25th Birthday Story
For the first time in a while, my birthday did not fall on a weekend day. I was actually kind of hoping to slide by this year without having to go through any of the birthday stuff. For one, I prefer to avoid having people make a scene for you at any restaurant. Also, being at an open bar party when everyone is trying to get you drinks leads to ugliness, more often than not. And just in general, I don't feel like my birthday should entitle me to any special treatment (i.e. gifts, lunches/dinners, cakes, cards, etc.), I just don't feel like I really deserve all that stuff.
As it turns out, my Monday birthday somehow ended up becoming more or less a weeklong event, a week which included pretty much all of the things I mentioned above. I guess my friends are more zealous and aware of my birthday than I expected. With only one exception, everything was great and I definitely want to say thanks to all you guys who made me feel special about turning 25.
The one exception, as many of you may be wondering right now, came Tuesday when I went out with the boys to watch the Illini-Wisconsin game. It was just supposed to be another normal night of wings and beer at Hooters, except on the car ride there, the following exchange happened:
Dave C: "What you guys doing this weekend? Going to Chras's birthday thing at Blyss?"
Diddy: "Yeah, probably"
Me: "Yeah, probably"
Dave C: "Yo Dudo, isn't your birthday around Chras's birthday?"
Me: (pauses to decide whether or not to lie) "ummmm..... yes it is"
Dave C: "What day is it?"
Me: "Errr.... it was yesterday"
Diddy: "Sheeee...."
Dave C: "Hmmmm....."
As a result of my decision not to lie, I was harrassed all night. Every time I finished my beer and turned around, it seemed like my cup was full again. It's almost as if someone (Dave) was pouring someone else's (John's) beer into mine the whole night. I had to put a pickle in my mouth and do a chicken dance around the place. And the best part is that John and Will have been telling everyone that I was staring at our waitress's boobs. (I wasn't, by the way. She was showing me something on her nametag - seriously.) Oh well, at least the Illini won that game, so it wasn't too bad of a night overall.
Anyways, like I said, everything else was great, so thanks again to everyone for all your efforts. And even if you forgot about my birthday, don't worry, my birthday honestly isn't a big deal to me either. It really isn't. The following is a story I decided to share that might partially explain why I'm not that into birthdays. (It's a stupid story, so be warned.)
10th Birthday Story
As of now, I have officially experienced 25 birthdays. Some of them were especially memorable, others not as much, but as much as I can remember, all were generally "happy birthdays".
All of them that is, except for one.
The only birthday that I can remember ever being unhappy in was my 10th birthday. It was a long time ago, but even now as I'm well into my 20's, every year when my birthday comes around, I still think about that one time when I had an "Un-Happy Birthday".
You all know how it is: back when we were little, every birthday was a big deal. I mean, when you're 6, it's huge (or as Trump would say, "YUGE") when you suddenly turn 7. A year was such a long time that we would sometimes count half-birthdays ("I'm 8-and-a-half"). So when it came time for me to turn 10, I was definitely looking forward to it with extra anticipation. I mean, it's double digits baby; if that's not a big deal, I don't know what is.
Anyways, it turns out that my parents did not share my enthusiasm for my turning 10. I mean, they planned all the usual goodies, the birthday party, cake, presents, etc., which was nice. But that stuff would have to wait for the weekend. My birthday happened to fall on a Wednesday that year (no I didn't remember this exact detail, I had to look it up), and as far as Mom and Dad were concerned, January 24th of 1990 was going to be pretty much exactly like January 23rd and January 25th of 1990.
Among other things, this meant that I would have to practice on the piano for my normal 1 hour per night. And that one thing was essentially what made me so unhappy on my 10th birthday.
Of course it sounds dumb right now, but remember, I was barely 10 years old. Like a lot of kids, I thought that on my birthday, I deserved special treatment. So if I didn't want to play piano that day, Mom and Dad should give me a break right? At least cut that time in half or something.
But there was no compromise. I can vividly remember playing the piano for possibly the angriest 60 minutes of my life, and then spending the rest of the night in my room feeling very salty about having to practice piano on my 10th birthday. Could it get any worse?
It was maybe 2 or 3 birthdays after that year when I realized just how stupid I was during that unhappy 10th. As I thought about how mad I was that night, and exactly why I was mad, it dawned on me that hey, maybe my birthday really isn't all that special. I mean, so what if I happened to be born on a certain day, big forking deal. Why should that entitle me to rule the universe every year when that day rolls around?
