Random Thoughts

Desert Close-ups

2007-09-15T14:55:00.001-07:00

The title says it all.
Taken in Tucson, AZ.
September 2007

Guinea Fowl Crossing

2007-09-12T22:55:00.000-07:00

I saw the sign first, and thought it was funny. What the heck are guinea fowls, and why do they need a "Caution" sign. Well, I'll be damned, 'cause I saw them in action couple streets from the sign.

First of a series of pictures to come from my Tucson trip.

I did it!

2007-09-05T23:43:00.000-07:00

I'm too tired to write an afterthought for all this, but I shall someday. Now, I'm going to take a well-earned good night sleep that I truly deserved.

Ahhh... Life is good :)

Tucson again

2007-09-04T21:04:00.000-07:00

I'm back in Tucson.

Tomorrow is my final dissertation defense, which will determine if the past 5 years' efforts go to waste, or earn me a PhD. We'll see. I'll go through my slides again tonight, then hopefully get a good night sleep.

This is it... It's still a little hard to believe...

Good luck to me...

Haikus

2007-08-20T20:30:00.000-07:00

He said, "Tag, you're in!"
Should I run and don't look back
Or stay and be doomed

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How to act casual
Every time you say his name
Something in me dies

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Cross it off the list
A sense of accomplishment
Move on to the next

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Oh goody goody
I found some honey honey
For my bitter tea

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Way too much to deal
Sometimes we just need to learn
When to say: Fuck it!

What's on My Playlist? (Part Two)

2007-08-16T20:25:00.000-07:00

Peter Bjorn And John (featuring Victoria Bergsman) - Young Folks (Writer's Block)

The song opens with drums and maracas, then the base and the whistle (so very casually, almost unintentionally, and slightly out of tune) join in. Then, Peter begins singing the same tune of the whistle, slightly nasally and definitely lazily, asking:

"If I told you things I did before
Told you how I used to be
Would you go along with someone like me"

Then, Victoria joins in with replies in her unique, smooth, and low register voice:

"It doesn't matter what you did
Who you were hanging with
We could stick around and see this night through"

Then comes the highly catchy chorus:

"And we don't care about the young folks..."

At the same time, the wonderful bongo begins... I always love the incorporation of bongo into music arrangements. That's one of the reasons why I love Guster's music. "Young Folks" has quickly become one of my favorite songs ever since I heard it on TV. The story about two young people meeting for the first time, the uncertainty, the curiosity, the self-doubt, and the fascination all occurring at the same time.

And the good stuff doesn't stop here. The video for this track is also a gem. The bobble-headed cartoon people socializing at a party in what seems like a small apartment. It's bizarre and mesmerizing at the same time. I like it.

Damien Rice - Eskimo (O)

Damien Rice came out with the debut album"O" in 2002, since then he has another album titled "9" out in 2006. Although I do really like his second album, but there are several songs from his first album that I absolutely love. "Amie" is actually my initial favorite song in "O". Nevertheless, recently I've been listening "Eskimo" a lot. On Monday morning 5:35 AM, when I typed the last word of my thesis' first draft, "Eskimo" was playing on my headset, and it was the part where the operatic section began. Ironically, Rice wrote the song about having writer's block, a phenomenon I'm fully familiar with.

" Tiredness fuels empty thoughts
I find myself disposed
Brightness fills empty space
In search of inspiration"

"I look to my Eskimo friend,
When I'm down, down, down"

The beginning of the song is slow and quiet, but the ending is incredible and powerful with the wonderful voice of the mezzo-soprano. The only video clips I could find for this song are all live performances (by the way, Damien Rice is a GREAT live performer), and they're all slightly different from one another, as well as from the original album version. In the album version, the female vocal part (the Finnish portion) was performed by Doreen Curran, a mezzo-soprano, and it's absolutely amazing. In most of the live performances, the female vocal was performed by Lisa Hannigan, who was a common fixture in Damien's songs. I prefer the original version with the more dramatic ending. Lisa is a great artist but her professional relationship with Rice "has run its creative course" and won't be performing with him in his tour anymore as of March 2007. Damien Rice is coming to LA on September 20th. Unfortunately, everything is kinda up-in-the-air for me right now and I don't know if I'll get to finally watch him live. There's always next time.

So, what's the connection between these two songs? "Eskimo" is about writer's block, and "Young Folks" is in the album titled "Writer's Block". Oh, and I had them on repeat the last hour of my thesis writing. Very different songs but sort of give me a good balance of music, and did the trick for me in terms of finishing my dissertation. Also, continuing on my multi-country music appreciation, Damien Rice is from Ireland, and PB&J is 3-guy band from Stockholm, Sweden.

Nostalgia

2007-08-10T23:24:00.000-07:00

Reminds me of old times...
Taken in Tucson, AZ, Summer 2003.

The Gazebo

2007-08-08T23:48:00.000-07:00

Taken in Asheville, NC, December 2005.

What's on My Playlist? (Part One)

2007-08-07T21:27:00.000-07:00

OK, so I have more than 3000 songs in my iPod, and I'm not going to list all of them on here. Nevertheless, there are a few songs that are high on the play count this year. They're not necessarily new songs, but just somehow find their way on top of my play count in my iPod and iTunes combined. Could be the tune, could be the lyrics, could be the instrumentation, could be anything. I might like it because it touches me, amuses me, impresses me, or all of the above. I'm going to list some of them here, a few songs at a time. It goes artist, song title, and album title in parenthesis.

Fools Garden - Comedy Song (Ready for the Real Life)
This is a quirky song that paints a somewhat realistic picture on someone dealing with non-reciprocal love. The emotional roller-coaster, the efforts to get your mind off that person and try to be happy, and the inevitable millions of "why"s.

The part that gets me:

"Why don't you kiss me? Why don't you say that you miss me? What do you do to me? Oh baby don't you see that I really miss you, and all I wanna wanna do is kiss you. What do you do to me? Don't leave me so lonely. Why don't you kiss me? Why don't you say that you miss me? I know it's getting better. I know it's getting better. I know it's getting better. Oh, what a day."

Yeah, tragic :(
Been there, done that.

Paolo Nutini - These Streets (These Streets)
I move around so much, this song just speaks my language. I love this album and this is my favorite song. I can totally understand the feeling of moving to a very unfamiliar city and being intimidated at the very beginning.

The part that gets me:

" These streets have too many names for me, I'm used to Glenfield road and spending my time down in Orchy. I'll get used to this eventually, I know, I know."

I'm sure all these feelings are going to resurface when I move to L.A. I can't wait for his second album.

Joshua James - FM Radio (The Sun Is Always Brighter)
The part that gets me:
Oh my, which part doesn't get me in this song? I might as well just post the full lyrics here.

"I heard about, heard about your daddy got sick
Drove down to the river to die alone
Seven days, seven days till they found him all wrapped up in a blanket on the boat
So we put him in the ground
Down, down, down
Your momma said "stay strong, don't cry."
So that is what you did

Years later, years down later down the road
On a bus with your FM Radio, half drunk, a cigarette hanging out
What happened to your lonely soul? Crying out
What happened to your lonely soul? Screaming out
You said try and lose
You said try and lose
Everything you've known
Everything you've seen
Everything you've loved
Everything you've been
And everywhere you walk
Every Song you sing
Every time you wake
It haunts you once again
My Daddy ain't coming home
Daddy ain't coming home
My Daddy ain't coming home
Daddy ain't coming home
My Daddy ain't coming home."

How true it is that when you lose a parent at a young age, there's no reason to put up a strong front. If you don't deal with it, it's going to haunt you later in life. Makes me think of my dad... Anyhow, this is another amazing album not to be missed. Another artist whom I won't mind spending my iTunes credits on. I'll be waiting for his second album too.

All three artists are from a different country. Fools Garden (formerly Fool's Garden) is a band based in Germany; Paolo Nutini is from Scotland; and Joshua James is from the United States. Nevertheless, there is a common denominator in these three songs which is the element of time. In Comedy Song, there's a hope that time will heal all wounds. In These Streets, there's a hope that time will turn the uncertainties into familiarities. In FM Radio, however, there's something so deeply engraved in a person that, as time goes by, it's still as vivid as new.

3^3

2007-08-06T23:44:00.000-07:00

I turned 27 yesterday. Today at work, a co-worker baked me these cakes. Yep, they know I love tortoises. It's just too good not to share them here :)

Oh, and I get to eat both the heads.

Alone in the City

2007-08-05T01:30:00.001-07:00

All the lines and shadows
All the boxes
All the emptiness

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Taken at San Francisco Pier 14
Winter 2006/07

Street Types

2007-08-04T02:51:00.000-07:00

I recently just moved, and I realized that for the past several consecutive addresses, the street types were all different from each other.

2000 Fall: Lived in a dorm room (Boo...)

2001 Fall: Road
2002 Summer: Street
2003 Summer: Avenue
2004 Fall: Lane
2005 Summer: Circle
2006 Summer: Drive
2007 Summer: Court

I think this is kinda interesting. OK, maybe not that interesting, but whatever. I still have boulevard, place, parkway, way, heights, alley, bay, garden, grove, highlands, mews, pathway, close, clove, highway, trail, terrace, vale, view, mews, crescent, canyon, loop, hill, causeway, square, and much more to go through. I do move around A LOT. So it's just a matter of time when they run out of street type for me.

Ori

2007-08-03T23:59:00.000-07:00

Meet Ori, my ex-roommate's Ibizan hound. Ori is short for Orijas, which means "ears" in Spanish. Are you surprised how he got his name? I absolutely love this picture of Ori, the afternoon sun that day just casted this awesome light on him, and he was so patient with me while I was trying to direct him for the perfect angle.

Ori likes to cuddle with you while you're watching a movie. I used to take Ori with me while I go running. He just strolled along quietly next to me. Yeah, I think I'm going through a bit of Ori withdrawal. I love that dog so much. If I ever have the chance, I'm getting an Ibizan hound. No doubt about it!

Rest In Peace - Keli: ???? -- 3/30/2007

2007-03-30T17:52:00.000-07:00

Keli was put to rest on Friday, March 30 2007. She liked to sit in your lap while you're watching TV, or keep your feet warm at night while you're asleep. We'll always remember her.

The First Day

2006-12-18T00:40:00.000-08:00

The very first moment in your life
was it exciting
was it disappointing
was it rewarding
was it boring
was it tiring
was it anything
was it everything

Industrial Gothic

2006-12-18T00:37:00.000-08:00

Big John

2006-12-18T00:33:00.000-08:00

UPDATE: I happened to have another shot of Big John from a previous trip here. I think I did a better job second time around. What do you think?

City Scene

2006-10-29T14:21:00.000-08:00

Living in a small town like Davis makes me don't take for granted all the common things normal Americans enjoy. Tall buildings, Trader Joe's, and people getting arrested. When I saw that happened right in front of me during my recent day trip to San Francisco, I was so excited and quickly grabbed my camera to take a snapshot. I love this picture. It reminds me that there's still civilization around me.

It's that time of the year again...

2006-10-22T23:00:00.000-07:00

Halloween.

Fall always seems to be the shortest season of all. Just when you're out of the summer coma and finally willing to face the fact that the new school year is here and rolling, you realize that it's almost time to carve pumpkins and give out candies, and then Thanksgiving and Christmas will be here in no time.

Technically I have about 7 months to squeeze out my final thesis. I'm so screwed.

On the other hand, I organized a pumpkin-carving party for my lab over the weekend. Which one do you think is mine?

Chi-Tor

2006-09-25T23:59:00.001-07:00

A Series of Unrelated Events

2006-09-15T21:38:00.000-07:00

When I got home from work yesterday, there was something in my mailbox that made me go "What the heck?". There it was, with snowy mountains, Christmas trees, and skiers on the cover, the L.L.Bean Christmas 2006 catalog. I showed it to my roommate.
"Christmas catalog? It's not even Halloween yet! That's ridiculous!"
Indeed. It's only mid September, and summer's not even over yet.
When Christmas rolls around, I'm supposed to be wrapping up my research and preparing for my thesis defense, and at the same time start looking for a job. Damn L.L.Bean just shove reality at my face. Like it or not, time is slipping away every second and winter is creeping up on us as we speak.

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Little Miss Sunshine is one of the best movies this year. It's clever, charming, funny, moving, sad, inspiring, and most of all, heart-warming. I left the theatre with a big smile on my face.

