Progress Report

So how am I doing on those resolutions?

Let's check in.

1. No soda - check. Haven't really had cravings for it too much although today I forgot to bring my water bottle to work so I'll probably have to buy some non-soda beverage.

2. No fried foods - I had to think about this when I went to Wendy's last Thursday after my basketball game. I got a grilled chicken sandwich instead. But so far, so good.

3. Flossing - I've got this one down now.

4. Call home twice a week - check although my mother called me first on Saturday.

5. Exercise - I've done my 100/100/100/100 routine twice now. Still taking a few days to recover from soreness. The only thing that makes me sore is the pushups. I've been varying them up now. For one set I do them elevated on chairs, then close grip, wide grip, diamond, upper chest and lower chest. Hopefully once I get in better shape I'll be able to go to a every-other-day routine.

On another note I'm trying to get more into jazz. Listening to some classics right now. It's really relaxing music and with no lyrics it doesn't disrupt my concentration. I bought a sustain pedal for my keyboard after years of not having one. I also got a book of jazz standards to gain some more exposure to it. I'm so locked into my classically based harmonies that a little dissonance is so foreign to me.

I'm looking into joining this jazz group that plays in CT, but I really have zero experience playing jazz so we'll see how that goes. It's just a totally new style for me.

argh

blargh pain...

Eva Cassidy

In my random stumblings of youtube I came upon a woman named Eva Cassidy. She has the most beautiful, pure voice I've ever heard. She sings so effortlessly and emotionally. She sounds better live than any current 'pop star' even after hours and hours of studio effects.

Tragically, she died in 1996 at the tender age of 33 due to melanoma. Unbelievably, she was relatively unknown until after her death. (The music industry collectively dropped a HUGE BALL by missing out her!)

According to Wikipedia:

"Her posthumously released recordings have since sold in excess of four million copies, and in early 2001 the compilation album Songbird reached #1 on the United Kingdom album charts."

Anyway, take a listen and I guarantee you'll want to go right to youtube and search for more of her videos.



The world is an ugly place, but this is one unadulterated shard of beauty.

My Superpowers

Superman in public.


Superman at home.

You know, you wouldn't be able to tell just by looking at me, but I possess some pretty impressive superpowers. These amazing abilities allow me to rise above the masses and use my unique gifts for the benefit of mankind.

So what are these surreptitious yet stupendous scintillations of singularity?

1. The ability to not get sick (very often).
Now I don't believe in jinxes, so no need to knock on wood or go searching for four leaf clovers, but I haven't been ill (as in sick for multiple days requiring me to miss work, etc) in over 2 years. I have a pretty robust immune system and wash my hands constantly so this might help combat the spread of bacteria and other nasties. I'm not one of those compulsive handwashers though. Rather, I just can stand the feeling of having greasy hands and then typing on a keyboard or doing anything else. For this reason, I probably wash my hands about 10 times a day.

2. The ability to turn bright red with the slightest ingestion of alcohol
AKA "Asian Glow" I possess the amazing ability to transform my appearance merely by touching a drop of alcohol to my tongue. My face flushes red, my heart race increases and my breathing becomes shallow. This sounds pretty unpleasant and it is, although one day when some alien race invades earth with goal of enslaving humanity, I'll be safe, because of course, these aliens are equipped with eyes which can perceive every color in the spectrum except for red.

3. The power to stay up really late at night despite being tired
So when most people get tired they do the logical thing and take a nap or go to sleep. Not me. See, superpeople such as myself have this amazing drive which allows them to ignore the pangs of sleepiness and get a 2nd, 3rd, and 4th wind. Each wind dispels any urge to slumber and suppresses any bedtime violation related guilt.

4. The ability to get sweaty with the slightest physical exertion
Actually, I'm exaggerating a bit. I'm not one of those people who get sweaty just walking around at work. But if I do anything more than a brisk stroll, my body's internal cooling system kicks in with startling efficiency. See me after an hour of basketball if you want to solve a drought in the midwest. Or I could be one of those background people on Richard Simmons' latest Sweatin' to the Oldies video.