Don't get me wrong, the birthday treatment is a nice tradition, and I don't think it's bad at all to make people feel special on their birthdays. All I'm saying is that sometimes we might make too big a deal out of something that is just supposed to be a simple little occasion.
On my 10th birthday, My Unreasonable Expectations + My Parent's Rational Expectations = Negative Fun. If it had been just any other day, I would have only been mildly annoyed about having to practice piano. It really wasn't my parents' fault for making me mad - it was my own fault for making myself mad.
So now, this memory kind of serves as a reminder to myself every January, that my birthday isn't really that much more important or different from any other day. That even though people may call me to say Happy Birthday, buy me presents and shots, and Todai may give me a coupon for a free meal, I should remember not to let it get out of hand.
On my birthday, I increment my age by 1 year. Everything else is just frosting on the cake.
More Thoughts
I didn't get as much pictures throughout the week as I wanted to, but I still have some. Maybe I will post them sometime.
My family gave me a new watch. I thought about taking a picture of it on my wrist and posting it too, but then it reminded me too much of Seinfeld where George was a hand model. So I didn't.
Illini vs. Wisconsin was a great game. Since I didn't think people were interested in reading about Illini basketball in every single entry, I have consciously tried to hold back from writing about them too much. But even the Arizona fan I know has been encouraging to write about them, so I'm taking that as a free pass to talk about the Illini as much as I feel like it. You don't have to ask twice.
This could be such a special season for the Fighting Illini and all the fans. In fact, it already has been very special. A lot of people believe that it would be good for this team to lose a game before tournament time, but I don't think I agree with that. Just because other undefeated teams haven't been doing well in March doesn't mean that this team can't. Fore one, unlike Stanford and St. Joe's last year, we have already played a bunch of very tough games this season and passed with flying colors in every situation. It's not a "weak" 21-0 record by any means. Now, as long as we still get a #1 seed, I wouldn't be that upset about a loss or two. But I can't help but imagine how awesome it could be if someday we could look back at the 2004-05 Fighting Illini as one of the legendary teams in the history of college basketball, as an unbeaten champion. That's getting way ahead of ourselves at this point though, for all I know, we might very well lose this next game at Michigan State. That's a very tough team, just a little inconsistent. So I'll stop talking for now, and we'll all just watch and see what happens with this season.
As I turned 25 this week, my car turned 40,000. In a little over 2 years I have put 40,000 miles on my baby, kind of scary to think about it. It's been a fantastic 40,000 miles too. Lots of great memories associated with this car already, and I really haven't had a single problem with it yet. I really hope I drive this car for at least another 10 years or even longer than that.
This is an interesting story: "I don't like Monday 24 January"
Looks like my birthday is a day of peak misery. (In Cartman's voice) "Sweet"
Sunday, January 30, 2005
Friday, January 21, 2005
Illini vs. Iowa
Man, did the Illini look horrible in last night's game. Guys were missing all the shots they normally make, sluggish on defense and rebounding, and Iowa totally looked like the better team. I don't know if they were looking ahead to the Wisconsin game, if some of the guys were sick with the flu as rumored, or if Iowa just matches up well against us. A couple big guys in the middle blocking shots, and 3 fast guards that can stay man-to-man with our guards on defense, that seemed to work pretty well for most of the game. We definitely would have lost if it were not at home, and after watching the game last night, I wouldn't be surprised if we get a loss when we go to Iowa on 2/19.
The good news, of course, is that they still won. Next game will definitely be huge, next Tuesday against the Sconz. Bad things seem to always happen when we play at Madison, no matter how talented the Illini are. I'd have to say that out of all the Big Ten teams, I probably dislike the Badgers the most. Their coach looks like a beaver or a chipmunk, and they have had some really annoying players. Last year it was Devin Harris, this year I can't stand seeing that floppy haired guy (I think his name is Morley), and I can already seeing myself hating Brian Butch in the next couple years.
Although they do have that kid who looks like Chris Rock (Taylor?), that always cracks me up when I see him. And Mike Wilkinson reminds me of Mike Dexter in Can't Hardly Wait. Just pointing these things out for those of you who end up watching the game and need something to entertain you other than the game itself.
Movies
Napoleon Dynamite - I had very high expectations for this movie, maybe unreasonably so, and it did not quite live up to those expectations. I still liked it overall though, some pretty funny parts. It's fun trying to talk like that kid. Gosh!