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My boss gave a talk at a seminar series today, and, being a good boy, I attended. After I picked my seat, which is at the very back corner in the room, an Indian (dot, not feather) woman sat down on my right, and Yoyo the new technician in my lab took the left seat. It's one of those seminar series where pizzas are served. I wasn't hungry but I took a small slice of pepperoni anyway. Everything went ok until 5 minutes into the talk. The Indian woman started to pick her nose with her left pinky finger, shoving her finger way up her nostril and digging around. The seats were very close together and I found myself subtly inching toward Yoyo.
Then, after a minute or two of solid undulating movements with her pinky up in the nose, she pulled it out, and started to examine the boogers (now, since she actually had the whole length of her pinky in the nose, it wouldn't surprise me if some of the boogers were actually brain pieces, which explains what she's about to do) extremely carefully. She slowly turned her hand in different angles, as if her boogers were artwork and she's trying to cast the perfect lighting on them. Now the pizza that I just finished eating tried to make its way up to my mouth. I forcefully pressed it down and scooted even more toward Yoyo, to the point where she could probably accuse me of sexual harassment.
Because of the position of my seat, there was no way for me to bypass seeing the Indian woman while looking at the screen in front of the room. So it wasn't my subconscious-self-loathing-masochistic instinct to look with morbid fascination when she put her pinky finger tip into her mouth and started to chew and suck on it.
I puked a little in my mouth and by then I was sitting on Yoyo's lap. I figured I would take a sexual harassment lawsuit anyday over having physical contact with a booger-eating creature. Even writing about this now, 7 hours later, brings some nauseous feelings back to me. Sorta like doing drugs, that incident has casted a permanent effect on me, and flashback episodes are unavoided. The worst part was, she kept doing the whole sequence over and over throughout the seminar, and had this satisfaction look on her face when she was at the part where she got to eat her boogers.
Please, to all the booger-eaters out there, if you must, at least have the decency to do it in your own privacy. Never, never, do it in the daylight and/or public, especially in a packed room where food is served. Period.

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I missed my bagged mixed greens already. What can I eat without my usual salad for lunch? Damn E. coli. They don't co-operate with my experiments in the lab, and now their hatred expands beyond the laboratory border. Bad, E. coli, bad!

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I'm trying not to take anything for granted. It's not easy, but I'm trying.

I'm leaving on a jet plane...

2006-08-20T00:39:00.000-07:00

OK, I've been a slacker when it comes to updating this blogger thing. But at work I'm just the opposite as I've been working my ass off. A price I'm more than willing to pay so I can go on a vacation. What's new in my life? Let's see...

*****

I turned 26 recently, I haven't really celebrated my birthday for several years as I'm not too big on making a big deal out of it. My philosophy is to have fun everyday, not just on my birthday. Anyhow, I hung out with a friend on my birthday and had a total blast. The Monday following my birthday (which was on a weekend), they finally had a cake for me at work after ignoring it for the past 2 years. Everyone at my wing took a break from research and ate some death-by-chocolate cake, which was nice. Oh, and I gave myself an iPod for my birthday present. Thanks, me!

*****

My doctor wants me to gain weight. He probably thinks I have an eating disorder. Don't get me wrong, I'm thin, but not extremely skinny. But I don't weigh much to begin with and the number is declining. I've been eating so much cakes these few weeks (many birthdays in August) that I can't believe I haven't gained a single pound. So anyhow, being a nice patient, I decided to go off my 80% vegan diet and include more meat and carbohydrates in my diet. My roommate, on the other hand, is trying to lose weight by eating just salad for dinner so she can hook up with her ex again. A week later, she lost 5 lbs and I gained nothing. I said fuck that shit I'm done trying.

*****

My vacation is coming up. First stop Tucson, which is actually for a meeting. Not much time will be spent there, in and out in less than 48 hours. Then come Chicago. So far on my agenda are Cirque du Soleil Corteo and some firework display at Navy Pier. I plan to just chill and relax and hopefully catch up on my Japanese lessons, which is now on my iPod. Toronto is next, and my duty is to escort QueenMama around the lovely city. Her Highness wants to shop and stock up for the upcoming cold weather. I just hope she won't think that cashmere is too cheap for her. My plan is to take the Queen to all different ethnic restaurants and let her sample the tastes of the world. I just found out that there's the Blue Man Group in Toronto. I've seen the production in Chicago but I don't mind seeing it again. Maybe Her Majesty will be in the mood for some crazy percussion. We'll see.

*****

I love my iPod.

*****

I'll be back with my vacation stories. Good day, kids.

This & That

2006-07-26T00:16:00.000-07:00

Geez, it's been almost a month since my last update. I know being busy is not a good excuse... it's more like I have my priorities on some other things.

Anyhow, it's time for another update on what's going on recently in my life. Here's a list of random stuff reflecting what I've been up to.

Weather: FREAK-ING HOT (but we're looking forward to this weekend as it'll "cool down" to the 90's)
Reading: Estremely Loud & Incredibly Close (Jonathan Safran Foer), The Mezzaninne (Nicholson Baker)
Recently read: Kafka by the Shore (Haruki Murakami), Mysteries of Tokyo (Haruki Murakami)
Watching: Carnivale(Season 2)
Recently watched movies: Walk on Water, Dear Frankie, Syriana, Cache, Evil(Ondskan)
Listening to: The Beatles, Amos Lee, Keane, Guster, Dashboard Confessional, Catatonia...
Learning: Japanese [Phrase of the week: Kokonatsu wo kokonotsu kudasai (Please give me nine coconuts). Now say it 3 times faster]
~~Making~~ Trying to make: A system that can be used in living cells to detect double-stranded DNA sequences
Last meal: Unagi sushi rolls and half a small seedless watermelon
Last purchase: Plane tickets for my vacation
Last call out: Louis, about plane tickets
Last call in: Chucky, about dry milk
Last hangout: Naked Lounge
Last dine-out: Thai Recipe
Last workout: 25-min run
Last donation: 30 items of clothing to Child Abuse Prevention Council of Sacramento, Inc.
Last roll-in-the-hay: Let's keep this clean, kids... and I don't kiss and tell
Wishlist: iPod, a digital SLR, eh...um...I think I need more summer clothing

And here is a random photo I took in Asheville, North Carolina. What comes to mind when you look at this picture? Discuss amongst yourselves.

The Day You Get Tested

2006-06-28T20:44:00.000-07:00

In honor of June being the gay pride month, and that June 27th being the National HIV Testing Day, and the fact that I'm a gradstudent in pharmaceutical sciences, I feel responsible to write an entry on this serious topic.

To most people, the first thing that pops up in their mind when mention the word "gay" is AIDS and/or HIV. RU-ster wrote a pretty good discussion on AIDS in his recent blog entry (My Heroic Bits: Age of A).

25 years after the discovery of AIDS, majority of the public are still not entirely educated about the syndrome. In North America, gay white males are the predominant HIV carrier, however, many fail to realize that women and children are the main victims in underdeveloped countries in Africa, and the number of infected African Amrican females in the United States is rising fast. I can't emphasize enough that everyone who is sexualy active, straight or gay, should always use condoms and get tested frequently. And yes, that include those who are in monogamous relationships. You might not feel the need to use condoms, but there's no excuse/reason not to get tested at least once a year. Many people are infected from trusting their sexual partners, who, in most cases, didn't know they are positive. Keep in mind that you could be perfectly normal for 10 or more years as a carrier. The only way to be certain is to get tested frequently.

National HIV Testing Day came and gone and I swear more people watched and actually enjoyed Gigli than those who knew about this campaign. I know unmarried singles who have unprotected sex, and even more people who never get tested for HIV or any kind of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), and it just pisses me off. First of all, I'm almost positive that some of the people mentioned above could give me syphilis just by staring at me, how could anyone be perfectly fine having unprotected sex with them without feeling the need of submerging his/her body in 10% bleach? Second of all, those are educated people who have no excuse not knowing the facts about AIDS/STDs. If we can't rely on this educated intellectual generation to bring up awareness about AIDS, what hope do we have for the future?

So, don't point your fingers to anybody when it comes to AIDS. Please, ask yourself, when is the last time you get tested? We all share the same responsibility. The world will only be a better place when we all work together toward a common goal.

Use condoms. Get tested. Go tell a friend.

A New Beginning

2006-06-21T22:38:00.000-07:00

I've been a slacker when it comes to updating my little blog on here. But life has been busy. I've currently moved into a new place, sharing a duplex with a 4th year vet student. She's extremely busy and so am I. It's nice to finally live with someone mature and responsible. She's great so far and I hope we'll have fun in our last year in grad/vet school.

I still have more than half of my stuff in boxes. I think by the time I'm done unpacking them, I'll have to pack up everything and move again (the nomad in me). It's tempting to just leave them in boxes...

My Baltimore trip was interesting. I had fun spending some time with a Dutch friend who worked with us in Tucson. I had to share a hotel room with Vinny. Well, let me just skip that part. Happy thoughts, happy thoughts...

Two days are not enough to explore a city like Baltimore. It's kinda difficult for me to get a real sense of the city at the first glance, but it came clearer to me later on with the help of a friend. The city is rich with an interesting blend of culture and art. The architecture is amazing. The picture below is just a window of Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University. When I took the picture I just thought it was an interesting look, with the statue placed by the window. It's now one of my favorite pictures taken in Baltimore. The color of the brick, the design of the window, the curve of the statue's body and extended arm, the drape, and the overcasted sky reflected on the window are just awesome. I took just that one quick shot and now I regret not taking more of it at different angle.

Anyhow, life is good, and I should really get back to my unpacking.

Baltimore here I come

2006-06-01T18:30:00.000-07:00

May has passed by insanely fast, and tonight I'm flying redeye to Baltimore, a city I've never visited. Normally I love traveling and always enjoy it when I get the time and money to do so. This will only be a very short trip, and the weather forecast calls for thunderstorms all the days while I'm there (clearing up the day after I leave, go figure). However, since it's totally paid for, I have nothing to lose but try to have fun.

I have to admit these past few weeks have not been the easiest for me, and this is not a good time for me to travel. But who knows, maybe all I need is a little change of scenery, get my mind off all these mess, recharge, and will be ready to go again.

I'll try to take some pictures to show you guys. I'll be back soon, you won't even notice I'm gone. Ciao!

Watch your step...

2006-05-18T00:37:00.000-07:00

Every great journey begins with a single leap!

Bridge

2006-05-04T01:46:00.000-07:00

I just think this looks cool... It's a very old railroad track in Winters that's now a bridge for pedestrians/bikers.

Winters

2006-04-28T00:02:00.000-07:00

I recently took a leisure late afternoon drive west of Davis with a friend for photography purpose. Before long we found ourselves in Winters. Tiny little town. I got some okay pictures but haven't really had time to sort through them. I wish I get to take trips like that more often. Here's a preview of the photos taken.

Remember, Remember, the Fifth of November...

2006-04-04T19:44:00.000-07:00

Thie is not a review for the movie "V for Vendetta" but more of an afterthought.

First of all, I enjoyed this movie. It's entertaining and thought-porvoking (well, hence this posting). Here's the gist of it. A masked man tries to overturn a totalitarian society by using violence and terrorism. He walks around quoting Shakespeare and gets his points across using whatever methods he thinks the most efficient, including deception, blackmailing, and torturing. We know as we watch the movie goes on that his brilliant plot would be successful, the government overthrown, and that's that.

When the end credits were rolling, I couldn't help but wonder, so what happens next? Although it always seems like it's a hard thing to do, but bringing down a government is a relatively easy task, especially when you can get the leader's righthand man to betray him. The difficult part, which is not pondered upon in the movie, is the forming of new government. The French revolution kicked the rich people out of powers, but after all the blood shedding, they happily went back to having kings ruling the country. A more recent example (although different in many ways), Saddam is out of the picture, now what?

It's easy to fail to see the big picture of things. I'm not saying that fighting against a totalitarian society cannot be justified. However, when all things aren't taken into consideration, what left behind is mainly chaos, and that's that.

Remember, remember,
The fifth of November,
The gunpowder treason and plot.
I know of no reason
Why the gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.

Dramatic Clouds

2006-03-27T21:04:00.000-08:00

Who would've thought we have sunset like this in Davis?