5. The ability to eat relatively unhealthily and not exercise but not gain weight
This preternatural metabolism has allowed me to maintain a relatively constant body mass despite consuming high calorie foods and not expending many kilocalories in return. People tell me this power will diminish with time. We'll see.

6. Lastly, the power to write about mundane topics in great detail and soporific length when I'm pretty sure only my mother reads this blog
Hi Mom! I love you!

Belated New Years' Resolutions

So I didn't really make any at midnight to bring in 2008 so I'll make some now that I'll probably end up breaking sometime within the next year. I'm pretty big on continuous self-improvement even though I seem to lose motivation frequently.

1. Stop drinking soda
I actually had kept this up from the time I graduated college for at least a year but then I caved in after drinking nothing but water bored me.

2. Stop drinking coffee
This one isn't as hard. It's strange sometimes I can chug coffee and get nothing out of it. Other times I get what I think is a caffeine "buzz" but I don't really feel energetic. Instead I feel jittery and nervous and actually a bit tired. After it wears off I feel really sluggish. It sucks.

3. Stop eating anything that's deep-fried, namely fries.
Another change I made at the same time as the first soda avoidance attempt. I also had kept at it for quite a long time. Avoiding fries is pretty easy, but stuff like chicken nuggets or potato chips will be harder.

4. Floss daily
This one I initially thought would be really hard. I'm pretty regimented about brushing my teeth but flossing was always a pain due to the fact that it's hard to reach the very back teeth. And of course if you don't floss regularly you get pain and bleeding. For about 2 months now though I've been flossing daily, thanks in part to my purchase of a flossing aid. It's basically a toothbrush handle with a specialized flossing head that you can replace. It makes it very easy to floss between the very back teeth in your mouth. Now that it's part of my bedtime regimen it's quite easy.

5. Call my parents at least twice a week
I think right now I usually call about once a week. It's a bit tricky sometimes as I have to work around my parents' work schedule, dinner time, early bed time, etc. Usually by Thursday I'll feel the urge to call. As with all things I think this would be made easier if I had specific dates I'd call every week. Maybe like...Wednesday and Saturday.

6. Exercise daily
I'm still in pretty decent shape despite not having been at a gym in about a year. I've kept active in sports leagues though doing flag football 2 years, volleyball, and 2 seasons of basketball. I've been wanting to take BJJ, but I keep putting it off. So for this resolution I'll say this. Every night when I'm at home I'll pump out 100 pushups, 100 situps, and 100 calf raises and 100 squats. Note to self: remember to stretch.

Okay that's enough resolutions for now, I'll post again to update my progress at maintaining these.

My Pilgrimage to the Mecca of Particleboard

So on Friday evening I called up my friend Cricket and randomly decided that we should go to the IKEA Store in Paramus, NJ. So on Saturday we met up and hit the trail. I forgot how much I hate New Jersey drivers. People not only drive about 30 MPH over the speed limit, they drive for extended periods on the shoulder, pass you on the right, and basically use a single lane as two lanes. Luckily, due to my extremely defensive driving, we had a smooth (albeit expletive-filled trip).

So we arrive at this giant blue building which looks like it's big as a mall, complete with its own underground parking facility. We find a spot and we're off. I'm surprised by how many people are there at 4 PM on a Saturday. Inside there are tons of people, families, and little kids milling around. A lot are moving toward some sort of kiddie play place (or prison for the children while the parents browse housewares). There's even a Chuck-E-Cheese-esque ball pit! We decide to start on the 2nd floor so we take the escalator up and start browsing.

Basically the store is a winding showcase of rooms all furnished with IKEA products. Every item has a tag attached to it detailing the name, color, and price. Pretty much everything is for sale, except for some pieces of artwork. But yes, you can buy prints in the store too. Everything looks so nice when it's arranged by professionals in a little vignette of a room and it's tempting to buy everything. In general, IKEA stuff is very affordable and for a few reasons:

1. Cheap materials - particleboard for instance
2. Self-assembly
3. Mass-production

Now for most people, particleboard is fine. It probably won't standup to you taking it apart, but as long as you don't jump on your coffee table you'll probably be fine. The self-assembly part could be a pain, but I'm one of those weirdos who LOVES to assemble things. In fact when I was younger whenever my parents bought anything which required assembly I'd race to open up the package and put it together.