House of Flying Daggers - Pretty similar to Hero, it was the same director after all. The story was kind of hokey at some parts, and the movie moved kind of slow, but the fight scenes were definitely good. I also heard that Zhang Ziyi is known in Asia for being slutty in real life. Interesting...
In he interest of keeping this blog somewhat more original (though not necessarily interesting or informative), I decided to write a little something else this time, in addition to the normal Illini talk and 2 short generic movie reviews above:
Chinese Sayings
Chinese people have a lot of weird sayings and phrases in their language. They're generally four words in length, sometimes two, and have a little story that goes along with it. I learned a lot of these phrases growing up, either from my relatives or from taking Chinese school classes, and I actually liked learning the stories. If I spoke Chinese regularly, I would probably try to use them in everyday conversation. Since I don't, I will list some of my favorites here and then maybe use them in my blog writing from time to time.
Some of the ones that come to mind right now include:
1. Arrow/Shield ("Mao-dwun") - There was once a man who sold weapons and armor. He sold his arrows by telling people that they were so sharp, they could pierce anything. On the other hand, he also sold a shield that he claimed was strong enough to resist anything. Eventually someone called him out and asked him, what happens if you shoot your all-piercing arrow at your invincible shield? So in Chinese we use this phrase to describe any situation that seems to contradict itself.
Example usage: "If we fight these terrorists, they will hate America for being aggressors and want to kill us. But if we don't fight them, they will hate America for being a nation of the weak and still want to kill us. What are we supposed to do? It's so mao-dwun."
2. Some Guy Moves a Mountain ("Yu-Gong-Yi-Shan") - I forgot a lot of this story, but this guy named Yu-Gong had a mountain outside his house, and he needed to move it for some reason. So one day he just decided to start moving a little pile of dirt at a time, and kept doing that day by day. People thought he was stupid, but after years of constantly digging and moving his little piles, he eventually managed to move that whole mountain. I guess it's one of those inspirational sayings that are supposed to make people believe they can achieve great things, if only they set their mind to it and work hard.
Example usage: "It's gonna take forever to finish all this sushi! Guess I'll have to suck it up, and just go at it Yu-Gong-Yi-Shan style."
3. Bow Casts Snake Shadow in Cup ("Bei-Gong-Sher-Ying") - In this story, a guy visits his friend and drinks a cup of tea. After finishing his tea, he notices what looks like a snake at the bottom of the cup, and immediately starts complaining of stomach aches and sickness. In reality, all he saw was the shadow of a bow (as in bow-and-arrow) that was hanging from the ceiling. I know the story might not make the most sense, but it's still one of my favorites. The phrase is basically describing the antithesis of the "placebo effect", which drives me nuts sometimes. Maybe I am guilty of it myself from time to time, but I hate when people are overly paranoid about everything, and constantly psych themselves out because of their silly hyped-up fears.
Example usage: "Just cause I'm a Chinaman and I'm coughing, it doesn't mean I'm gonna give you SARS. It's all just another case of Bei-Gong-Sher-Ying, you fools."
4. Covering Your Ear to Steal the Bell ("Yen-Er-Dao-Ling") - One time, a thief decided that he wanted to steal a bell from someone's house (don't ask me why anyone would steal a bell, I don't know). As he's taking this bell, he realizes that hey, the bell is ringing and making lots of noise. Maybe stealing a bell wasn't the smartest idea. But this guy did not give up on his bell-stealing mission. Instead, he decided that the best solution was simply to cover his ears while taking the bell, thinking to himself that doing this would take care of the noise problem, and allow him to steal the bell in peace without any further difficulty. Moral of the story is, don't be stupid like this thief - you can choose to be ignorant of the things around you, but that doesn't really solve anything in the end.
Example usage: "Whenever the news comes on about the recent tsunami disaster, I find myself changing the channel immediately. Not because I don't care about the victims, it's just so draining and depressing to be constantly hearing about the diseases, political bickering, even stories about survivors being raped by their supposed rescuers. But still, changing the channel doesn't mean that stuff isn't going on in this world. I'm really just Yen-Er-Dao-Ling-ing."
Man, did the Illini look horrible in last night's game. Guys were missing all the shots they normally make, sluggish on defense and rebounding, and Iowa totally looked like the better team. I don't know if they were looking ahead to the Wisconsin game, if some of the guys were sick with the flu as rumored, or if Iowa just matches up well against us. A couple big guys in the middle blocking shots, and 3 fast guards that can stay man-to-man with our guards on defense, that seemed to work pretty well for most of the game. We definitely would have lost if it were not at home, and after watching the game last night, I wouldn't be surprised if we get a loss when we go to Iowa on 2/19.