World Trivia

2006-03-19T17:31:00.000-08:00

I was chatting with some colleagues and somehow our conversation led to the question what are the largest countries in the world. We mostly got the countries down but everyone had a different opinion on how they rank. I looked it up this weekend to double check the answer, and got hooked into reading some world facts. Here are some trivia with the answers below. Try and see how well informed you are about the lovely world we live in. The following facts are collected from several websites, and further fact-checks are needed to ensure accuracy.

1. How old is the planet earth?
2. What are the top 5 largest countries and their rankings?
3. How many countries are there?
4. What country does not belong to the UN?
5. What's the newest country to join the UN?
6. What's the newest country in the world?
7. What's the first country ever to grant women to vote?
8. Who's the first person to sail around the world?

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ANSWERS

1. 4.55 biliion years old.
2. Russia, Canada, USA, China, and Brazil.
3. 192 countries, excluding Taiwan. Most countries including USA do not officially recognize Taiwan as an independent country.
4. Vatican City. Taiwan was ousted in 1971 and grouped with the People's Republic of China.
5. Switzerland became the newest UN member in 2002.
6. East Timor gained independence from Indonesia in 2002. East Timor also has the lowest GDP per capita in the world in 2004.
7. In 1893, New Zealand became the first country to establish women suffrage. On a totally unrelated topic, humans are the first mammals ever to set foot on New Zealand.
8. If you're guessing Magellan or his crew, you're almost right. However, the more accurate answer is a man from Malaya (former Malaysia), who traveled back to Europe with Magellan and followed him in the famous voyage as an interpreter.

The Most Expensive Cities in the World

2006-03-13T23:21:00.000-08:00

Mercer Human Resource Consulting recently publishes the Worldwide 2005 Cost of Living Survey City Rankings. The survey covers 144 major cities and takes into consideration of many aspects, and is the most thorough and comprehensive cost of living survey often used as a guidance for companies or governments to ensure the allowance or compensation packages are fair for their expatriate employees.

Tokyo remains on top of the list this year, while Osaka bumps both London and Moscow down one slot each and climbs to No. 2, making Japan the home of the top two most expensive cities in the world. Seoul moves up 2 spots to No. 5, Paris moves up from 17 t0 12, New York drops one to tie with Dublin at 13, Beijing drops from 11 to 19, and Sydney once again rounds up the top 20. Other US cities surveyed include Los Angeles (44), San Francisco (50), Chicago (52), and Boston (79).

Most of the movements are caused by currency fluctuations. Chinese cities are dropping this year due to depreciation of renminbi against US dollar. Some cities such as Budapest (moves from 34 to 24) are helped enormously by joining EU, again, mainly due to the strengthening euro. Moving up an impressive 34 spots to the 99th place is the Dominican Republic assisted by the increased appreciation of its peso.

I'm a bit surprised by the rankings of some cities, although Tokyo and Osaka taking top two is not shocking to me. I've been to both cities and love them, with partial to Osaka since I'm a little more familiar with it, and it's closer to the great cities of Kyoto and Nara. Although they're undoubtedly expensive cities, just like anywhere else in the world, there are always ways to get around and have a good time without spending way too much money.

Some cities, especially the US cities such as Boston and Chicago are ranked lower than Singapore and Hanoi, probably due to the large size of the cities with the poorer areas average out the more expensive parts of the cities. I'm trying to figure out if income is one of the factors taken into consideration for the index calculation, but after a 12-hour work day I have no energy left for examining the survey details. I assume that income is not a factor since from what I've observed people in Tokyo and Osaka live comfortably with their normal wages. Also, people in Kuala Lumpur (117) are probably not able to afford the same quality of life as those who have similar jobs in most of the cities ranked above it, even though it's supposed to be a cheap city to live in.

In conclusion, this is a fairly decent guide for business travelers who're going to be away for a relatively long period of time. The survey is so thorough and takes many things into consideration, from apartment rental to the prices of bread and potatoes, that it's not a perfect reference for normal vacation travelers. So don't let the figures fool you. Make your own research while planning your trip. Most of us aren't going to care about how much a CD costs in the country we're about to visit. There's such a thing called iTunes now. Depends on what you like and intend to do, the rankings can well be very different from one person to another.

That said, when currency exchange rate is taken away and income is being compared with the cost of living, it's a whole other story.

What are your thoughts on this?

"Millions"

2006-02-27T18:42:00.000-08:00

“The French have said au revoir to the franc, the Germans have said auf wiedersehen to the mark, and the Portuguese have said... whatever to their thing.” Thus begins the latest adventure brought to us by British director Danny Boyle, whose films include Shallow Grave, Trainspotting, The Beach, and 28 Days Later. Yep, you got it, nothing but dark. Millions, however, is very different from Boyle’s previous work. When a duffle bag full of cash falls from the sky (literally) and lands on a cardboard fort built by a 7-year-old boy, I know that this movie is going to take me on a roller-coaster ride.

The story goes like this. Two brothers discover a bag full of British pounds several days before the currency conversion to euro. Damian, the 7-year-old freckle-faced boy who talks to saints, wants to give the money to the poor. Anthony, the 9-year-old polar opposite, has a realist approach and wants to invest, from friendship to real estate.

Both actors did a tremendous job portraying the boys. Talented kid actors in Hollywood such as Dakota Fanning, Haley Joel Osment, and Cameron Bright always being given lines sophisticated enough for adults, and being directed to act as one as well. In Millions, kids are kids, constantly trying to understand how things work in this complicated world. Alex Etel, who played Damian, is perfect for the role. I love the scene where he bursts into tears after finding out the money is actually from an organized robbery. “I thought it’s from God!” “God doesn't rob banks, all right? God does not rob banks!”

Anthony, played by Lewis Owen McGibbon, is my favorite character in the movie. I love how he uses his dead mother as a sympathy factor to get free stuff from strangers; how he asks the appreciation value of a flat he’s thinking of investing; how he does the GBP to EUR calculation faster than the adults; how he matter-of-factly suggests to his father to dial a certain number before placing a call to block caller ID; and how he comes up with the idea to change the money into American dollars instead of euros the last day before the conversion, as the lines for foreign exchange will be shorter and euro’s value will probably drop after all the hype of currency switching.

James Nesbitt is awesome as Ronnie the father. When Anthony tells him the trick to block caller ID, his confused reaction and response (“How do you know that? Why do you need to know that?”) are hilarious. Later when Anthony’s suggestion to go for American dollars turns out to be a good idea, Ronnie takes a good look at the boy and says “Where did I get you?”

The second half of the movie does get a bit too touchy-feely, and the ending too cheesy for my taste. The villain’s character is also poorly written and possesses all the traits of a stereotypical bad guy in movies. For a person who is part of the perfect robbery, he seems to have no wits when trying to retrieve the money from the boys. That said, this is still a not to be missed movie. I highly recommend it for the excellent performances, and for being one of a few better quality bright and feel-good movies.

******
Side note:
You might like this movie if you like About a Boy or Love Actually. By the way, what’s up with British movies and school performances? About a Boy has a singing competition, Love Actually uses the Christmas concert to connect all the characters, and there is a Nativity play in Millions.

Like the theme of two brothers accidentally inherit a bunch of money out of nowhere but prefer darker movies such as Fargo? Check out A Simple Plan instead.

Where are the Whales?

2006-02-26T23:34:00.000-08:00

Our whale-watching trip was jinxed. It's supposed to be the grey whale migration season but we saw none of them. Where did they go? Probably taking a break from the long distance swim?

We left the bay with a hollow feeling, just like the hole in the rock.

I ♥ SF

2006-02-13T00:14:00.000-08:00

If I were driving alone, I would have cursed and punched the steering wheel repeatedly out of frustration. But I was in the passenger seat, and, I was with my boss so I had to keep my composure. We were barely on the road for 10 minutes and suddenly found ourselves moving 0.05 mph. Nothing annoys me more than being caught in heavy traffic, especially when it's only the beginning of a day trip. So it shocked me more than anybody for me to say that I'm actually glad that we got stuck in traffic in Vacaville.

Wondering what was going on, we called the hotline for traffic conditions. Of course, we didn't find out what was backing up the traffic in Vacaville, but, we were informed that there was an accident in Berkeley that caused congestion for miles on I-80. With that, we made a last minute change in our plan and decided to park in Richmond and take the BART to the city.

It turned out that the traffic was backed up by a bunch of people who slowed down to look at an accident scene. Thanks to those idiots, it led us to making the right decision and eventually arriving at the city almost 2 hours before our friends who insisted on driving into the city.

The purpose of the trip? The infamous San Francisco Chinese New Year Parade. I didn't really want to go to the parade but just wanted to give myself an opportunity to finally make it to the city for the first time since more than 5 years ago. The parade? Boring.

It started with some political figures like the mayor (top left). Vent wasn't paying attention and asked me, "Who the hell is this?"

"He's the mayor."

"No...really? He's too good looking to be the mayor, no? I can just spread him on a toast and eat it, yum!" Was Vent's reply.

"He's the mayor? He looks like he's too young to even have his driver's license. No wonder he's sitting behind the car." Was Deejay's.

The parade then proceeded with countless of unimpressed lion/dragon dance teams, as well as some random stuff such as (what the heck???) Ronald McDonald (lower left), totally ignored doesn't-ring-a-bell film director Justin Lin (Justin who??? Why's he even there???), and other commercial floats. Underwhelmed with eveything, we left early for a late night coffee (Europeans outnumbered us in our group) and waved goodbye.

Ciao, the beautiful SF. I'll sure find myself back here soon.

Body and Soul

2006-02-02T22:43:00.000-08:00

I haven't watched ER for years. But in tonight's amazing episode titled "Body and Soul", the story focuses on a molecular biology professor suffering with ALS. It was very moving and thought provoking, touching on issues such as the importance of never giving up hope, emphasizing the value of life, and also commenting on Bush's decision on stem cell research. The best line in the episode, to me, was when Dr. Kovac asks the ALS patient, Dr. Lennox, why he never gives himself time for love. To which he replies: It's because you're an ER doc. When you're in science, it's 24/7.

Brilliant.

Happy Chinese New Year!

2006-01-29T22:38:00.000-08:00

It's the year of the dog. Judging from this picture, it'll definitely be a good year.

The Zen of Tortoise

2006-01-27T00:04:00.000-08:00

I was talking to my friends (yes, I do have friends) and they always like to ask me about Max. One of them then told me one interesting fact about tortoises.

"Well, I heard this from someone, so don't quote it from me."

So here goes the "fact". Apparently, people have been trying to find out the cause of death for those long-lived tortoises that live up to hundreds of years. And, there's no consenses answer on what eventually kills those tortoises. The punch line of the story is, there's no cause of death for those tortoises; when they feel like they've lived enough, they just let themselves go.

I'm not even going to look it up if it's true because that's the most beautiful thing I've heard so far, this year.

Go Max!

As Time Goes By

2006-01-21T16:34:00.000-08:00

Blue Hue

2006-01-20T00:18:00.000-08:00

A Beautiful World

2006-01-16T19:53:00.000-08:00

Many people fail to realize that we live in an amazingly beautiful world. In the busy and fast-paced living of the modern world, we lack the time and patience to give ourselves a moment and take a good look around us. That's what attracts me to photography. Beauty is everywhere. I'm freezing it down, frame by frame, to constantly remind myself how lucky I am to have the opportunity to experience, enjoy, and absorb eveything this world has to offer.

Serendipity

2006-01-12T19:33:00.000-08:00

As I stood in line waiting for my turn to talk to the person behind the U.S. Airways counter, I couldn't help but feeling a little down.

It was Christmas morning. I red-eyed all night from the west coast, and, three plane flights later, arriving at Asheville airport just to find my luggage was lost. Everyone has a story about their lost luggage. But not for me. Even though I travel quite frequently, I've been fortunate enough not having to face that. My lucky streak ended on Christmas morning.

Actually, it didn't begin there, nor did it stop there.

On Christmas Eve morning, I found out that my roommate's cat peed all over my favorite couch. I spent the whole day cleaning up the mess and trying to get the smell out of the cushion. Then, on my redeye to Chicago, I was seated next to a 3-month old chihuahua who was freaking out about her first flight and couldn't stop shrieking. Then they lost my luggage. Then I didn't get the White Christmas I was secretly hoping for. Then, 12 hours later, I got my luggage back, just to find out that a bottle of bath salt I brought along as a present had broken and spilt all over the duffle bag. Then the Blue Ridge Parkway was closed because of an ice storm a week earlier. Then it was rainy and muddy throughout my vacation.

