic (for now). But my 4 page position paper which I haven't started unfortunately is still due Wednesday and I'm going to be observed while I teach (by two people no less) on Friday. I can't wait to get over this week. It is killing me (not at all softly).

God make it stop

Oh I forgot to mention, it happened again. For some reason when people approach me I always assume that they're about to ask directions so I put on a big smile and get ready to do my good deed of the day.

And then they say, "Hi I'm from the Apostle's Mission, and I..." and then smoke comes out of my ears, "NO THANKS" comes out of my mouth, I put up my hand to block their God-fearing face from my view and walk the other direction.

For fuck's sake. Seriously. Stop it with the church recruiting nonsense. Can't you worship without running around trying to get everyone else to join you? If you are going to go about your religion, "bless" your heart. Do whatever makes you happy. But if I'm going to burn in some fiery hell, that's my business. Don't try and rescue me or whatever.

dolls

This video about Black children prefering white dolls makes me sad (and proud of the girl who filmed it). And that's partly because I have vivid memories of choosing dolls that were blond haired and blue eyed because that's what all the perfect little kids on the commercials looked like. All the girls at school who had long "corn silk" hair were also the ones praised for their beauty. Even the pictures I drew were of people who were white and that's not just because the "flesh" coloured crayon was white (by the way, FUCK YOU CRAYOLA for that). Hello parents, how did you not clue in on this?

I did internalize my status as inferior because I wasn't white. I wish I had at least grown up in Vancouver, 40 minutes west of that stupid suburb I that I did time in. Even if there weren't any yellow skinned people on TV at the time, I could've at least seen other yellow skinned people in real life other than my parents and the other token few in my school (many of whom were regularly humiliated in one way or another). If you're a parent thinking to move to a place or send your kid to a school where s/he's an ethnic minority, stop now. Don't do it. It doesn't matter if it means a big back yard or a great academic program of some sort. It will make your child miserable and bitter for a lifetime.

seattle day tour

Recycling is good. Like recycling of an email I just sent to a friend who is in town for a couple days. I haven't been out too much around here but enough to recommend a day of stuff to do before heading up to Vancouver:

http://www.seattleweekly.com/food/restaurants/mccormickschmick.php
Happy Hour
It's always 5 o'clock at McCormick & Schmick's--except, of course, from 3 to 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. to midnight, when fancy snacks like oyster shooters, bay shrimp cocktail, and New York-style "counter burgers" (with fries!) cost a mere $1.95. 3-6p.m., 10p.m.-midnight daily

You must eat Crab Pot for lunch or dinner (dinner can get busy) --you get a bib and a mallet and a bucket of seafood dumped on the table. Simon's favorite. I would recommend going for lunch tomorrow and then hitting Pike Place Market before going to the Underground Tour
http://www.pier57seattle.com/restaurants.html

Underground tour http://www.undergroundtour.com/

Bruce Lee's grave -- Capitol hill
The cemetery address is, Lakeview Cemetery 1554 15th. Ave. E Seattle, WA -- look for the flagpole. it's nearby in among some hedges
http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showthreaded.php?Number=7936

Red Hook Beer Tour -- Woodinville
http://www.redhook.com/ $1 beer tours in woodinville very close to bothell. And you get a free souvenir cup

Ballard Locks -- you can see the water change levels and go downstairs to see salmon swim upstream
Hiram M. Chittenden Locks3015 NW 54th St Seattle, WA 98107Tel 206 783 7059

And unless youre on some angsty path of self destruction, dont eat dim sum in Seattle, it is HORRIBLE.

In Vancouver try to hit (my 2 favourite restaurants):

Guu on Robson http://www.guu-izakaya.com/robson.html
1698 Robson Street, Vancouver, B.C. V6G 1C7TEL: 604-685-8678[Mon-Sun] 17:30-0:00

Kiyo in Richmond (best sushi hands down anywhere, and good prices)
http://www.dinehere.ca/restaurant.asp?r=1063

hero

Headlines about the war, soldiers, or bombings no longer catch my eye and often I don't read them. Just more news of bloodshed and rhetoric quoted from the president about why it needs to continue. But this story was beautifully written. Can't really say what it's about because it will spoil the read, but I'll say it's not just another war report. It's about resistance. Read it. I would say that both are my heroes. The second certainly no less than the first.