One funny thing is that until recently I never knew that IKEA was known as a manufacturer of cheap stuff. I always thought it just looked very classy and stylish.

I just found out that my parents house had an IKEA coffee table, desk and dresser. All 3 pieces still remain fully functional today even though they were purchased over a decade ago.

Oh yeah, IKEA also has a restaurant in it! The food is cheap too! Unfortunately there were huge lines so I passed on the Swedish meatball platter.



So what did I buy? Quite a lot actually. Here's the list.

Coffee table
Side table (2)
Dining table
Chair (4)
Chair cushion (4)
Wisk (2)
Floor lamp (2)
Table lamp (2)



A few complaints about IKEA:
- I was missing a screw in one of my floor lamps
- Directions for the table lamp were blatantly incorrect, they required me to pull the light base through the bottom of the lamp when it was clearly impossible due to the base being a larger diameter than the hole
- The dining table had a little chip come off its surface
- Pilot holes weren't always lined up very well
- There's a little crack in the base of my coffee table

However, overall you can't beat the value and style of IKEA. All that stuff cost under $500 including tax. Chances are you can't buy a dining table in a traditional furniture store for under $500.

Thanks Ingvar Kamprad!

American Gladiators - again!

Okay, I promise I'll stop writing about American Gladiators for awhile now, but once again I was reading Wikipedia and it turns out the gladiator Dean Cain battled in the video below named Hawk is really named Lee Reherman.

From Wikipedia:

"Lee Reherman was born July 4, 1966 in Louisville, Kentucky. He was a former football player for Cornell University in college and then played professionally with the Miami Dolphins. After his pro football career ended, Lee received an MBA in Finance from UCLA as well as a Ph.D. in Economics.

During the time he was attending college, some of his classmates dared him to audition on the American television program American Gladiators. He got the job and became known as the gladiator, Hawk in 1993 through 1996. After the show ended, he focused his career as an actor and has been seen in such TV programs such as the X-Files, Angel and Caroline in the City, worked as color commentator on RollerJam with Ken Resnick (season one) and Rory Markas (seasons two and three) through 2001 and was also the host of the G4 competitive video game show, Arena (which has been on hiatus since the end of 2004) with Kevin Pereira. His favorite events on American Gladiators were Tug O War, Joust and Powerball.

While attending Cornell University he was a brother of Chi Psi Fraternity."

That's a pretty damn impressive resume for an American Gladiator...who I thought were all stupid meatheads. I guess I was wrong, Hawk.

Soy un perdedor

I’m a loser baby, so why don’t you kill me?
- Loser by Beck



I always get depressed when I lose - at anything. Tonight I got back from basketball league where my team lost yet again. We are winless on the season so we're probably 0-8 or 0-9 at this point.

We've had a few close games against good teams and some lopsided blowouts against some of the weaker teams.

Tonight I actually felt okay energy-wise during the game. However for some odd reason my legs were excruciatingly sore. Two nights ago I was just doing some exercise in my apartment consisting of push-ups, sit-ups, and some squats. The following day I felt fine but for some reason when I woke up today my legs felt like they were going to fall off. By the time I left work they were so tight I could barely walk. Anyway, I stretched before the game so that didn't bother me so much.

Before each game I tell myself I'm going to do well. I'm going to be aggressive, run the floor, play good defense, crash the boards... Well tonight I think I grabbed 7 or 8 boards and played decent defense. I ran the floor but was unable to get any fastbreak points mainly due to a lack of opportunities. The thing that really pissed me off was I missed 3 or 4 really close range chippies. Part of it was just me not warming up enough the other part was that I was so wide open I hesitated.