Then, I saw a white squirrel. My very first white squirrel. And I thought to myself: life is not always according to plan, but once in a while, it throws you a tiny little surprise. It's the unpredictability of life that makes life worth living. Seize the moment, you never know what's going to happen next.

For better or worse, happy 2006, everybody!

My Year in Review

2005-12-24T00:59:00.000-08:00

2005 started off with me in Penang, getting over a really bad flu. Then I was in Osaka, having a wonderful time before heading back to Tucson.

Things were ok, I was settling into my cute little townhouse, trying to motivate myself to study for my candidacy advancement exams. But of course I was always distracted by something called life. Fast forward 3 months with lots of ups and downs, I passed the exams and next thing I knew I was supposed to leave Tucson in 4 months.

I managed to squeeze in a trip to Grand Canyon with Louis over the 4th of July weekend before packing up the whole house, sold it, and drove to California with nothing but Max suffering from motion sickness in the passenger seat (All my stuff was in a HUGE truck, driven by Chucky's dad).

Now time flies even when I was having a mediocre time. I'm getting used to here now especially after finding out some awesome restaurants in town. After having two Thanksgiving dinners, I'm ending this year, again, by some much anticipated traveling. Although it won't be as big as last year's trip to Asia, I'll take a domestic trip anytime when the chance is given.

I'm spending Christmas in a cabin up in the mountains of North Carolina, and New Year unwinding in Ohio countryside. Even though it has been an abnormally eventful year with lots of unexpected twists and turns, as I'm sitting here typing away with a trip to look forward to, I couldn't help but realize that how great my life has been, regardless all the bad things that had happened. Life is good.

Thanks for reading my schizophrenic postings, I'll have more stories for you after Jan 5th. Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, have a wonderful New Year, and joyous holidays!

Random Quote

2005-12-01T01:05:00.000-08:00

"There's no such thing as stupid questions, only stupid people."

I Am Beautiful...Really?

2005-11-27T01:00:00.000-08:00

It was winter 2002, I was flying to Boston for grad school interview. I had a window seat and boarded the plane before most people did. About 5 minutes after settling into my seat, a group of very chatty people came and occupied the seats around me. They were mostly women ranging from mid-30s to late-50s, as well as some children. Obviously a family vacation in progress.

The woman who sat next to me was one of the older ones among them. She dressed comfortable yet not the usual casual-looking clothing people wear during vacation. As for me, I'm all dressed up for the interview. I had my dark gray wool sweater on top of olive-colored button-down long sleeve shirt, dress khakis pants, and black leather loafer. Once I landed in Logan International, I was supposed to take the "T" to my hotel, drop off my luggage then head straight for my interview. If the plane was delayed I would have to go to the school directly from the airport. So I decided to dress for the interview, as then it was the beginning of the post 9/11 era, and traveling by air meant expected unpredictability.

"Hi, how are you doing today?" I decided that I should be the first one who greeted the lady.

"Well, I'm doing really good. How are you doing?"

"Not bad at all! Looks like you have a huge group of fans traveling with you, huh?"

"Well it's my 60th birthday today!"

"Oh Happy Birthday! I could've sworn you're only in your early 50's!" That wasn't a lie.

"Well, thanks young man. My children decided to fly me and the whole family to Boston for a nice dinner followed by a show tonight. The we'll stay in a hotel suite and fly back tomorrow."

"Sounds like a great way to celebrate your birthday. You have nice children." I said with a smile. Then we got into the conversation on why I was going to Boston. Moments later she asked me where I was from. I told her.

She leaned forward, her nose two inces from my face, gave me a half wink and smile and said with an honest voice of a 60-year-old, "I've never been to Malaysia, or met anyone from that country. But now I can honestly tell other people that Malaysians are beautiful people."

Now I could be slow and stupid sometime but I knew that she was giving me a compliment I normally wouldn't get. I mean, on some rare occasions, someone who must had been drunk or high on something said that I was "sorta cute". And that was the highest possible compliment I could ever get on my looks. But beautiful? I mean the word 'beautiful' implies that I at least look like a human, and on top of that have extraordinary facial outline, with skin tone that glows, and hair that doesn't need any products. And I'm none of the above. My hair is alway dry like summer hay, along with that are my Dumbo ears, tiny crooked nose, acne-scarred face, and my head is the size of a grapefruit. I look like an over-grown midget.

Struck by the unlikely comment, I knew I had to think fast to come up with a reply. I could go witty, saying something like: Oh sweetie, don't think everybody in Malaysia is as pretty as me or you'll be disappointed when you're there someday; or, I could go humble: It's so nice of you to say that, but I'm not even close to being a representative of beauty, and there are beautiful people in every country, every culture.

As I was running those options in my head, time was ticking by and before it turned into awkward and uncomfortable silence, I gave the quickest response instead, shyly lowered my head with a smile, I said, "Thank you."

Thank you. What a stupid response.

Fast forward 3 years. I was just minding my own business while getting involuntarily sucked into some conversation. And somehow people really like to know if I'm seeing anyone. It normally goes like this.

"So do you have a girlfriend? Wait, of course you do."

"No, I don't."

"Really? You don't?"

"Really really."

"Don't worry, I don't think you'll stay single for long."

Eh, who said I'm worried, and who said I'm looking? Somehow they make me sound like I'm desperate. That happened 3 times. This month. While complaining to a friend about it she said, "Don't think too much about into it. When girls say that mostly mean they think you're a catch and just curious why you're still single."

Me? A catch? Am I finally good looking, or it's a "catch" as in "what's the catch?"

I ran to the bathroom and take a long good look at myself in front of the mirror. I see the same person I know for 25 years, looking puzzled, trying to figure out if I'm beautiful. Then I thought, well, maybe this is just one of those being confident things. Or, maybe this is one of those not trying to hard things. I don't belong to either of those.

Just as I thought I was starting to understand Narcissus, I gave up looking into the mirror. Partly because my eyes were extremely tired from trying to search for a pretty spot, and partly because I didn't want to turn into a flower. I'm prettier than that.

Slaving Away

2005-11-13T22:07:00.000-08:00

Graduate students are modern slaves, I can't stress that enough. Friends don't let friends drink and drive; really good friends don't let friends go to grad school.

There is this episode in The Simpsons that goes somewhat like this:

Lisa won free tickets to a foreign film from a call in show on radio, and the whole family went to the theatre.

Bart: [after watching the foreign film] I was so bored I cut the pony tail off the guy in front of us. [holds pony tail to the back of his head] Look at me, I'm a grad student. I'm 30 years old and I made $600 last year.

Marge: Bart, don't make fun of grad students. They've just made a terrible life choice.

Well said. But I can't say I regret my decision. I mean, you never know unless you try it. Just one more thing to cross off my list. But the good thing is I'm climbing up the slave ladder and now I'm assigned a little slave of my own... for an entire second half of the fall quarter. So you think I'm on a break now, where I can slave-drive my slave and just kick back and relax for a little bit. But the problem is that I'm too nice a person, and am doing most of the work for my slave. So now I'm busier after having a slave, having to work extra tasks.

That's why I haven't posted much lately. Because I'm a slave of my own slave.

Two Dead Cats

2005-11-06T23:39:00.000-08:00

Finally back in California, and I'm freezing my butt off. Daylight saving time ended while I was having fun in AZ, where the sun was (and is) still shining bright. Now I'm back and it's dark around 5pm. I think I might develop a serious case of S.A.D. soon.

The trip was almost uneventful. I didn't do much, and didn't even see all the people I wanted to see. But I really needed the break and now I'm somewhat ready to head back to work. Keyword is somewhat.

The first major task I did since my vacation was cleaning up a dead body. A dead cat, that is. Chucky's cat got run over by a car right across her apartment. And the dead body was there for almost a day without being removed, and got run over repeatedly. Chucky was so distressed by the sight she couldn't even leave her apartment. So I was asked by her mom to help cleaning up the mess, something I didn't mind to do and was only happy I could finally do something to help.

The poor cat was indeed very very dead. Her head and front legs were mostly unharmed but the lower body was beyond recognizable. It was flattened, with bones nowhere to go but sticking out at all directions. Some yellowish gut-like substance were visible around her lifeless gray skin, and the dried blood glued the body to the ground. It was on a single lane street, and although the traffic wasn't too busy at that time I waited for 30-45 seconds for a couple cars to pass by, making sure there wasn't any oncoming car in sight before I proceeded. For some reason I didn't want to turn into a dead body while cleaning up another. It was a sad week for cats in Davis. My boss had to put down his sick cat while I was away in AZ. Although it wasn't as bloody or shocking as finding the cat's gut spilling on the street, seeing the cat struggling to breathe in the oxygen chamber and eventaully making the decision to put her down was just as traumatic.

I squatted down, and my attention went to the "gear" I brought along to this mission: a roll of paper towel, a huge black trash bag, and two pieces of cardboard. I decided against using any paper towel, put it in the trash bag, and started to scoop up the body using the cardboard pieces. The breeze was more on the strong side and I had to step on the bag so it wouldn't be blown away. After some effort, I clumsily got the body on the cardboard, and the whole thing felt heavier than I expected. It's so strange to think that this "thing" used to be blessed with life, which I babysat and fed her with food mixed with crushed medicine, and used to be rubbing her face on my ankle, asking me to pat her only to hiss at me and scratch me or bite me before I had any time to react.

I tried not to drop the body on the ground, or to touch it with any part of my skin, and dump it in the trash bag. I took the bag and threw it away at the trash collection site in Chucky's apartment complex. All was done, and I drove home.

It always gets me thinking when I am face to face with death. These few weeks much hype was given to a dangerous "game" among teenagers after a case of death was reported. The game being "The Choking Game". Apparently, nowadays kids are playing with their lives at stakes. The game is simply to cut off oxygen supply to their head, causing hypoxia by suffocating themself with ropes or anything that could tie around their neck. They do that till they pass out, and eventually enjoying the rush of blood flowing back to the brain. Sometimes, they even take turns to choke each other with their bare hands.

And they call this a game? I mean what happened to Lego? Or Computer, or X-box?

While my boss and colleague are grieving over their dead cats, kids are bringing themselves to the brim of death, just to get high. As disturbing as it may sound, maybe this is just natural selection at play. Call me a whimp, but as I'm having some chicken satay and roasted potatoes and broccoli in garlic cheese sauce for dinner, life is just too flavorful to risk it on a stupid game. I love to breathe and every single inhale is enjoyable enough for me as it brings oxygen molecules to every cell of my lungs. I don't need to deprive myself of oxygen to appreciate the feeling of blood bringing oxygen back to my brain.

Simple as that.

Gobble Gobble

2005-10-25T19:49:00.000-07:00

"I'm really stressed out about the seminar tomorrow. I hate speaking in front of a crowd." I was talking with one fellow student when she told me about her fear of public speaking.

"Well, I'm sure you'll do fine. However, I'm sorry I won't be able to attend the seminar as I'll be out of town tomorrow."

"Oh really? Where are you going?"

"Tucson." I know, even my vacation sounds boring. Tucson. I mean, I was just there like 7 weeks ago.

"Oh cool, why are you going there? Visiting friends?"

"Well, funny that you asked. This might come out weird but I have a phobia of going through daylight saving time change. For the full two years in Ohio, I held my breath till I passed out on those particular Saturday nights when the time changed, so I would wake up in a new day, bypassing the mind-boggling 'spring-forward; fall-behind' phenomena. Then I left Ohio and moved to Arizona, where, because of me, outlawed daylight saving. Now I'm in California, and the weekend that will throw me off into a high-alert state of panic attack is coming up soon. So I've decided to pack up my bags and retreat to good old Tucson!"

She looked at me as if my second head just grew out of my neck and bit off my ear, and then slowly backed away from me. I guess I've successfully convinced another person that I'm clinically insane. But she had it coming. I mean, take a look at me and you know I'm nothing close to being a wild child who tells the most exciting stories in a party. People must be high on something if they ask me something begin with how or why or what, and expect an answer from me that is inspiring, life changing, humorous, and exciting. As much as I wish there's a law stating boring people should be shot, sadly, 98% of my life has been made up with events that are as interesting as traffic school.