The good news, of course, is that they still won. Next game will definitely be huge, next Tuesday against the Sconz. Bad things seem to always happen when we play at Madison, no matter how talented the Illini are. I'd have to say that out of all the Big Ten teams, I probably dislike the Badgers the most. Their coach looks like a beaver or a chipmunk, and they have had some really annoying players. Last year it was Devin Harris, this year I can't stand seeing that floppy haired guy (I think his name is Morley), and I can already seeing myself hating Brian Butch in the next couple years.
Although they do have that kid who looks like Chris Rock (Taylor?), that always cracks me up when I see him. And Mike Wilkinson reminds me of Mike Dexter in Can't Hardly Wait. Just pointing these things out for those of you who end up watching the game and need something to entertain you other than the game itself.
Movies
Napoleon Dynamite - I had very high expectations for this movie, maybe unreasonably so, and it did not quite live up to those expectations. I still liked it overall though, some pretty funny parts. It's fun trying to talk like that kid. Gosh!
House of Flying Daggers - Pretty similar to Hero, it was the same director after all. The story was kind of hokey at some parts, and the movie moved kind of slow, but the fight scenes were definitely good. I also heard that Zhang Ziyi is known in Asia for being slutty in real life. Interesting...
In he interest of keeping this blog somewhat more original (though not necessarily interesting or informative), I decided to write a little something else this time, in addition to the normal Illini talk and 2 short generic movie reviews above:
Chinese Sayings
Chinese people have a lot of weird sayings and phrases in their language. They're generally four words in length, sometimes two, and have a little story that goes along with it. I learned a lot of these phrases growing up, either from my relatives or from taking Chinese school classes, and I actually liked learning the stories. If I spoke Chinese regularly, I would probably try to use them in everyday conversation. Since I don't, I will list some of my favorites here and then maybe use them in my blog writing from time to time.
Some of the ones that come to mind right now include:
1. Arrow/Shield ("Mao-dwun") - There was once a man who sold weapons and armor. He sold his arrows by telling people that they were so sharp, they could pierce anything. On the other hand, he also sold a shield that he claimed was strong enough to resist anything. Eventually someone called him out and asked him, what happens if you shoot your all-piercing arrow at your invincible shield? So in Chinese we use this phrase to describe any situation that seems to contradict itself.
Example usage: "If we fight these terrorists, they will hate America for being aggressors and want to kill us. But if we don't fight them, they will hate America for being a nation of the weak and still want to kill us. What are we supposed to do? It's so mao-dwun."
2. Some Guy Moves a Mountain ("Yu-Gong-Yi-Shan") - I forgot a lot of this story, but this guy named Yu-Gong had a mountain outside his house, and he needed to move it for some reason. So one day he just decided to start moving a little pile of dirt at a time, and kept doing that day by day. People thought he was stupid, but after years of constantly digging and moving his little piles, he eventually managed to move that whole mountain. I guess it's one of those inspirational sayings that are supposed to make people believe they can achieve great things, if only they set their mind to it and work hard.
Example usage: "It's gonna take forever to finish all this sushi! Guess I'll have to suck it up, and just go at it Yu-Gong-Yi-Shan style."
3. Bow Casts Snake Shadow in Cup ("Bei-Gong-Sher-Ying") - In this story, a guy visits his friend and drinks a cup of tea. After finishing his tea, he notices what looks like a snake at the bottom of the cup, and immediately starts complaining of stomach aches and sickness. In reality, all he saw was the shadow of a bow (as in bow-and-arrow) that was hanging from the ceiling. I know the story might not make the most sense, but it's still one of my favorites. The phrase is basically describing the antithesis of the "placebo effect", which drives me nuts sometimes. Maybe I am guilty of it myself from time to time, but I hate when people are overly paranoid about everything, and constantly psych themselves out because of their silly hyped-up fears.
Example usage: "Just cause I'm a Chinaman and I'm coughing, it doesn't mean I'm gonna give you SARS. It's all just another case of Bei-Gong-Sher-Ying, you fools."