Anyway, I ended up scoring a whopping 0 points. I'm usually good for about 6 a game, which isn't much but the point is I missed easy opportunities to score.

But as I said, I hate losing, no matter how unrealistic winning is. I hate losing in anything...any sort of competition in which there is a clear cut winner and loser. In basketball it's simple, whichever team has more points at the end of the game is the winner and the other team - well, they're the losers.

But in life, what makes someone a winner or a loser?

We often call people 'losers'. And we don't mean this literally in that they lost some event which has measurable standards for determining a victor. We mean that this person is inferior, insufficient, or incompetent at life. When we call someone a loser we imply that we are superior to that person. Of course, no one ever thinks of themself as a loser.

So, I repeat myself...what makes someone a loser?

Off the top of my head:
- being unemployed or having a unrespectable job
- being in poor physical shape or being unattractive
- not being sociable
- being passionate about something obscure or counter-popular culture
- someone who is disliked by many people

Okay, so it seems like the main theme of these reasons would have to do with deviation from the norm. We view people who are different from ourselves (and we're obviously not losers in our own minds) as being losers.

But do these people view themselves as losers? Maybe they do. Some people have self-esteem issues and look down upon themselves even if others do. On the flip side, someone who is considered a loser by many may not view themselves in that light.

In viewing yourself I believe the determining factor is your personal happiness. Forgot about all those reasons people use to label someone a loser. If you are happy with yourself then you aren't going to think of yourself as a loser. Even if you're overweight, unattractive, anti-social, unemployed, passionate about some really eclectic things as long as you're happy with yourself you won't consider yourself a loser.

I realize this is a bit of an idealized view as I don't think many people truly don't give a damn about what people think. But hey, if you're happy with yourself...screw everyone else!

Conversely, you can be attractive, employed, sociable, and in tune with popular culture and be completely miserable. Others may think you're DA MAN or DA WO'MAN but if you think you're a loser it won't help cheer you up.

Now I'll make a statement completely unsupported by facts or statistics. Often times I read about people committing suicide who to all external sources appeared quite happy and content with their lives.

I believe this happens often. People often mask their sadness well, sometimes for the reason of not wanting to burden others with their troubles. And then BOOM...one day they reach their breaking point and its over. No one except that person saw it coming...

Anyway, before I make people too depressed the point I was trying to get across was that if you're happy with who you are, you aren't a loser...no matter what everyone else tells you.

Super Man

Remember Dean Cain? He played Superman in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Anyway, last night I was on youtube looking for random clips when I decided to search for some American Gladiators clips. I stumbled upon the celebrity version of one show which starred Dean Cain running the Gaunlet. Frankly, I knew nothing about Dean Cain other than the fact that he played Superman and hosts Ripley's Believe it or Not! Some interesting nuggets I found on wikipedia:



- His born name is Dean George Tanaka (yes, that's a Japanese name, he's 1/5 Japanese)
- He turned down 17 athletic scholarships to attend Princeton
- He was the captain of the volleyball team and made first-team All-American as defensive back on the football team
- He set the NCAA record for most interceptions per game in a single season and career
- He dated fellow Princeton student (and now fellow celebrity) Brooke Shields
- He signed with the Buffalo Bills as a free agent but suffered a career ending knee injury during training camp

Pretty fitting that Superman was such an impressive athelete...

1909

Another youtube music video. This one I saw on youtube's frontpage a few days ago. The band is called Scrabbel and they have a strange funky sound. I'm a fan of anything that integrates strings into a non-classical setting.

In case you're wondering what the song is about it's about the assassination of Prime Minister of Japan/Resident-General of Korea at the Harbin train station on October 26, 1909. "An Jung-geun, a Korean independence activist, fired seven shots at him. Three of those shots hit Itō in the chest and he died shortly thereafter."

- courtesy Wikipedia

Old People Make Me Sad

This is a video of a group called Young@Heart. It's basically a vocal group composed of a bunch of octogenarians. They do a cover of a Coldplay song called "Fix You".