"What did you do last weekend?"

"Nice of you to ask. I went to the grocery store to get some potatoes and onions...oh, and some tofu too. You guessed right! I made some vegetarian curry for dinner. And then I did laundry because I was out of clean socks, and cleaned my bathroom before mildew colonizes the whole tub."

By the time the word "grocery" came out of my mouth, their eyes began to wander. It's either the story of my life is so boring that I could make an A.D.D. out of anybody, or they just suddenly developed a severe case of lazy eyes. At "laundry" they started to tap really fast with their right foot. That could either mean they're anxious of getting the hell out of this conversation, or that they needed to piddle real bad.

So it's clear that I better save my boring stories to myself, and give people what they want. Fabrication is the key word, and, sex and violence are the main guidelines.

When I was 11, I got a bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) shot for TB immunization (I happen to have a previous post about TB). It got infected and later developed into a keloid scar and left a huge, weird-looking mark on my upper left arm. Whenever I go swimming with my friends or wear a tanktop, there bound to be some too-good-to-mind-their-own-business nosy parker who ask me, hey, what's that on your shoulder?

Of course my first instinct is always to tell the truth (I'm trying to write this with a straight face). But, looking at them, their eyes sparkle from the anticipation for an exhilarating story, I would then give them what they want.

"I was 10 years old. If you think I'm skinny now you should've seen me then. I probably weighed no more than 60 lbs. There were these bullies at school who always picked on me, throwing stones at me on a good day, tearing my homework to pieces and crushing my lunch box on a bad day. And then, one day, when I was pinned down and forced to eat earthworms, I yelled out and dared them to a challenge that could prove who's the bravest of all. The challenge being who could stand fire burning on his flesh the longest. I then took out a lighter and positioned the tiny flame on my left shoulder, until all of us could smell the odor of burnt flesh, not unlike the stench of burnt rubber. I left it on for 56 seconds, without a flinch. The bullies knew they couldn't top that, and, from that day onward, they left me alone. And that's how I got the scar."

*****************************

Thanksgiving comes early for me this year. Although I'm not a big fan of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, or cranberry sauce, I enjoy the part where friends and family gather for a whole day feast. I'm thankful for all those people out there (you know who you are) who never fail being a true friend to me.

And, just in case you're wondering, I shall be back journalizing sometime in the second week of November.

May the time changing goes peacefully, and have a fun and safe Halloween! Boo~~

Rambling On

2005-10-21T22:38:00.000-07:00

So I have no self control. I keep telling myself I have to save money. But did I? Could I?

I have a small trip coming up next week to Tucson, and another at the end of the year to the southeast. Then next year, I'm thinking of taking 2 trips to Arizona, one to Wisconsin, Toronto, Osaka, and, maybe, Ohio, and Chicago. But who am I kidding? The chance of me making all those trips in a year is close to the probability of Angelina knocking on my door asking me to go orphan-shopping with her in Cambodia.

But I'd like to take a few of those trips in 2006, which is sneaking up on us as we speak. But with the 3 weddings and one potential wedding, no matter how you do your maths it all adds up to be a ginormous sum of $$$, meaning I'd have to start saving up now.

So, back to what I was talking about, cutting my budget tight. But, with my aristocratic background and noble blood in my veins that demands luxurious taste, it turned out to be a more difficult task than I thought. Everyday, my money disappears from my wallet just like that, faster than Dakota Fanning's childhood. I have no willpower to turn down any invitation. Want to go for a movie? Sure! Want to go get some coffee? Right on! Bookstore is having a sale? I'll grab some Vonnegut or Sedaris! And, today was: How about going to the haunted corn maze? To which I replied: Count me in!

I'm not big in celebrating Halloween. Sure I carved pumpkins and handed out candies but I don't usually go to a costume party every year. But, how could I say no to a haunted corn maze? That sounds way too cool to skip. To my disappointment, the haunted part is merely a loop (the ghost pattern route in the picture), and the rest of the real corn maze is the good old fashion, meaning boring, unhaunted trail.

It's our first outdoor lab activity, everyone in our lab including the spouses and kids were there. Unfortunately, my boss decided to stay behind in the parking lot with his son because he thought it might be too scary for him, who's only slightly over a year old. So we had our flash lights ready, tickets purchased, hands stamped, babies strapped on Vinny and Natty, and we're all ready to get scared.

Nobody wanted to lead, so I volunteered to walk in front of the pack. The first 5 seconds I kept telling myself: don't scream like a little girl, don't scream like a little girl. And, before we all get used to the dark trail and the smell of cornstalks, a...thing (it was so dark and sudden I didn't have the time to register in my brain) just appeared out of nowhere among the cornstalks and roared at us. And by us I mean me, since I was the one walking in front of everybody. So from that moment on we all lost our inhibition and screamed like a bunch of 8-year-old girls. Except for Vinny's daughter, Maggie, who is in fact 8 and she's just behaving the way she should. I didn't care if I screamed like a girl anymore because everybody else was screaming louder than me, Vent was tugging at my fleece sweater, and Chucky jumping at every corner when she saw her own shadow. I became the brave one.

After one or two more random stuff jumping out of the stalks, we came to a turn where this creepy looking clown statue was glowing under bright strobe light. It looked scary enough standing there, but as we walked by, it freaking screamed and chased after us! At that point Maggie just lost it and couldn't stop shaking. Coming up next was a corpse lying on a grave, and Maggie started to protest in French that there's no way she's going to move on. So there we were, standing in front of a dead body deliberating how the group should move on. Then it's decided the French would leave the haunted loop and do the real maze while the remaining 3 would continue on the trail. I paid my 8 bucks and I better get scared till the end damn it! As we waved goodbye seeing Vinny and his family walking away from fake ghosts and creatures, the corpse that was lying there not moving an inch the whole time suddenly came to life and jumped towards us! We ran for our lives and wondered if we would ever see the French again. After ducking away the attack of a masked man with a chainsaw, stumbling past an unknown creature who was swingging his long sabre, and trying not to collide into a gorilla-ape-like thing running straight towards us, we finally got out of the haunted loop and saw the daylight, I mean the bright spot lights, again.

We then went on and did the real corn maze, ran into the French who were totally lost, and reformed our group. We decided to turn right only, and after several dead ends and Vinny's questioning about our method, we found the exit, tired and hungry and thirsty, ready to call this Friday night to an end.

It was sorta fun. The haunted part could be longer, but I seemed to be the only one who wanted more of it. At first I thought I'm such a brave person, but, after thinking about it for a couple minutes, I realized that it's because my shock receptors are over-saturated since I'm always around my crazy co-workers, who're scarier than all haunted mansions combined.

I might go to another haunted house when I'm in Tucson next week. Halloween is not even here yet and I'm already tired of it. I guess there's a reason why I don't go out of my way to celebrate this holiday every year. Looking at all the annoying kids running around the corn maze, I felt that I'm almost too old for even being there playing along. Apparently my money isn't the only thing that disappears fast without my awareness, and just like that the Dakota Fanning reference doesn't seem so funny anymore.

House of Light

2005-10-18T17:25:00.000-07:00

The Curse of the Cotton

2005-10-17T01:09:00.000-07:00

I was about 7 years old, helping out in my father's convenience store. My father went for a restroom break when there's no customer around and I was all by myself in charge of the store. Shortly after my father stepped out, a house-wife looking woman walked in the store.

"Hey, boy, where's your father?"

"He stepped out for a while but I can help you with whatever you need."

"OK. Umm...well, do you have cotton?" Some hesitation in her voice.

"Sure we do, just a sec." I was feeling proud of myself, just like any other kid when he helps out to do some "grown-ups" task.

I found the cotton, put it on the counter in front of her. "There you go. It'll be $XX."

"Uh...well, this is not what I want."

"What do you mean, it's cotton. Didn't you say you want cotton?"

"It's not this kind of cotton, boy."

"What kind of cotton do you want? What do you want it for? This is good cotton, I'm sure it works for whatever you want to do with it. Why don't you buy this and give it a try?"

My father came back just in time to save the day. Apparently, the woman was asking for tampon. And that was the first time I realized that, the word cotton, in my mother tongue, can also mean tampon. I mean, I was only 7, how was I supposed to know that? I bet no other 7-year-old boy has ever asked a female stranger to shove cotton in her vagina before. Little did I know she's a witch in disguise, I failed the test and with that, I'm forever cursed.

Fast forward 18 years.

Because I major in pharmaceutical sciences, my friends frequently ask me about health-related issues. And because I have an honest face, they even ask me about very personal stuff. One of my female friends' favorite questions is about menstrual cramps (to which my answer is always the single word: magnesium!); and, under the spell of the curse, I'm often asked by my female friends to get tampons for them.

I'm not going to list out every single occasion I was asked to do so, but the most recent request was by Stompy. I was in the shower (thank god!) when she called, and when I got out of the shower there was a message waiting for me.

"Hey, it's me! Could you please buy some tampons for me before picking me up to work?"

I mean, she's a very good friend, but I just wasn't in the mood to go tampon shopping for a friend that day. I ignored the message, and went to pick her up.

"Hey, I just found out you called me, anything important?" I asked when she got in my car. I'm a good liar.

"Well, I was asking you to get me some female hygiene product."

"Oh, I'm sorry I was in the shower, do you want to stop by the store to pick up some?"

"It's OK. I asked Chucky for it."

"Oh, well, I would have got it for you." Yeah, right. That's a total lie.

In my defense, I ran this scenario through a couple friends. One girl one guy, just to be fair.

"Geez, that's like a guy's worst nightmare! I probably won't even do that for my wife!" -- was Lee's response, the male representative.

"I don't even ask my fiance to do that for me. Definitely not going to ask a male friend for that. I just make sure I'm well-supplied. I mean, it's not like it's something unexpected!" -- was Annie's response, the female representative.

I rest my case.

So I asked Stompy why she called Chucky for the tampons.

"First of all, I thought I better ask a girl for this kind of stuff."

Good thinking. But I don't blame her for calling me. It's not her fault; I'm cursed.

"Second of all, knowing you," she paused, rolled her eyes, and continued, "you'd probably get me Depend just because it's funny!"

You know me well, Stompy! I wished I could have thought of that!

Stompy has moved on with her life. But before getting a kiss from the chosen postmenopausal female toad, the curse is still not broken. Soon enough, another fertile girl will ask me to do her a big favor.

Where's the toad? I'm ready for my kiss!

***It's my brother's birthday! Party on!

Dinner Tonight

2005-10-16T21:11:00.000-07:00

Penne with egg plant, sausage, tomatoes, and mushrooms (marinated in balsamic vinegar), garnished with fresh parsley and feta cheese. Yum~~~

Desert Collage

2005-10-14T19:11:00.000-07:00

My Arachnidan Roommates

2005-10-12T00:35:00.000-07:00

It's incredible how many 8-legged friends we have around here. Everyday there's a new one, a different one, a weirder one. I thought of giving them names, but as more and more of them emerge everyday, I gave up.

There's one living in my bathroom, in one tiny corner in the shower. Everytime I take a shower, its web is destroyed by the water. You would think it is smart enough to move elsewhere, but when I'm taking a shower the following day, sure enough, that very spider is there happily spinning a new web. After a few days, I think this ritual forms a mutual bond between us. It spins a web, I destroy it, and this goes on in a never-ending cycle. Everybody's busy and happy.

Since Davis is swarming with flies, I welcome these spiders and my ultimate goal is to train a team of fly-hunting spiders and save the city of Davis from this annoying problem. The war is on!

Que Sera, Sera (Part Dos)

2005-10-11T18:42:00.000-07:00

While trying to make a mental list of possible careers for myself, it suddenly occurred to me that there’s almost nothing that actually suits me perfectly.

I hate it when people say “He’s born to be a lawyer”, or “There’s nothing else I’d rather do other than being a butcher, no doubt about it”. I mean, how do they know that they’re meant to do a certain job for the rest of their lives, without wondering if there’s something else out there better for them? Have they actually tried all the possibilities before settling down on that particular one? No.

My past experience tells me that having an idea of a job and actually doing it for a living are totally different things. The frustrating part is that there’s no way of knowing it unless you actually try it out. And, the sad part is, our society doesn’t honor job hopping. We can’t just try on a new job every couple months to find our perfect niche. Look around we’re surrounded by people who hate their careers, and the world is packed with individuals incompetent for their jobs.

