Dear Diary

Dear Diary
Today I saw a boy
And I wondered if he noticed me
He took my breath away

Dear diary
I can't get him off my mind
And it scares me
'Cause I've never felt this way

No one in this world
Knows me better than you do
So diary I'll confide in you

um.... ok, actually I didn't write that myself. It's from a Britney Spears song (track 12 in Oops I Did It Again, in case you don't believe me and are wondering if I turned gay. it's a JOKE! not that funny, I'll admit). Anyways, I've never had much of a real diary before. It's always seemed more like a girl thing to me, kind of like Sanrio characters and sticker pictures. Not that having a diary/journal type thing makes you girly... but if you write daily in a Hello Kitty notebook and put lots of sticker pictures in it, be careful, that's what we call a warning sign.

This blog isn't supposed to be a diary or a record of everything I do. I started this thing in the hopes of writing down some thoughts now and then to clear my head, but also just to post anything I feel like posting. Since I've been busy this past week, though, here's a short summary of some of the things I've been up to and some of my thoughts along the way.

Taste of Chicago

I went to the Taste on the 3rd, mainly to watch the fireworks. It was completely packed with people that day, even more than the times I went in the past few years. I guess all that terrorism fear didn't really stop people from going out, which is good of course. It will be a sad day when a small number of religiously deluded people ruin life for the rest of us. As far as the food goes, it wasn't the best year I've experienced but I did get a good CheeseburgerCheeseburgerCheeseburger and some quality cherries. The fireworks were good. I know that they do it every year, and that people should be bored with the same old by now, but 4th of July is one day when fireworks are always appropriate and it just doesn't seem right without them. By the way, is it me, or can we not call it "Independence Day" any more without thinking of Will Smith and aliens? Same with Pearl Harbor and Ben Affleck. Stupid movie titles are going too far...

Ping Pong

I don't think you can be Chinese and not have played ping-pong. Not that white people or other races can't play, but there are very few Chinese friends of mine who don't play. It's probably because every Chinese dad plays and taught his kids how to play. At least that's how I learned, because my dad would always say he needed some exercise and get me to play him. It wasn't for the exercise, I'm sure, it's probably because he liked to destroy me in the game. Anyways, I played some of the boys last week (not all Chinese) and let me say that ping-pong is a very underrated game. It's simple, but fun, and as long as you're not way out of shape, you should be able to play for hours without getting that tired. You can play singles or doubles, and half the fun is talking smack to the other people when you're playing. It seems like the hugest feeling when you make an awesome slam, but when I step back and think about it, it's just a smacking a little plastic ball around on a table so it's probably overkill to celebrate like Terrell Owens when he scores a touchdown.

BBQ

Besides fireworks, probably the only other given for the 4th of July is people having barbeques. Props to anyone who offers up their house and time to prepare one. It takes a good deal of work, but I've honestly never been to a barbeque and not had a good time. TM is very cool for letting me chill with them even though I'm not Thai. Nobody's perfect, right?

At the Movies

If you have the time to burn, theater hopping is the way to go. Since me and Olivia had nothing better to do, we decided to go illegal and enact our own Buy 1 Get 1 Free. Being the nerd I am, I printed out the showings ahead of time knowing that we were gonna see Minority Report and Lilo & Stitch, then figured out the optimum combination for our plan of action. So we ended up seeing Minority Report first, then moseying our way around the whole theater while trying to subtly peek at the titles at each door until we found the 10:30 Lilo & Stitch. You should have seen us acting all sneaky, James Bond would be envious. I would feel bad for not paying to see the second movie if it weren't for the fact that I always seem to waste about 10 bucks getting a drink, popcorn, and Sour Patch Kids there. It's a ridiculous amount to pay, but no matter how many times I swear I will never be ripped off again, the smell of popcorn and those cute little colorful sour children always manage to reel me in.

Now would also be the time to point out that there is this high school dude that works there who is on a major power trip. If you ever see this kid at AMC Cantera, you will know who I'm talking about. It's kind of funny that there's a social hierarchy at the movie theater, but the employees are separated by the color of their shirt. I think this guy was wearing a dark red shirt while everyone else was navy blue, plus he was toting around his walkie talkie instead of a broom and dustpan so he must have been the big cheese there. Basically, he does stuff like check people's ticket stubs for the matinee showing of Undercover Brother or tell people to move to the center seats in each row when the theater starts getting full, kind of like what the conductors in Japan do when they prod people into the subway cars trying to fit the maximum number of passengers. I think it's pretty amusing, and I'm just waiting for the day when he tries to boss around some big angry man in a bad mood and the guy throws him across the room.

As for the movies, Minority Report was intense and weird, but thought provoking and pretty filled with action. I'd recommend it to whoever doesn't mind some unpleasant scenes. It seems like Tom Cruise is developing a penchant for doing weird movies. I think the last two of his movies I saw were Magnolia and Vanilla Sky, both of which left me scratching my head and feeling somewhat flabbergasted. Lilo & Stitch was kind of weird too, but in a less threatening way of course. This is one of those movies that I have to give a "FG-13" rating - female guidance strongly suggested, especially for ages 13 and over. Yeah, I would not be caught dead seeing this movie by myself ever, but it was okay because I had a girl with me. But if you were to see a movie like this, might as well go with Disney. When I was growing up, the Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and the Lion King were all solid, and I haven't watched too many since then but Mulan and Lilo were both decent for someone my age watching a kid's movie. Though I remember Mulan pissed me off cause they even drew her horse with slanty eyes.

Wisconsin

For the second time in three weeks, I made the drive north up 94 to the 'Sconz. This time it was to Milwaukee to visit my roommate from school (interning at GE) and check out Summerfest like I did 2 years ago. If you don't know what Summerfest is, it's basically like Taste of Chicago, except it's in Milwaukee with a $11 admission and has pretty famous bands performing there. One thing about Milwaukee is that it looks like a city, with the buildings, streets and all, but it is nothing like Chicago because the streets are empty and there is nothing to do. When I went to Summerfest, I could probably guarantee that the entire population of Milwaukee was either there or sitting at home drinking beer and talking about Ray Allen.

This time, Summerfest was pretty good but not nearly as fun as the last, but you just can't expect to duplicate the Britney experience, even if we got to see Sugar Ray (they suck by the way). But once again I was reminded that it's usually not about what you do, but who you're with, and being with about 10 of my best friends made it a good time right there.

Another thing that I noticed is that it seems like no matter where you go, there will be radio stations that are called "Kiss-FM," "The Mix," or "The Lite." Interesting, eh.

The best part was driving back at around 1 and getting back at 3 or 4, only to find that every door was locked in my house and I did not have a key to anything. I resorted to calling my sister's cell phone, and thankfully she woke up and opened the door for me. Then I proceeded to fall asleep till 1pm, missing church completely. Oops...