The song is so much more expressive and credible when a guy breathing from an oxygen tank sings it.



Another good example would be Johnny Cash covering Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt"

I Would Like to Eat Your Plate of Garbage

Looks delicious, doesn't it? Tonight I had the pleasure of trying the Rochesterian culinary tradition affectionately (and accurately) called "the garbage plate". What is this epicurean delight? Well, there are many different variants of the garbage plate apparently, but the one I had included the following elements:

- hash browns
- chili sauce
- macaroni salad
- 2 hamburger patties
- American cheese
- diced raw onions
- mustard
- ketchup

I think I included everything that was in it...so basically you start with a base of hash browns and macaroni salad, then plop two hamburger patties with cheese on top, add chili sauce, sprinkle the onions and then splatter the whole mess with mustard and ketchup. The mix it all up until you can't really distinguish any individual ingredients and enjoy!

Review
Pre-mixing the garbage plate resembles that of a gluttonous barbecue attendee. The only thing that doesn't really belong would be the hash browns, but whatever...think of them as cubic french fries. It looks pretty appetizing and smells delicious. Post-mixing it still smells delicious, but looks pretty goddamn disgusting. However, I dug right in without any reservation.

It's a strange medley of flavors...starting with the top it's obviously like having a hamburger...burger, cheese, ketchup, mustard, and onions. Then you work your way down and you follow that up with some macaroni salad and hey, while you're at it, have some chili (sauce) too. And of course you need some nice starchy hash browns to clean up the whole mess.

Now that I think about it, it's really not that crazy of an idea. Maybe it was invented by someone who hated washing dishes. This way you cram a whole meal on one plate.

Genius.

What will they think of next?

I have a great idea...the Japanese garbage plate. It starts with a bed of leaf lettuce, carrots, and orange soy dressing. Next spoon tofu, green onions, and miso broth onto the plate. Lay down some seaweed next. A layer of sushi rice is then spread evenly across the existing base and topped with slices of tuna or salmon. To lighten it up add some avocado and cucumber and pickled ginger. To dress it, slather with wasabi and soy sauce!

Yatta! The Japanese garbage plate! Haikibutsu Zuhan*!

* May or may not translate to 'garbage plate'

I swear, if someone gets rich off this idea I'm going to be pissed.

Remembrance

You know, you could die at any moment. I'm not trying to freak you out, but it's true. I could have a heart attack as I type this very blog entry which in the case that that happens (yes, two usages of 'that' in a row) you'll probably see something like thissssssssssssss.......;j afdsfa
sj jsiafjij;a 4t
MJ

...of course I wouldn't be able to hit 'Publish Post' to upload this entry so it'd never make it to the web, but you get my point.

Anyway, the point is despite our perceived sense of security and longevity the randomness of the universe makes it possible that your life will end at any moment with or without warning.

One of the first things we do upon hearing the news of someone's death is to reflect on his or her life. In my experience most people want to do something admirable with their lives, make some significant contribution to society or cause some sort of change for the better. Often times achieving such momentous accomplishments takes a lifetime of hard work and perseverance. It may mean making many self sacrifices for the greater good of the people. It may also mean not receiving any recognition for your work in your lifetime, if at all.

It could take a long time.

But what happens if you don't live long enough to make it happen?

I'm 24 right now. I haven't really accomplished anything noteworthy other than graduate high school and graduate college, but hell, millions of people have done that. No one is going to be writing an article in world history books or even Wikipedia about my graduations.

If I was to die today what would the world remember me for?

Ask yourself this question.

The bigger point I'm trying to illustrate here is that you shouldn't view your life goal as the pinnacle of a mountain that requires decades and decades to reach. Your success shouldn't be defined by a singular achievement or quantifiable figure. For instance, many people use money as a goal. It's common, it's easily counted, and with enough time and hard work (or luck or criminal activity) you can get enough of it to reach your goal. But if you never make that number, was your life a failure?

Define your legacy by the way you live your life on a day-to-day basis. People will remember how you treated them, your personality, your passions... These things are much more important than the fact that you invented the light bulb or discovered radium.