4. Covering Your Ear to Steal the Bell ("Yen-Er-Dao-Ling") - One time, a thief decided that he wanted to steal a bell from someone's house (don't ask me why anyone would steal a bell, I don't know). As he's taking this bell, he realizes that hey, the bell is ringing and making lots of noise. Maybe stealing a bell wasn't the smartest idea. But this guy did not give up on his bell-stealing mission. Instead, he decided that the best solution was simply to cover his ears while taking the bell, thinking to himself that doing this would take care of the noise problem, and allow him to steal the bell in peace without any further difficulty. Moral of the story is, don't be stupid like this thief - you can choose to be ignorant of the things around you, but that doesn't really solve anything in the end.
Example usage: "Whenever the news comes on about the recent tsunami disaster, I find myself changing the channel immediately. Not because I don't care about the victims, it's just so draining and depressing to be constantly hearing about the diseases, political bickering, even stories about survivors being raped by their supposed rescuers. But still, changing the channel doesn't mean that stuff isn't going on in this world. I'm really just Yen-Er-Dao-Ling-ing."
Tuesday, January 18, 2005
Yet Another Blog On Age
A friend forwarded me this online test that is supposed to tell you what age you are. I took it and the results told me I had the personality of a 20 year old. Don't know whether that is good or bad, considering I am almost 25. I'm leaning towards bad.
I saw an friend from high school this past weekend and the first thing he said to me was, "wow, you look older". I used to get questions about how many inches I grew taller, but now it's comments about my face getting fatter or my hairline moving up. The good news is that chicks dig fat balding men, it's a documented fact.
Also, recently Andy dug up an old video that me and him made in high school for a Consumer Economics project. When I showed it to some people, their first reaction is how dorky I was back then and that I look much better now. I still think I'm dorky now, but looking at myself as a junior in high school, in my jean shorts, 20 pounds skinnier and awkward looking, I have to agree that I was worse off in those days.
So I guess that means that right now, I am better off than when I was 17, but probably worse off than I will be when I'm 33. Good to know.
A friend forwarded me this online test that is supposed to tell you what age you are. I took it and the results told me I had the personality of a 20 year old. Don't know whether that is good or bad, considering I am almost 25. I'm leaning towards bad.
I saw an friend from high school this past weekend and the first thing he said to me was, "wow, you look older". I used to get questions about how many inches I grew taller, but now it's comments about my face getting fatter or my hairline moving up. The good news is that chicks dig fat balding men, it's a documented fact.
Also, recently Andy dug up an old video that me and him made in high school for a Consumer Economics project. When I showed it to some people, their first reaction is how dorky I was back then and that I look much better now. I still think I'm dorky now, but looking at myself as a junior in high school, in my jean shorts, 20 pounds skinnier and awkward looking, I have to agree that I was worse off in those days.
So I guess that means that right now, I am better off than when I was 17, but probably worse off than I will be when I'm 33. Good to know.
Monday, January 10, 2005
DVDs and Milwaukee
I braved the snow a couple days ago and made the trip to Best Buy to get the Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle DVD. When I got there, I found that every single copy was sold out. They even had a special display case for that movie and it was completely empty.
That made me at least a little bit mad. I thought I was the only one dumb and immature enough to want to get stupid movies like Harold and Kumar or Napoleon Dynamite. Now I realize that there are many more idiots out there just like me.
Anyways, I ended up finding the DVD at Wal-Mart and when I was buying it using one of those "self-checkout" stations, the thing beeped and the voice said "Authorization Required", not letting me proceed. This confused me until the attendant came by and told me he just had to make sure I was at least 17. Funny, I never realized that stores actually check whether or not you're old enough to buy a certain movie.
The experience also made me think, as I was showing the attendant guy what movie I was buying. Would I be more embarrassed about getting a movie like Harold & Kumar cause it's such a stupid movie, or more embarrased about buying a porno DVD? I think it might be a close argument. Not that I personally was that embarrassed about buying H&K; after all, I've bought many Britney Spears CDs in the past, even got her McDonald's CD, as well as her stickers and folders.
I noticed that when Best Buy, Circuit City, or Wal-Mart have DVD sales, they seem to always dicount the Braveheart DVD. Which is weird, since they put all these crappy movies that nobody is ever going to buy in the same bin. I suspect they are trying to sell as many copies of that DVD, before they suddenly announce that they are releasing a "special collector's edition" 4-disc set with 100 minutes of unreleased footage and directors commentary. Actually, I can almost guarantee that's what's gonna happen. Too bad I already fell for their tricks and bought the regular Braveheart DVD a few months ago when Circuit City was having their specials.
At work, I moved again. The project I'm working on got its own room and now I am upstairs again. Not that big of a deal, I kind of like the move so far cause I have more space in my new spot.