Anyhow, I digressed. So what will I be when I grow up? Let's look at my options, shall we?

Professional athelete seems to be a very attractive career to me. You work only that several months a year, and earn enough to retire in about 10 years. If that's not enough, you can always pick up a million-dollar endorsement of a product. It doesn't matter which sport: tennis, ice hockey, football, soccer, golf, or basketball, it just has to be something that gives me lots of money without working too hard on it.

But there are some problems. Apart from me lacking coordination (please refer to Part Uno), I also lack the physical properties of an athlete. I'm often teased and asked if I played in the midget league soccer. And, once when I was buying a shirt in a department store and couldn't find my size, the sales person gently asked me to look upstairs with a smirk on her face. "Upstairs" turned out to be the children's department. I was 22 then.

So, playing any sports is out of the question. How about other lucrative jobs? Lawyer, doctor, or dentist? Nah, those professions sound too much work to me. Business tycoon? Well, I have to admit it's very appealing, but I'm just not competitive (i.e. cutthroat) enough. Engineer? Not into numbers. Actor? Not good looking enough. Politician? Don't like to argue with idiots (although I don't mind the lying part, I'm pretty good at pretending and lack the morality not to do so).

So there, I'm screwed.

I wonder if there's such career as "undeclared", just like in college. I was too focused in college and never used the privilage as an undeclared student. I guess I'm living through my second juvenile now and this time I won't let any acceptable privilages slip through my fingers. When asked what do I do for a living, I'll hold my head high and say, "I'm undeclared, but I do have several potential minors that I'll consider!"

Anyhow, I seriously don't know what I want to do, or achieve in life. But I'm damn sure trying to make the most out of it.

Oh well. Que sera, sera. And life is beautiful after all.

Max is Fine

2005-10-09T00:21:00.000-07:00

For some reason I've been getting questions about how Max is adapting to Davis. Even my boss asked about him when he called in from his "vacation" in NY to check on our weekly progress. I guess I'm too lazy a person for anyone to think that I'm capable of keeping a tortoise. I have to admit, I forgot to feed him some mornings, but, hey, he's still alive isn't he?

The "We" People Vs. Me

2005-10-07T23:49:00.000-07:00

OK, I'm 25, and I'm single.
I'm at that age where most of my friends are getting married and I'm invited to 4 weedings next year. Chucky said, " That's nice, now you only need one funeral and you'll meet the girl of your dreams!"
The thing is I've had my share of good and bad (well, mostly bad), long and short (well, mostly short) relationships. I've had enough for now and being single is great. Of course most of my friends are not single...and they're getting uncomfortable that I've failed all my past relationships, and don't seem to be in a hurry of getting myself involved in a new one. They're starting to think that maybe I'm one of those guys that'll stay single forever. And, couples don't like single people. That's a fact. They get uncomfortable whenever the head counts are in odd numbers.
Well, before I get any further, don't get me wrong. I'm not a bitter single guy who hate couples. I love my friends as who they are, not what relantionship status they're in. But that's a particular type of couples that annoys me, just enough to make me write this blog.
They're the "we" people.
Before dating their partner, those people refer themselves as "I", just like normal people do. Then they meet someone, and suddenly they become plural.
It normally starts with some general statements like: "We love cheese", "We play tennis every weekend", "We don't like cell phones".
Then it gets more elaborate and detailed: "We like our coffee extremely dark, with honey instead of sugar, no cream", "Yesterday we went to the DMV to renew the registration of our cars, and the day before we went to our favorite restaurant downtown and got our favorite entrée, which is marmelo-glazed pork tenderloin with a side of butter squash soup with toasted walnuts", "We love having dinner with the Edwards, he's funny and she's a good cook. But we don't quite like the Gordons, their kids are little devils. We can tolerate the Smiths if he doesn't go on and on about his job. And we don't get the Todds, from their hairdos to the color scheme of their house. We just don't get it."
Well, I just don't get it why you don't ever have your own opinion, or do stuff by yourself anymore.
Not that I'm egocentric, but I love having some alone time here and there. And I will never give up the privilage of using "I", "me", "my", "myself", and "mine" in my sentences.
If I ever become one of the "we" people, please, by all means, kill me.

What I Learned in the Zoo - Part Quatre

2005-10-06T17:35:00.000-07:00

When it's cold outside and you're blue inside, just get on your hooves and...dance!

***********************************************************************

Ok, these pictures aren't taken in the zoo. Some of you probably know Boogie (the 2nd picture, right one on the 1st picture), or even met him in Ohio. Sadly, Boogie was put down on Sept 20th 2005. He was diagnosed with founders and had it bad. Boogie was a very beautiful saddlebred, strong, energetic, and a little wild in a good way. He was only 9. So in honor of Boogie, just get up and dance, because that's the spirit of Boogie.

Speaking of Penguins...

2005-10-04T17:54:00.000-07:00

Ahhh... all the hype about penguins.
Personally, I like penguins in cartoons. Remember the evil penguin in Wallace & Gromit? How about the crazy penguins in Madagascar? I took the pictures of the animals in Chicago Brookfield Zoo, summer 2003. It's just a coincident that I show the penguin picture in my previous post, as penguin is the "it" bird of this summer.
So what's with all the hype about penguins? If you haven't heard about the story, read on.
It all started when the acclaimed documentary about emperor penguins, "The March of the Penguins", hit theatres this summer. Emperor penguins, the Antartica birds with the royal name, live a life far from the nobleness of its majestic title. The movie got extremely good review and people couldn't stop talking about it. Then, it suddenly became the conservative movie of the year, coined as "The Passion of the Penguins" by conservative film critic and radio host Michael Medved. Why? Because the movie shows tremendous conservative family values, as well as the hint of intelligent design. I'm not taking side here, but don't you think this is an animal movie gone religious and political way to fast and far? Well, it doesn't stop here.
Have you heard of Silo and Roy? No? Well, read on.
This part of the story started with Wendell and Cass, a lovely couple of African black-footed penguins at the New York Aquarium in Coney Island. They've been together since 1994, however, several years after that, neither of them had laid an egg. It's impossible for human to tell the gender of penguins by merely looking at them. Cass was always thought to be the male of the couple, as he's the more aggressive bird, and, most importantly, he's the one on top when they had sex (and the females normally just lie there). One day, a keeper saw Wendell on top...and the plot thickens.
A blood test in 1999 proved both Wendell and Cass are males. They made headlines, gay and anti-gay activists both shared their two cents on this phenomenon. So what happened to Wendell and Cass now? This is where the reality part kicks in. Nobody cares! Why? Here enters Silo and Roy, the newer, younger, and more popular "gay" chinstrap penguin couple at the Central Park Zoo. They started to hang out together in 1998, and grew more and more famous as the "gay penguins" coined by the media. In 2000, Silo and Roy made headlines again by hatching an egg (taken from a young penguin couple and given to them by a keeper), and raising a female chick named Tango (I have to admit, this is a sorta funny and clever name).
So there, the birth of gay heroes. And penguins have never been so political before.
For the last two seasons, Tango has paired up with Tazuni, another female penguin. And this is getting a bit too daytime soap opera for me. Just when I thought people started to lose interest in Silo, Roy, and Tango, they made headlines again!
So what's new with them now? Apparently, Silo and Roy's nest was destroyed by some aggressive penguins (I guess there are bullies and homophobes everywhere) and that had caused them to drift apart. Silo then left Roy and now spotted being with another penguin, and, get this, a female penguin named Scrappy! Penguin drama, anyone?
Of course, opinions poured in from all corners again.
I'm so over the penguin hype. They're cute, they're neat, leave them be. Save the political or religious commentaries for, if you must, the real human beings in our societies.
Hmm...I wonder if penguin tastes like chicken.
I bet it does.

What I Learned in the Zoo - Part Trois

2005-10-03T17:45:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, when I'm down, all I need is a true friend standing by me with his/her arm around my shoulder. It means more than all the words in the world combined.

What I Learned in the Zoo - Part Deux

2005-10-02T00:20:00.000-07:00

Even the king won't forget his beauty sleep.

What I Learned in the Zoo - Part Un

2005-10-01T22:13:00.000-07:00

It's sure nice to be on top of the world, but it's quite lonely up there.

A buddhist American, a catholic Filipino, and, well, me

2005-09-30T22:58:00.000-07:00

So, roommates again.

It's not too bad...so far.

Two guys and a girl under one roof. In Chinese, boy/girl/boy spell out 嬲, which means "to flirt" in Mandarin, and "angry" in Cantonese. I guess if a girl starts flirting with two boys, at the end at least someone will be angry. So it sorta makes sense.

So we have a caucasian girl who's a borderline buddhist and embraces Asian cultures; and we have a Filipino catholic boy who goes to church every Sunday; and then there's me, who thinks the only god is Google, since it's the only source I know where I'll get most of my questions answered.

The good thing is, they're both nice people. And the better thing is, they both think I'm a sane person. Shhh...don't tell them what they're getting themselves into. If I'm careful enough, they might think I'm normal. Wait, you don't think I can pass as a normal, sane person? Go ask the snails and the wasps, they can be my witness.

Water Lily

2005-09-30T00:56:00.000-07:00

When I was home last winter, the lilies were blossoming, most pretty in the early morning when the sun was bright but the air was still moist from the dew and cool from previous night's chill. They are the most exquisite water lilies I've ever seen, because they have been tended with love by my mom's hands. And I've never felt so lucky before in my life, knowing that I was raised by the same pair of hands.

The Silent Giant

2005-09-28T18:48:00.000-07:00

Für Louis

2005-09-27T00:18:00.000-07:00

A French Family, a Shaman, and a Gay Puppeteer

2005-09-26T20:10:00.000-07:00

I went to two dinner parties during the weekend. One hosted by the French post-doc working in my lab, the other by a friend of a friend.

Vinny the post-doc and his wife Natty have 3 kids. An 8-year-old daughter and 2.5-month-old twin boys. My boss brought along his 1-year-old infant. Throughout the night the lively discussion included French and American politics, languages and their involvement in cultural and inter/intra-national barriers, what to feed your babies, more baby stuff that I totally ignored (and forced them out of my memory for those tiny bits that initially escaped my mental screening filter), and whether or not Vinny is gay, accompanied in the background by the symphony of baby crying (or something sounded like crying).

Vinny, during the first month working with us, told us a story about his friend. It went like this: my friend, who married a girl named Natty and has three kids, one day just told everybody he's gay and completely changed his lifestyle including his job and all that. At that time, he just made the big move to Tucson and his family was still in France. We couldn't help but thinking, hmmm, a French guy, wife's name is Natty, has 3 kids, and just made a huge change in his life. Every single sign screams that person is Vinny. But now we're formerly introduced to his wife and 3 kids, so there goes the theory. However, my friend Chucky is still teasing him that by telling us the story, it could be an indication that deep down inside his gay innerself is longing to be liberated.

Then I went to the other dinner party. Contrary to the first party, I didn't know any of these people before that night. There was where I met the shaman and the puppeteer. All my life, I've never sat down and had dinner with a shaman or a puppeteer, not to mention both on the same night. One more thing to cross off my to-do list. Out of this random bunch of people (there were 8 including me), one used to live in Malaysia, one used to live in Ohio, and one used to live in, you guessed it, Arizona; and now we all find ourselves in Davis, CA. Small world, huh? The conversation topics revolved around the spirit of all things (shamanism), the link between insanity and genius, puppet show production, how to bend metals with your mind power, social counseling for the mentally-disabled to avoid using code 5150, and Crate & Barrel dinnerware.

From the two groups of people I hung out with during the weekend, I realized that I'm surrounded by a bunch of weird people.

And with that thought and a smile on my face, I know I'm at home.

A Brand New Day

2005-09-22T22:24:00.000-07:00

Welcome back, everybody!!!

The hiatus is finally over. Now it’s time to fill you in about my life again. Lucky you.

Overall I’m pretty happy about the move to Davis. The hardest part is over and now it’s time to get myself comfortable in a new place. It might take a while, but this grey area between just moved in and knowing the place like the back of your hand is always frustrating and intriguing at the same time. That’s what makes it fun. It’s like going out on a first date, just that your date is the city itself.

Anyhow, it’s genetically programmed in me to be critical. Apart from the “I miss all my friends” cliché, which is true, here comes the list.