I'm not diminishing the importance of inventions or scientific discovery, but as for me...I'd rather be remembered for the type of person I was rather than what knowledge or materials I left behind.

Playoffs?! Playoffs?!

A common sight in Steeler country

Pats win, no big surprise. I was hoping for a Jags upset.
Packers win, I'm happy about that.
Chargers win, I'm neutral about that.
Giants win, I'm happy about that.

AFC
San Diego at New England
Even before the injuries to Rivers, LT, Gates, and Neal I'd say the Chargers had no shot. Now with all those injuries it's almost a complete lock for the Pats. I hate to say it, but the Pats are going 19-0. Those fuckers.

NFC
New York at Green Bay
I'm rooting for the Giants since I live in NY, but I don't think they have much of a shot. GB has the superior offense and defense. Giants have a banged up secondary and that's the name of GB's game. Plax is still hurt. GB wins big.

Super Bowl
New England crushes Green Bay
Favre retires. Everyone ignores the fact the Pats were found guilty of cheating.

***

As I watch the playoffs the one glaring thing that pops up over and over again is the OFFENSIVE LINE. I believe this is the biggest difference between a good team and a bad team. It's not about the QB or the RB...even the WRs. If you have a solid O-line pretty much any NFL QB can look good back there. This is where the Steelers suck terribly. Let's think about the playoff teams this year:

GB - Favre sacked 15 times
TAM - Garcia sacked 19 times
NE - Brady sacked 21 times
JAX - Garrard sacked 21 times (only started 12/16 games)
IND - P. Manning sacked 21 times
WSH - Campbell sacked 21 times
SD - Rivers sacked 22 times
DAL - Romo sacked 24 times
TEN - Young sacked 25 times
NY - E. Manning sacked 27 times
SEA - Hasselbeck sacked 33 times
PIT - Roethlisberger sacked 47 times


Hmmm, what stands out here? Yes, Ben holds onto the ball too long and fails to throw it away. But, of all the QBs on the list he might be the most adept at avoiding sacks by breaking tackles (so is V. Young). He also drops back less to pass than almost all of those QBs. For a comparison let's look at Tom Brady who attempted 578 passes in the regular season and was sacked 21 times. That's 1 sack every 27. 5 pass attempts.

Now Big Ben threw 404 times and was sacked 47 times. That's 1 sack every 8.6 drop backs!

Now, obviously it's not all the o-line's fault. A pass happy offense like NE demands that a safety double up on Moss so it's probably pretty rare that a team blitzes Brady, but still the numbers are staggering.

In conclusion, the Steelers are in for a losing season next year unless significant additions to the o-line are made via FA or the draft.

Random facts about me

Quick fire things about me that you may not know

• I cannot stand to have greasy hands
• I wash my hands a lot due to greasy hands.
• I hate washing dishes.
  
• I haven't lifted weights in many months.
• I'm the same weight I was coming out of college.
• I still have clothes in my closet from middle school.
• I still fit in some of those clothes.
• I like dark chocolate more than non-dark chocolate.
• I used to live right across the street from the Reese's factory.
• It's pronounced REE-SIZZ, not REE-SEES
• I am a night owl who likes to wake up early.
• I almost always fail at the waking up early part.
• I have basic cable.
• I'm not paying an extra $20 to get ESPN.
• Fuck you Cablevision.
• One of the first things I do every day is turn on my computer.
• One of the last things I do every day is turn off my computer.
• I remember a time where I didn't have internet.
• My screenname pays homage to Tenacious D.
• Jack Black is a better singer than 95% of pop artists today.
• A guy at work looks just like Kyle Gass.
• My Chinese skills are decaying from a lack of use.
• This saddens me, but I can't do much about it without moving to Taiwan.
• While in Taiwan I was in an earthquake.
• I was watching True Lies at the time.
• Jamie Lee Curtis is a hermaphrodite, seriously, look it up.
• I participated in bullying when I was younger.
• But I never was involved in a fight, ever.
• I'm convinced my fingernails grow longer after a shower.
• Baths are nice but I end up spending about 10X the time in the bathroom and don't even get clean.
• I am very competitive.
• I get pissed off when I lose at basketball league even if I know I'm outsized, outmatched, etc.
• I get depressed when I lose, but it's pretty temporary.
• I wrestled in high school and even though I wasn't very good, I'm convinced I could take anyone in a street fight.
• Did I mention I've never been in a fight before?
• In high school I was once interested in eugenics, but only really for the shock value.
• I think fluorescent lighting looks bad, but it is energy efficient.
• I have a bad habit of eating late at night.
  