Vancouver

Went up to Vancouver for a night to celebrate a friend's 30th and to try on a couple bridesmaid dresses. Somehow on the trip up (I hitched a ride with another friend) I finished grading papers and on the Sunday I finished an outline for a paper so all was not lost this weekend. We even had time to pop in a movie that I brought with me and hadn't watched. Floored By Love is yet another story about lesbian Asian women. This one was a made for TV movie that aired on CHUM City TV. But unlike Saving Face and Red Doors the acting was horrendous. It was so painful to watch I had to turn away more times than I could count. Part way through the 50 minute film, my friend Alex, without consulting the other four people in the room, got up and shut it off. Not a word of protest was uttered. Actually I think I heard a sigh of relief. Seriously, I wanted to like it. I really did -- It's Canadian, it features Asian Canadians, it deals with a complex topic...but seriously I think our grade 9 production of Peanuts was more riveting.

The Motel

So I've been on this 2 week free trial with Blockbuster online so I can catch up on all the films that my students are writing response papers on. I've since moved on to the $5.99 deal -- 1 movie at a time, 3 movies a month which is plenty for me. Anyways, I've seen Saving Face (okay until the cheesy ending), Long Life, Happiness, and Prosperity (a little contrived, not my favorite), Eat Drink Man Woman (hmm okay, older film), The Matador (that was not for class but pretty funny), and The Motel. I have to say The Motel by Michael Kang is my favourite by a long shot of the Asian American films I've seen recently. It seriously blew me away. It was touching, real, gritty, and didn't attempt a tidy happy Hollywood movie ending (which was my beef with Saving Face, Red Doors, and, well, most other movies). I can't believe this was Jeffrey Chyau's first gig outside of a couple commercials! The acting was really stellar and I wish I could've been there at the premiere at Sundance a few years back. If you rent this, be sure to watch the extras.

breakfast

Taking Denny to the airport tomorrow. By the way he's fine after the locked-out-of-uncle's-house incident. Glass had to be broken though. Anyways, we're going to eat brunch before I take him to the airport. I've selected Pete's in Greenwood based on Citysearch reviews. Yay food.

panic

Despite the welcome sight of sunshine peeking through my curtains this morning I woke up in a mad panic. I fucking hate that. I went to bed with a conference proposal half finished which means that I probably had nightmares about it all night. Actually I had a dream about five pin bowling but that is beside the point. I have to go out of town two or three more weekends before the end of this quarter and whenever I do the math it means that there is just not enough fucking waking hours to do all the reading and writing I need to do to survive this term. Add to that all the grading, lesson planning and research. I am more organized than anyone I know but that does not make it any easier. Tonight I will have the pleasure of waking up hourly in a series of panics about sleeping in which always happens when I have to get up early.

going to Canada

I've been reading a lot of blogs about Americans and their trips to what they call "the great white north" or "Canada." Okay Americans, this post is for you. First of all, quit refering to my motherland as the great white north. Most of the time it is not covered in snow and if you think white refers to skin colour I will have to plant the blade of a hockey skate firmly into your eye. Also please, stop fucking saying shit like "I'm going to Canada" or "my friend lives in Canada" or "my trip to Canada" or "my granny is in Canada." For you Seattlites, it might help if I tell you that hearing that gives us the same reaction that you folks have when tourists say "Pike's Place Market."

Canada is a big huge fucking country, bigger than yours and it has PROVINCES and, oh my god, CITIES! Do you not chuckle just a little bit when a foreigner says "I'm going to America"? You guys even turned that shit into a movie called Coming to America to point out how people who aren't from here are stupid and think it's just one indistinguisable land mass. Guess what? Canada is not one indistinguishable land mass either and no you cannot walk to Niagara Falls from Vancouver for Christ's sake. (actually you could if you were Terry Fox or Steve Fonyo but you don't know who the hell they are, do you?)