Ten Things I Dislike About Moving to Davis

10. Got an ugly and uneven tan on the left side of my body from the nearly 900-mile drive. My knees and butt hurt for 2 days after the drive.
9. There’s no Trader Joe’s, Target, Bed Bath & Beyond, Costco, shopping mall, or even Wal-Mart in Davis. I literally have to go to the next town/city to shop.
8. Back to renting, ugh; roommates again, ugh!
7. Have to learn the politics and bureaucracy in a work place all over again. Nothing gets done before you find out who are actually helpful and who sit on their fat asses all day bitching about life when you ask them to do what they’re getting paid to do.
6. Max wasn’t happy till we finally settled in my new house. He didn’t eat or come out from his shelter for 3 days. He hated the drive more than I did, even though all he had to do was just to sit there burying his face in the alfalfa pellets. Poor Max.
5. For the first week, all I did at work was unpacking; and, all I did at home was unpacking. Fun.
4. Cafeteria at work is worse than the one in Tucson UMC. It has much less choices for food and coffee, and more expensive.
3. Three letters: DMV! It gives me nightmares just to think that I have to go to wait in the long line to take the driving test again. AAHHHHHH~~~~
2. Yoga studio with Bikram classes, where art thou?
1. No internet connection for more than 2 weeks!!!! It’s a miracle I’m still alive.

Davis is in fact a little too small for my taste. But, I do think a place is not so much as what’s offered, but what you make out of it. Since I was born dirt poor, I’m an expert of making the most out of everything. I’m sure I’ll soon learn to enjoy living in Davis, just like I embraced Alliance and Tucson in no time.

OK, enough whining. I have a date with Davis. Who knows, I might get lucky tonight.

p.s.: Happy birthday, Louis.

Last Entry in Tucson

2005-09-06T15:45:00.000-07:00

I told Max that we're going for a long ride together soon. He turned away and quietly ate his lettuce.

Well, folks, it's time for a hiatus. This computer needs to be packed up, and I will only have internet connections in Davis after Sept 22nd. I'm sure I'll have lots to share with you by then.

Davis, ready or not, here I come.

The Angel

2005-09-03T22:01:00.000-07:00

I finally met the Angel. Yes, THE Angel.

She's beautiful as promised. Her face is the sky above the mountain range. Her breast (yes, singular), is as perfect as it gets. She's a very good listener. Looking down at me with her ever so comforting smile.

Everything will be all right, my child. She said.

And, somehow, I believed her. Everything will be all right. I repeated after her.

Her face is the sky, and she'll always be my angel.

Gas it up

2005-09-01T19:48:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning and gas is $2.89 per gallon!!! Should've filled it up last night. Oh well.

Que Sera, Sera (Part Uno)

2005-08-30T19:10:00.000-07:00

I've never seen Hitchcock's "The Man Who Knew Too Much". But whenever I hear the song "Que Sera, Sera", I think of the pilot episode of "Dead Like Me", a series on Showtime that I like a lot, which is of course canceled after two seasons.

The series followed the life, well, the after-life of George, an 18-year-old girl who was killed by a toilet seat dropped from the Mir space station, and due to miscalculation, landed on Seattle, or more accurately, landed on George. She's pre-selected to be a grim reaper, a "public service" provided by a group of "undeads" to take the souls of people seconds before they died from accidental circumstances. Why popping their souls? Because by doing that, the dying victims would be free from suffering. You mean you didn't know that?

Anyhow, so she went through the whole pilot episode trying to deny her destiny. Then, towards the end of the show, she finally accepted her first assignment with much reluctance. Her first soul to be taken belonged to a sweet and cute little 7-year-old girl. George tried to alter her fate to save her life, but it only led to worse situations. She finally did her job and took the little girl's soul and sent her to her after-life. The song "Que Sera, Sera" played in the background as it faded to black. Yeah, who would've thought you would die at the age of 18 and start popping people's souls? Whatever will be, will be.

So what do I want to be when I grow up? With the moving and all those stuff going on, people keep asking me when I'll be done with school, and, the most dreaded question, what are you going to do after that?

When I was a little boy, I had the generic answer of telling people that I wanted to be a doctor when I grow up. Then I went on to the phase of wanting to be a writer, and then a psychologist. Yeah, I know, I lacked originality and imagination. This morning, I got a surprise phone call from a friend who's currently working in Japan as an English teacher. According to her, nowadays, kids have more exciting ambition, such as to be a pop star or power ranger.

Hmm, I don't think I can be a super hero. I lack the coordination to even run straight. And, I also lack the capacity to care about every single human being. Say, if a spoiled kid decides to ignore the signs and common sense and leans over the railing and falls into Niagara Falls, I'm not going to put down my burrito, rush to the nearest phone booth, change into my super hero outfit, and fly over there to pick him up just right on time before he hits the water. No. Situation like that I'll just let natural selection takes care of things and removes stupidity from the human gene pool.

Somewhow following the line of sciences, I now find myself in grad school going for my PhD in Pharmaceutical Sceinces. Although I generally enjoy doing research, recently I've found myself getting tired of being in a lab pipetting chemicals. I'm probably not going to stay in this profession for long. So I'm back to square one. What do I want to be when I grow up, I mean, after I get my PhD? I could retire now if I get a penny everytime I'm asked this question.

The cliche saying is that it's never too late to choose a new direction for your life. So even at the age of a quater century old, there's still hope for me. Lucky me.

I know the future's not ours to see, but what will I be?

Stay tuned for Part Dos.

(Footnote: If you don't speak Spanish, "Que sera, sera" literally means "What will be, will be" in Spanish)

My Friends Succeed, Therefore I Am

2005-08-26T16:51:00.000-07:00

When I was younger, I discovered sarcasm and never hesitated in utilizing it in almost every sentence coming out of my mouth. My sisters got a bit annoyed, or perhaps jealous at my quick wit, and prohibited me from coming up with any clever line. When I said something with even the slightest hint of mockery, they'd say, "Hey, stop trying to be smart!"

They probably never thought by saying that, they were actually discouraging a little boy to exercise his brain. After a while, I gave up, and, literally, stopped trying to be smart. I even took a step forward by trying very hard to always blend in the background and making sure I wouldn't stand out in any situation.

So there, I was always a mediocre student, never tried too hard to excel in anything. By the time I entered college, since my sisters were paying for me at that time, I started to try a little bit so their investment wouldn't go wasted. And what do you know, I'm actually not stupid if I tried. I lost my confidence because of my sisters, and, regained my confidence because of them.

It was at first a very interesting experience, when people I didn't know started to whisper around me every time we get our exams back, knowing that it was probably me who got the highest grade again. But it took a bad turn when I realized people were starting to have hopes in me. When the 5th person came up to me and said, "I know you'll succeed one day. You'll find the cure for cancer and be famous, and I get to tell all my friends that, hey, I know this guy", I decided I've tried for too long and created a wrong image of myself. I'm not motivated, I'm not ambitious, and I'm not dedicated enough to be the person who finds a cure for anything. I was trying this 'hardworking' personality just for the fun of it. Soon the excitement will be over and I'll want to fade in the background again. In other words, I'm just trying to escape from any expectation bestowed on me. At least I know a lazy person like me will not go far. And, before I lead everybody to come in the wrong conclusion about me, I should stop being someone I'm not.

Being a person who tries for the past several years, I'm now lost in terms of what I want to do next. When I was trying, I didn't have to think more than just doing my best in whatever that was handed to me. Now that I don't want to try anymore, all the options are open. I need to find a new identity, a new me.

Two days ago, when I was brainstorming and trying to list all the possible new identities on the back of an envelop, I got back in touch with a friend from high school through MSN Messenger. AK is a music genius. He's one of the most talented people I've ever known, and he plays like 50 instruments. Unlike most musicians, he's actually very intelligent, and gave up engineering to go to China's Beijing Central Music Conservatory, the best music school in China, to focus on his music career. Needless to say, soon enough he's being recognized as the top student there.

When the Malaysian King was visiting China, he's one of the performers to entertain His Highness. So he left Malaysia, went all the way to China to further his studies in music, just to find himself performing for the Malaysian King. Ironic isn't it? With AK's talent, I have no doubt one day he'll be conducting one of the best symphony orchestras in the world, and I'll have the best seat in the house feeling prouder than his parents.

Then it hit me, since I have many talented and intelligent friends like AK, my new identity can easily be famous people's friend. I've been very supportive to a lot of my friends, and it's time I get rewarded by my unconditional gestures. So I'm happily switched to the other side of the spectrum, from being expected of something, to expecting something from others. Besides AK the world famous conductor, I can easily imagine Louis as the best attorney in the country, Clement the acclaimed graphic designer, MC the Pulitzer Prize winner, Mitty the Oscar winning animator, Willie the accomplished dentist, and Annie the most successful doctor ever lived.

So it's decided. I'll just be patient for now, and, once they're famous, I'll be their entourage. Whether they like it or not.

My Lucky Day

2005-08-25T18:55:00.000-07:00

Didn't I say yesterday that since the sun was shining bright, today would be a better day?

So, the time went over for an hour and a half on my parking meter and I didn't even get a ticket!!! This is a place where my friend Mitty got a $150 parking ticket for leaving her car for 30 seconds. All the prayers I said to the parking angels over the years have finally paid off.

Desert View

2005-08-25T09:36:00.000-07:00

The 1st Day Without Sunshine

2005-08-24T21:50:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was perhaps the 1st day in 2005 where the sun was hiding behind the thick gray clouds all day. I should've known then that it was probably a sign of upcoming bad luck. Too bad I wasn't superstitious and didn't pick up on that. Sure enough, I had a bad day today. Things were just not on my side. I did find a place to live in Davis though, and sent out my application.

Sun was shining bright today...hopefully that's an indication of a better tomorrow.

Tiramisu

2005-08-21T18:48:00.000-07:00

I got frustrated looking for apartments online, to distract myself from being too stressed out, I started to make tiramisu. I normally always have the ingredients ready in my house for tiramisu.

While the tiramisu is chilling in the fridge, I went to yoga with Annie and her fiance. It was such a wise decision...I'm all destressed and relaxed now, came home just in time for the tiramisu. Yum :)

Let me know if you want the recipe. I have the simplest recipe for tiramisu.

Happy Birthday, Mom

2005-08-21T11:39:00.000-07:00

Today is my mom's birthday. Initially I wanted to tell a story about my mom but I have too many things to worry about today so I'll do that some other time. Basically I'm moving in about 17 days and I still haven't found a place to live in Davis. Oh well, there's always Plan B, ie., staying with Chucky. But I'm pretty confident I'll find a place soon.

As far as weekend goes, I went to the 3-dollar theatre yesterday and watched a movie with Chucky and Mitty. Later this afternoon I'll probably go to the Bikram yoga class with Annie. Then probably spend the remaining of the day looking for an place to live online.

Happy birthday to you, mom. And don't worry, I won't tell your age.

妈妈，生日快乐！

A Stranger in My Own Country

2005-08-19T13:34:00.000-07:00

This is for my friend in Paris, Vava.

Again, back to the first week in Ohio. I remember when Maria told me about the new French TA.

"She's very nice, live nextdoor to my unit in Lily house", Lily house was the on campus housing for foreign language TAs.

"What's her name?"

"Banessa"

"What's that?" I had to take a double-take on that.

"BA-NES-SA"

"Vanessa?"

"No. BA. BA-NES-SA"

Banessa, that's sorta unusual. So I thought it's one of those French name that I've never heard of. It turned out that, the French girl's name is actually Vanessa. Maria is from Spain and that was my first encouter with a Spanish speaking person. Only later I realized that "V" in Spanish is pronounced like "B" in English.

One thing Maria did get right, that Vava is indeed one of the nicest people I've ever met. I spent many nights hanging out with Maria, Maren, and Vava in Lily House during my first year in Ohio. Lily House, I miss hanging out with all my friends in Lily House. It was so sad when I went back to the campus the following school year after summer vacation, after all of them had gone back to Europe, to find out that Lily house was torn down for a new parking lot. The new TAs were housed in different and actually nicer apartments, but my senior year was full with dramas and I never got the chance to hang out with them as I did with Maria, Maren, and Vava.

Among those 3, Vava is the only one who still keeps in touch with me. Once in a while I get an email from Maren, but never hear from Maria. I was invited to Maren's wedding about a year ago but it was such a bad timing for me and I didn't make it to Germany for that. One thing that I still feel bad about. I didn't even send a gift. Oh, bad, bad, me.