• It's probably because I stay up so late.
• Sumo wrestlers eat and then sleep immediately for maximum weight gain.
• For some reason people come to me for relationship advice even though I'm pretty inexperienced in that department.
• I've had the same haircut for the last 15 years.
• I can't part my hair.
• I used to look at myself in the mirror and think that I had a nice looking body, but not a nice looking face.
• That's really quite sad now that I think about it.
• I still don't think I'm especially winsome, but what can you do?
• Looks DO matter though. If someone says they don't, they're lying...unless they're blind.
• I don't like wine.
• I went to France for two weeks and hardly had more than a few glasses.
• I like beer now. Not IPA...not Guiness.
• I get severe Asian Glow syndrome.
• I never knew IKEA furniture was cheap.
• I think it looks pretty damn stylish.
• I really like yogurt.
• I've liked yogurt since I was a baby.
• I can't whistle or sing or snap my fingers well.
• I can't palm a basketball, but I can touch rim.
• When I was in high school I claimed I'd shave my head when I went to college.
• I never did.
• I had an internet girlfriend once (probably about 10 years ago)
  
• She was from Louisana supposedly.
• Chris Hansen did not walk into the room.
• I did not take a seat.
• I like animals.
• I had a pet rabbit named Carrot.
• Rabbits are boring so we gave him away.
• I also had a pet cat named Bailey.
• Bailey was run over by a car and died.
• I want a dog, probably a bulldog.
• Bulldogs have a lot of health problems.
• I rarely get sick.
• I believe in psychosomatics.
• I like the Houston Rockets and Detroit Pistons.
• Steelers. Period.
• I went to my first game in 2007 at the Meadowlands where the Steelers lost to the puny Jets.
• Some drunk Jets fan was elbowing me throughout the game.
• I used to write poetry in my dark high school days.
• I even wrote a poem in Spanish called 'Mundo Oscuro'.
• I once was pretty good at hacky sack.
• This was when I attended PGSAS in 2001.
• When I first found out I had to get glasses I cried like a little girl.
• I still hate wearing glasses.
• I want to get laser eye surgery.
• I think I'd enjoy a job removing barnacles from boat hulls.
• Don't touch the screen of my monitor.
• Wendy's has the best fast food.
• I've eaten 378 orders of chicken nuggets.
• Sweet and sour and honey mustard, please.
• I worked at Hersheypark in high school.
• I sold t-shirts in some shitty gazebo.
• The only good part was checking out the girls in their bikinis.
• Some girl once grabbed my ass while I was walking through the park and said 'You're number 5!'
• I made out with a girl named Misty.
  