When Canadians visit "America" we say things like "I'm going to Vegas" or "I'll be visiting Los Angeles" or even "I'm staying in lower Manhatten" or "the Mission district of San Francisco." We do not say, "I'm going to the United States of America for vacation." Please, please, recognize that we have provinces and cities and try to figure out which of those you'll be visiting before proudly announcing that you'll be gracing "Canada" with your presence.

film, food, falling

Friday night I went out with a few folks to see the Red Doors at the North West Asian American Film Festival down in the International District and late happy hour after that at McCormick and Schmicks ($4 fresh salmon burger, $3 for 3 raw oysters, yum). I was struck by how few films were in the festival and how few people attend. I have to remind myself sometimes that this is not San Francisco where tickets sell out days before the day the film screens and there are lines stretching for blocks to get into the theatre. Are there that few Asians in Seattle? Are they just not into the arts? I think it might be a combination of both?

I had a first today. I went out to a film by myself. Kudos to me for getting to the ID and back without the guidance of a GPS unit. There was something awesome about going to see a film by myself. No one to keep track of, wait for or talk to. Today's was a collection of shorts called Asian American Activism and I really enjoyed it. They varied in theme and length but all were well chosen and thought provoking and it was just this kind of stimulation I needed to come up with some more research ideas and just get into that head space. After the film, I went next door to have a bowl of pho before heading to Fremont to pick up my glasses which took forever to adjust thanks to my lopsided ears and large lump protruding from one side of my head which I think is a part of my skull. On the way home I stopped off at the liquor store and learned that WA state taxes the shit out of liquor here. Good thing there's always duty free.

Tonight I went to a classmate's potluck. You know when people in movies jump off a building and seem to scream forever and ever until they finally hit the ground? I had that moment tonight but I wasn't jumping off any buildings. I had finished looking at some photo albums and stacked them up on the floor. I turned around to get the big tupperware full of rice and stir fry I had brought and walked toward the sink forgetting that I had just put that pile of albums on the floor. Next thing you know I'm wondering why my foot is not making contact with the floor. Rice is flying everywhere. My foot finally reaches the little rug on the floor and then I slip violently and lose all control of my center of gravity for a second time. It felt like a lifetime before I finally landed knee first then body in a heap on the floor still clutching the tupperware now only half full of rice and stir fry. I guess it really is engrained in Chinese people not to waste food and to hang onto it for dear life. It was acrobatic and spectacular. I could tell from the look on everyone's face. One woman commented that at one point I reached a completely horizontal position in the air. Luckily I was in the company of people I consider friends now and, oh yeah, no bleeding and just a sore knee. Not even a bruise. I am a rock star.

what would you do

Imagine you are in "Canada" (because Americans can't name Canadian cities) housesitting for an uncle who is overseas. You go out to say hello to a friend and close the garage door behind you. When you go to head back inside you realize that the garage door is jammed and you can't get in because all the other entrances are barrel bolted from the inside. Luckily you have the keys to the rental car and a map to a relative's house drawn on a post it note but no phone, no laptop, no change of clothes or underwear and no way to get back into the house. You call the uncle and he says there's no way in with eveything bolted from the inside. The neighbours don't speak English and would probably freak out watching you break in. What would you do?

This is my friend's situation right now so if you see an unshaven guy with a 2 of spades tattoo wearing clothes that isn't his breaking into a house in Richmond please don't call the cops. I expect he'll have the details on his blog soon. (unless, of course, things go even more wrong and he ends up in jail for B&E).

specs

So I decided to take advantage of my health insurance (hooray for grad school funding) and get another pair of glasses since I get $100 for lenses and $70 for frames. I got a pair of cool frames at 4 Your Eyes Only in Wallingford for $180. Before getting the lenses ($335 for 16.7 high index eeeek), the lady let me charge just the frames and take them with me to compare with other glasses. She said if I found something else they could just refund the frames. Sounded like a good idea.

Today I stopped in at the ever so popular Eyes on Fremont (ranked in NW Source and City Search). I found another pair of frames for $180 that I liked and asked Andrea there what she thought. She took a couple measurements and was honest enough to say that she thought my frames from the other store were better for me. Can you believe that?? I asked how much their 16.7 high index lenses were....$220 and 10% student discount. That's more than $100 less than the other place ($335 and same student discount). I called the other store for a price match and they tried to convince me that their anti-reflective coating was "premium" and they have a 2 year warrantee and couldn't match the price. Andrea at Eyes on Fremont explained that they had a 1 year warrantee, which was good enough for me especially if I'm saving a hundred bucks! So it was a done deal. My frames are from 4 Your Eyes and my lenses are from Eyes on Fremont and I've saved over a hundred bucks.