Vava recently read my blog and sent me an email of undates on her life and stuff. One thing she mentioned in the email kept lingering in my head hours after I read it. She said that having studied abroad then took the TA job in Ohio, she's so used to being a foreigner that now, living in the busy city life of Paris, she feels like a stranger in her own country. And, eventually, there's always a gap between her and the other people no matter where she goes.

I know exactly what she meant about that. We've seen and lived different cultures. The beginning is always a weird feeling, with every thing so, well, foreign. But then after a while, funny street names and unusual eating habits become your second nature. Slowly you change the way you live your everyday life, the way you talk, the way you communicate with other people. Then you go back 'home', the country you originally came from, and find out that you don't quite belong there as you don't live there anymore. Sad, but essentially a form of liberation from the mental boundry most people set for themselves in terms of what country they belong to.

I miss hanging out with you, Vava. It would be nice to get everybody together again to relive the happy times in Lily House. But that's just the crazy me speaking.

Big hugs, and all the best in Paris.

Windows

2005-08-19T12:22:00.000-07:00

It's a boring day so far.
I'm just sitting here waiting for them to get the windows replaced, one of a few projects to be done before the closing.
The new windows look nice, not that I get to use them for long.

TB or not TB

2005-08-18T00:10:00.000-07:00

I'm starting to work on my check-list for the things to do before moving. I've just scheduled my last appointment with my doctor, and asked for a copy of my medical records to bring with me to Davis. I know hiding somewhere in that thick pile of my medical records is my chest X-ray, and that brings back memories of one particular doctor's visit when I was in Ohio.

As a foreign student, I was required to show some immunization records when I arrived at my college. I had all the required shots except that I had to show a very recent TB skin test. So I made an appointment with a suggested local clinic to get it done. The first step of the test simply involved an injection of purified protein derivative containing tuberculosis antigens in my inner forearm. Then I had to go back for the second visit in 48 hours to get it 'read' by a nurse to see if a local reaction appeared on the injection site.

Now, one thing about me is that since I was a child I got bruised very easily, and I often woke up with small patches of bleeding under my skin especially around my neck, which, of course, teased by my friends as being hickies. About a year after that skin test only I found out that I have a condition called ITP, Immune/Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura, a platelet deficiency blood disorder caused by unknown factors.

So back to the TB skin test, circa before I know what the hell ITP is, of course there was redness and bruises around the injection site. The nurse was so excited that she treated me like 'Exhibit A' and asked some interns to gather around and examine what a positive TB skin test might look like. Then, with the enthusiasm like the meteorologist on evening news annoucing the first sign of sunny day after a long cold winter, she said that we would have to take a chest X-ray so the doctor can have a look to determine if I have tuberculosis. I followed her to another room where she asked me to take off my sweater and step on a designated spot. She then left the room and reappeared shortly after to tell me everything was done and it would take about 5 minutes for the film to develop.

When the film was ready, she took a glance at it then her happy face suddenly turned puzzled.

Oh great. This is not going to be pretty. I thought.

Then she turned to me, "We'll have to do this again"

"The X-ray? Why's that?"

"Well, you're not going to believe this. This is funny", she said with a forced smile and I knew for a fact that it was NOT going to be funny.

"Well, the preset X-ray was too strong for you. The X-ray penetrated too deep and the film turned out all dark. Let's reset the machine to a lower power and try this again"

"What? I've never heard of such a thing. How could that happen?" I mean, it's insane, right?

"Well, I guess you're too skinny compared to the average-sized people here whom the machine is set up for. I'm really sorry about this."

Hmm... supposed to be an apology, but sounded more like an insult. I know I'm skinny and don't particularly like to be reminded about that. Now even an X-ray machine thinks I'm skinny.

"Maybe it's not that I'm skinny but the average Ohioans are f..., I mean, big", I mumbled and she pretended she didn't hear me.

So we did everything again and this time with the machine set especially for me, the X-ray turned out fine. I got the doctor to look at the film and of course I didn't have tuberculosis. Later it all made sense that it's the ITP effect that caused the skin test to appeared positive.

When Maren and Maria picked me up from the clinic I told them the story.

"This is stupid. So they did this test to make sure you don't have TB but then maybe 20 years from now you'll get cancer because of that extra-strong beam of X-ray that's originally designed for 'big-boned' people", Maria used her fingers to make the quotation marks when she said the word big-boned.

Just when she said that Maren excitedly pointed out a phone booth with the height designed just right for a person to place a call from a car window. We've never seen a phone booth like that before.

"They don't even want to get out of the car to make a phone call. How lazy is that? No wonder they need high power X-ray"

This incident made me realized that I was no longer at home. I was in a place where the X-ray machine wasn't even set up right for me. And I started to worry if there would be more problems waiting for me.

Of course, time made everything clear. It turned out that, Ohioans, many bigger than me, were the nicest people I've ever met. I miss my days in Ohio. But, just like the pioneers, I'm slowly moving west. Ohio is in the past, and soon, so is Arizona.

On the 6th day, God created man

2005-08-16T18:24:00.000-07:00

On the 7th day, God created coffee ^_^

Buildings

2005-08-16T01:20:00.000-07:00

I love taking pictures... some of my favorite subjects are buildings and structures. They tell stories in a silent way.

Meet Maksimillian

2005-08-15T21:54:00.000-07:00

"I think I'm going to get a tortoise"
"Excuse me?"
"A tortoise, you know, the land-dwelling reptile with a hard shell"
"I know what a tortoise is. What are you going to do with it?"
"I don't know, put it in a tank and feed it?"
"You mean get one as a pet?"
"Yes!"
A moment of silence from the other end of the line and then burst out loud laughter.
"If you want to get a pet, get something that actually serves the purpose of being a pet, like a dog or something, you know, an animal you can walk or cuddle with"
"But my house is not big enough for a dog. It will be cruel to keep a dog here"
"That's true"
"Maybe I can make a tiny leash for the tortoise, you know, to walk it around. I bet I can patent that too"
"You must be out of your mind", she was laughing so hard she almost choked to death.
Well, one thing I didn't tell her was that a dog is too high-maintenance. A tortoise is the perfect pet for a lazy person like me. Best of all, some tortoises hibernate during winter, they just burried themselves and sleep! Now how great is that for me, for a whole couple months I don't have to worry about feeding it.
So it was set. I went to the pet store to look for a tortoise. I wanted to get a baby tortoise, and they had 3 types there. One Russian tortoise, two Greek tortoises, and many Sulcata tortoises. Sulcata was out of the question since they weigh around 100 lbs as they reach adulthood. I only recommend them if you need a mobile coffee table or a moving love-seat in the future.
In the pet store they kept the Greek and Russian baby tortoises in the same glass-tank. I liked both of them and couldn't make up my mind my first trip to the store. When I went back there the second time, I saw the Russian tortoise was all alone in the corner while the two Greek babies hanging out together by the food dish. That was when I decided to take the Russian, and named it Maksimillian.
That was almost 2 years ago. Max is a boy, I think. He's getting bigger and soon enough I need to get him a bigger tank. He likes to jump down from the top of his shelter log, and, occasionally, if you're lucky, he likes to pee on you.
Max, Oh, Max. How could I not love you?

Got to love Mondays

2005-08-15T11:12:00.000-07:00

Today marks the beginning of a new school year. School doesn't start till next week or so, I think, but my parking permit expired as of last Friday and I didnt' renew it since I'm moving soon.

"So you biked to work today?" Doug asked me as I told him about not having a parking permit anymore.

The thought of riding my bike to work didn't even cross my mind. Exposing yourself under the 110+ degrees Tucson sun will give you first degree burn in 5 minutes even if you rub a whole tube of SPF 50 on your skin. Another reason is that I'm just lazy. I drove and parked at the meter. So my day didn't start off too good since I'm in my grumpy mood for having to pay $1/hour for parking.

But that didn't last too long. A phone call from my realtor changed my mood from grumpy to annoyed. I don't know about you but I'll take grumpy anyday if my other option is being annoyed. When I'm annoyed I tend to say or do something that I might regret later. So apparently there will be another inspection of my house for some unclear reason later this afternoon, which is about 2.5 hours from now. Normally when the house is in escrow, there's only one home inspection and a termite inspection, both were completed about 2 weeks ago. This extra inspection throw me off guard and with such a short notice I didn't clean up my house before I leave for work this morning. This means I'll have to leave work, go home, and make sure my house is in perfect condition for the inspection.

There's only one thing you need to know about me, that I'm lazy. But no matter how lazy I am, I rather try my best to make this already over-complicated transaction go as smoothly as possible. So I should just shut up right now and go home to make everything perfect with my magic wand.

What are you reading?

2005-08-14T01:53:00.000-07:00

It's been a slow year for me in terms of reading something other than scientific journals. Here is the list of books I've read this year. Well, at least those that I remember right now.

1. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time -- Mark Haddon
2. The Catcher in the Rye -- J. D. Salinger
3. Cat's Craddle -- Kurt Vonegut
4. Jim the Boy -- Tony Earley
5. The Society of Others -- William Nicholson
6. Closing Time -- Joseph Heller
7. Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim -- David Sedaris

Currently reading:

1. The Dante Club -- Matthew Pearl
2. Saturday -- Ian McEwan

I don't have to say much about Salinger or Vonegut or Heller as they're just simply brilliant. Haddon's "The Curious Incident..." is such an intelligently written book that I couldn't let myself to put it down once I started reading it. Sedaris is extremely hilarious and is now on the list of my favorite authors.

Next on my list is Haruki Murakami's "Kafka on the Shore". I always have high expectation on his work and I'm sure this will be another good one.

So what are you reading?

Leaving the American Dream

2005-08-13T21:38:00.000-07:00

I'm leaving Tucson in 26 days, and there are still literally a million things on my to-do list to be completed prior to the moving day. It starts to hit me, although I might not openly admit it, that there are many things that I definitely will not forget about Tucson.

This is where I bought my first car and my first house. Don't think that I'm getting all sentimental on you. I'll always remember that simply because I went through hell to make it happen. Being poor all my life, buying a car and a house within a 6-month period was a big deal to me. Sure the car is a piece-of-shit used car and the house is a tiny 2-bedroom townhouse, they make me feel that I'm actually starting to live a life. I was poor before and now I'm in total debt. I've never been so broke but at the same time I've never felt so great. Ahh, the irony of living the American dream. Who cares if I'm $200,000 in debt? I'm a home owner now, renting are for suckers!! Well, of course, with my luck, it didn't last long. I'm being transferred to a place where I can't possibly afford to own. My American dream didn't even last for a year and in less than a month I'll go back to being one of those suckers. How could I be not bitter about this?

I'm going to miss my friends, the saguaros, and the sunset at Gates Pass. Thank God I have a million things to do before I move. Better keep myself busy, that'll make it easier for me to deal with all these.

Such is life

2005-08-11T19:41:00.000-07:00

"We don't cover that", she said in a cold tone.
"What?"
"T-H-E A-S-S-O-C-I-A-T-I-O-N D-O-E-S N-O-T C-O-V-E-R T-H-E R-E-P-L-A-C-E-M-E-N-T O-F T-H-E C-A-R-P-O-R-T R-O-O-F C-O-V-E-R-I-N-G"
That always happens to me. Whenever I talk to people I first met, they tend to stretch the words longer and say it louder if they think I don't understand English perfectly, as if by doing that someone who doesn't speak the language will miraculously gain the ability to apprehend them. This is probably never going to change for someone like me, whose first and last name contains only one consonant.
"I know what you mean, but I thought the exterior of the building is covered by the HOA, and last time I stood at the balcony I didn't feel like I was indoor at all"
"Look, don't get smart on me, boy. You can go back and read your 4367-page home owner's association handbook and if you could find that the carport roof covering is covered by the association then you can come back to me. But don't press your luck with that, you know, this is my job and I know the rules like the back of my hand"
That was pretty much the end of the conversation.
Great, I thought.
So I dealt with the situation the best way I knew, ignored it for now.
Since the day I've decided to sell my house, everything that could go wrong, well, went wrong. By now I know that sometimes it's best just to let the problem solves itself. I'm sure this roof repair episode will go away soon and before I know it I'll be facing some new ridiculous problems. I'm all ready, just give 'em to me.