• That was her real name.
• She was not a stripper.
• I require total darkness and silence to fall asleep.
• I've been told I snore.
• I don't like peeling shrimp.
• I haven't washed my car since I've bought it.
• My dad has washed it for me since I refused to.
• Bathrobes are awesome.
• I have a green Trek mountain bike.
• I've ridden it once in the last two years.
• I've been skiing twice in my life.
• Waterskiing is really hard.
• It hurts like a mother when you wipe out.
• I've never broken a bone or had surgery (unless you count wisdom teeth).
• When I was younger one of my goals was to never have surgery.
• I have very well defined biceps despite not working out.
• I enjoy cleaning out my bellybutton lint.
• I think my eyebrows make me look angry when I'm not.
• I have never smoked a cigarette in my life.
• I smoked a cigar one time.
• I once saw Officer Warlow (who taught my elementary school DARE class) smoking.
• I was traumatized.
• I like Japanese mayonnaise.
• I also like roasted eel.
• I drink a lot of water when I'm in my apartment.
• I stopped drinking out of the water fountains at work.
• Optical mice are amazing.
• I'm concerned about ergonomics.
• I thought about building my own desk.
• The tools I own are housed in a pink plastic case that originally held magic markers.
• I have a good phone sex voice (so I've been told.)
• I worked as a telephone reservations agent for Herco.
• Thank you for calling Hershey, this is Bob. How may I help you?
• Most people cannot pronounce my last name correctly or spell it.
• I am addicted to youtube and Wikipedia.

That's it for now. Hope you learned something.

First post of 2008

Hi. I haven't written here in over 6 months... In typical form, I build up enthusiasm for something over a short period of time and then it quickly diminishes to nothing. Well, for some reason I felt like writing again. Perhaps it's a good way for me to vent when no one is around to talk to.

You know, it was my birthday recently. I turned 24 which I guess compared to most people in the real world is rather young. However, more than a quarter of my life has expired, unless I live past 100. For all the education I've supposedly received I realize how little of it I retain.

I was going through a bunch of shit I have lying around in my apartment and it hit me how much of a packrat I've become. I have all these papers from college. I finally got around to weeding some of this stuff out and throwing it all in a big trashcan. Some of the papers have sensitive info so I'll probably end up drenching it in water rather than individually shred 6000 sheets of paper. Anyway, here I am...K-12, 4 years of college, blah blah blah and if you ask me about what truths I know for certain I don't have many.

1. The only true love I know is that from/for my family.

I'm not saying I don't believe true love can exist between two unrelated people, but at this point in my life I only know that the love between my family and I is permanent. NOTHING could destroy it. Period.

2. You can't sit back and wait for things to happen.

This applies to everything in life. Nothing will fall in your lap or be handed to you. If you want it, you have to get it. I wish I was more aggressive, but I'm not. I'm a bit of a wimp, but I'm trying to get better.

3. The motivation to work hard is infinitely more valuable than genius.

I am no genius. I took a IQ test when I was in 3rd grade and supposedly I got a high score. I was in the 'gifted' program throughout school. I was in the honors college at Penn State. I graduated with high distinction. I am not a genius. I believe I'm of average intelligence. Probably below average in mathematical abilities. For some reason I'm terrible at chemistry.

Anyway, I'd trade any shred of genius I have for drive. Once in awhile late at night I'll have an idea which seems pretty amazing at the time. But as I mentioned before, my interest in that lasts about 30 minutes and then it's gone. I have several papers with ideas for inventions, businesses scattered around my apartment but I've seldom acted upon them.

Those are all the truths I''ll write about for now. Nothing comes to mind easily.

On a plus note, I've managed to get myself in the habit of flossing daily. My dental hygienist will be most pleased. A long time ago I also got myself in the habit of brushing my tongue. It still occasionally triggers my gag reflex though. The key is to keep breathing while you're brushing your tongue. I think that way it tells your body you're not choking on anything.

My apartment is so strange. It's always so freaking hot. I have both windows in the living room open and the heat turned down (I think I turned the knob the right way) and I could walk around here in my underwear and work up a sweat while changing channels on the TV. It is nice to be able to wear shorts year round though. Thank god I don't have to pay for heat.

Oh, so I have two of these super efficient light bulbs that last for years and resemble pig tails. Supposedly if they break they'll leak mercury or something. So handle with care lest you want to mess up your brain.

My corn plant is on life support. It used to be lush and full of leaves now I'm doing to 3. Not sure what happened...maybe it ran out of nutrients. It's certainly not a lack of water. I suspected it might be lack of sunlight...but after moving it to a more illuminated spot it didn't seem to make a difference. I should get more plants to spruce up my spartan living room.

THIS IS MADNESS!

No, this is PLANT DEPOT!