Next time I'll just head straight for Fremont. They have a tonne of really cool frames for about the same price or less, and you just can't beat that price for high index lenses.

small world

Went out for a beer at Fado's last night so Denny could meet up with some friends and so I could invite my friend Lieon to meet them and get to know some other physical therapists so he can hopefully find a job here after he passes his board exams. Turned out these two groups of people already knew/knew of each other through other Canadians who live in Seattle. Everytime someone started a sentence with "so do you know so and so" the answer always seemed to be yes. Every Asian Canadian in a major US city seems to know one another. I thought I left Vancouver to escape all this incest but if you keep your nose clean and don't burn bridges, it's kinda cool that we are all connected I guess.

I'm almost done all my reading for next week so I can prepare for the pile of student papers I have to grade tomorrow. Need to churn out a couple conference submissions and I think I will be okay.

Oh, we went out to the Nintendo employee store to buy Wiis today. Thanks Wing!! I get to play with it until Simon comes up to visit next month and takes it back to SF. If I can lose 9lbs playing this, I'm getting my own.

weekend

I had a very busy and very fun weekend so I'll have to write this post in point form so I can catch up on my reading.
Thursday -- Simon and Denny arrived from SF and we headed out to 80s night at a club in Capitol Hill and it was AWESOME
Friday -- Extreme sleep deprivation. Solid and fun day of teaching where we dealt with Eurocentrism, Whiteness, and issues of Asian Americans and agency in film. Happy hour with my grad school friends at Finn MacCools where fish and chips were $3.95
Saturday -- Not enough sleep again. Met up with Laura and Phill for snowboarding at Snoqualmie. Taught two newbies how to turn and later how to link turns. Not very strenuous for me but I was happy just to get up to the mountains. Late lunch at Tamarind Tree (very good). Many friends and my cousin came down from Vancouver to meet up with us. We had dinner at B&O Espresso where service was ridiculously slow. Drinks at Metropolitan something or other where PBRs were 25 cents after 11pm. Played Wii until the wee hours at my friend's house
Sunday -- Lunch at Rocking Wok at an impossible to find location in Wallingford. Said goodbye to friends as they headed back to Vancouver
Monday -- Detox and recovery. Simon went home.

Snowed again today but that's okay because I have Tuesdays off to read, grade, and prep lesson plans. Revived WearingRacism blog. Need to go to bed early tonight and try this early morning thing again tomorrow. Wish me luck.

mystery solved

OK so you know how I thought I was accidentally included on a distribution list run by some chick who excessively uses lame emoticons and says all sorts of cheesey and/or annoying shit e.g. her signature which reads "Think BIG. STRETCH your vision. Be all you CAN BE. TREAT others like you want to be treated." Could you be any more cliche?? Holy cow, how nauseating.

Turns out it was no accident that I'm on this email list. She decided to list her IM handle on her signatures yesterday and I recognized it immediately. This is the woman who put up a post for housing in Seattle that she was renting out in August. The place for rent was not what I was looking for but this bitch used my email address to add me to her Yahoo IM and would not stop harrassing me about coming to her house, being best friends forever, bla bla bla so she could tell me more about this great opportunity with W0rld Financial Group. I am not into bullshit get rich schemes especially those that involve annoying the hell out of all your friends and family and then using their social networks to piss off all their friends too. I immediately put her on my blocked users list so I guess her way to get at me was through this email distribution. Caitlin needs to get the fuck out of my life now.

Update: I just emailed her to tell her to get me off her list and the crazy lady has an autoresponse set up that reads:

If you don't see my response to your mail immediately...please be patience
with me. Please rest assured that I will answer your mailpromptly when I
get a computer access. You are the best! Smiles ;0)

paper

I just came to the realization that grading 2 1-page response papers per week from each student means reading 128 pages per week of student writing. I'm supposed to give a check if it's done but me being me, I can't do it. If I see something that reflects a great deal of growth or insight, I can't help but comment. If a student writes something funny or clever, I can't help drawing a happy face. If a student totally missed the mark, I have to say something to get them on track. If they invent their own punctuation (e.g. its'), I have to fix it. If a student shares something deeply personal (which happens more than I thought it would), I feel like I have to recognize that. I know that I'm here to do research and focus on me because that is what I was recruited to do, but admittedly I like reading these response papers and right now I prefer doing that to starting on a proposal for my methods class. I think this might be a hint that a pedagogically focussed career is for me? There is something deeply fulfilling about teaching and it's certainly nothing I felt while doing ANYTHING at a software company.

I'm just happy that I'm finally out of my holiday funk (God damn I hate Christmas) and that my friends are all coming to visit this weekend. Yay, drinking, eating and snowboarding!

Dragon Boys

On the so-bad-it's-comical CBC series that I get to watch on Channel 99 -- Globe and Mail story.
And that statement about it being OK for a white executive producer to make a movie about Chinese Canadians? The answer is no. You have no right to define us, speak for us, or reconstruct our experiences for us thank you. Do you have a role to play in issues of race? Yes. Start by reading this and this. And this (pdf) is also a good read.

CNY predictions

Chinese New Year is not here until Feb 18th but I was interested in checking out the accuracy of 2006's predictions. This was my fortune for 2006:

With a Dog year the Dragon will clash so you will need to take extra care this year but remember being prepared will give you the edge to make sure the year is good for you. Overall the year will bring change and this can be good for career and also business as it can steer you in a different direction that will be better for you. To improve your luck, keep fresh red roses in your office and home and wear red clothes. All Dragons need to be careful of wealth this year, do not worry about this as you will have money coming in but you need to concentrate on retaining it, so no gambling or taking risks.

I have to say, it wasn't too far off. I did move in another direction in more ways than one.

And for 2007:

[this one kinda sucks]
Dragon is very happy to see the pig. After a year of challenges by the yipping dog, the dragon is ready to sit at the banquet table and rest. The tired dragon must remember that the dog is not far away and the clouds of the dog year still dampen his fire. The pig year will bring fullness to the dragon who eats slowly. Self control does not come easily to the fierce dragon, but this year there is little energy stored after battling the dog. The wise dragon will spend resources with caution and build strength for new cycle starting with the rat year in 2008. Enjoy the quiet return to fullness and do not get frustrated at your weakness after battle with the dog all year in 2006. Your strength will return. This year plan trips and business ventures that will not need your full power. Success will come slowly. You will find many reasons for frustration with family and coworkers. It is not the fault of others that you cannot provide the energy you need this year. Control your fire breath and you will receive more assistance and find good fortune

[here's another from chineseastrology.com that's a little less confusing, sort of]
Pig years bring popularity, celebrity and an increase in reputation to lucky Dragons. During this year you may acquire income from more than one source and by the end of the year, new dreams may well have become reality. Express your personal opinions carefully, and demonstrate both consideration and respect. An auspicious year to take charge of your inner life and discover its hidden springs! Meditation, healing qigong, reiki or any of the metaphysical arts would be a harmonious pursuit for you in 2007. Use this year to continue plans already in motion, while you also start to branch out into new avenues. You are amongst the few who can do both.

maintenance

I really hate the management at my apartment. My latest maintenance request:

With the wind storms the siding has ripped off the outside of the apartment
in many places, one of them being a big patch below my bedroom window. It sounds
like more of the siding is coming off as I can hear it from inside at night. I
am also concerned that rain will soak through the insulation and cause mold to
grow in my walls. Further, I am concerned that having the outside of my
apartment missing in patches will affect the apartment's ability to retain heat
and could increase my heating costs. Even before the storm there was one piece
of siding missing from my neighbor's apartment for 3 months and still is
unfixed.

When will the management be fixing this?

NYE

The last 5 or 6 years NYE has been kinda quiet or disappointing, or one year, spent alone when the snow trapped me in my home. I have to say that last night was the best NYE ever. My closest friends were all there and we had a hotel room upstairs from the party. The music was awesome. Some really creative 80s/progressive house remixes. We partied until 5am before retiring to the room. What makes me sad is that parties like these are numbered. Once my friends start popping out babies, it'll be an end of another chapter. Hopefully they put that off so we can have a few more years of fun.

What's really cruel is starting the first full day of school on Jan 3rd. Today was recovery day, tomorrow is drive back to Seattle day, and school starts bright and early the day after that. Ugh. So exhausted.