Weekend was pretty good, visited Ray (and saw P for a little bit) in Milwaukee. The trip was yet another reminder for me that my body is getting old though. We went out to a few local bars Friday night, and by about 1am I was pretty much sleepwalking around with the rest of the group. Don't know how the other guys still had the energy to go to the casino afterwards, but for me there was no way.
Saturday morning, played some ball at a Marquette gym. Their place is pretty much like IMPE, maybe a little older and not as fancy. Ran a couple full court games and after the first 2 times up and down the court, felt like my lungs were gonna collapse. Not good, but I lasted longer than I thought I would. Played alright too, especially considering I haven't touched a basketball in maybe 3 years.
Also checked out a local brewery tour, place was called Lakefront. It was a pretty good tour and for $5, you get a souvenir glass and 4 beers. Can't beat that deal. If any of you out there ever go to this place, I recommend the Lakefront White, it tastes a lot like Blue Moon.
Afternoon, watched the Illini beat Purdue. Not the prettiest game, but a win is a win. Still haven't decided if Dee or Luther is our best player, and coming into this season I thought Deron would easily be the MVP. So I guess that tells you how balanced this team is. Gotta love Dee though, after he hit one of his big 2nd half shots, he showed everyone his pride for ILLINOIS:
This is now my desktop wallpaper. We definitely need more guys like him in Chicago, who stay loyal to the programs around here.
Anyways, after the Illini game, we played some ping pong, and then they were going to hit up the Bucks/Jazz game. I didn't feel like I would be able to go to the game and drive back to Illinois afterwards, so I decided to just call it a trip there, skip the game and head home early. From what I heard, the Bucks game sucked anyways and I didn't miss much.
Some of the pictures from Milwaukee:
Another fun part from the weekend was the heater going out at our townhouse. It's like losing electricity, except not as fun. Actually it wasn't too bad, I just wore a couple extra layers, and between my halogen light, 2 computers, TV, and ironing my clothes, enough heat was generated to survive. I'm just glad it wasn't one of those super cold winter days outside, not sure how we would've held up under worse conditions.
I haven't done a list in a while, how about a list of services/amenities I use, in increasing order of how much it sucks if/when it goes down:
10. GPS - Yes, I do use GPS from time to time for navigation purposes.
9. Regular TV - When I think about it, there's not a lot of stuff I really watch on regular TV anymore. Pretty much just football on Sundays, and reruns of King of Queens on the U.
8. Radio - Radio is actually pretty important to me, especially when you consider that it includes both AM and FM. A free source of music at any given time, and when there's no good songs on at all, there's always sports talk to listen to. And when I'm not near a TV, or I'm near a TV that sucks/doesn't have cable (i.e. Darien home), I can usually listen to important game broadcasts on the radio.
7. Cell phone - This has moved down my list significantly in the past year or so. I have consciously been trying not to depend on my phone as much, and let that little thing control my life. At one point things were just ridiculous and I had to just turn it off when I didn't absolutely need it. Still, I can't live entirely without my phone, and it definitely sucks when my cell service goes down.
6. Cable TV - It's got everything regular TV has, but oh so much more. Sportscenter, Pimp My Ride, World Series of Poker, college basketball, Chappelle's Show, the list goes on.
5. Heat - I guess it depends on how cold it is outside. As I described above, it wasn't so bad last night considering I have 2 blankets and wore many layers. But if it were one of those sub-zero Chicago winter nights, that would suck a lot more.
4. Electricity - Needs no explanation. We've all experienced power outages, it happens at least a few times a year to remind us of how much we would miss electricity if we didn't have it. Among other things, it means no light at night, stuff in the fridge spoils, sump pump fails and house floods.
3. Internet - Unlike cell phones, I can't realistically envision forcing myself to depend on the internet less. I've already written plenty of stuff about what I need the internet for, and it seems like I'm still constantly finding more uses for it.
2. Gasoline - We've never had a serious gasoline shortage during our driving years, but if one ever happened, I would be screwed. Driving a car that struggles to get 20 mpg on the highway doesn't exactly help.
1. Water/Plumbing - We need water for drinking, obviously, but that's not the biggest thing that scares me. What if you couldn't flush your toilets for more than a day or two? Oh the horror.
I braved the snow a couple days ago and made the trip to Best Buy to get the Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle DVD. When I got there, I found that every single copy was sold out. They even had a special display case for that movie and it was completely empty.
That made me at least a little bit mad. I thought I was the only one dumb and immature enough to want to get stupid movies like Harold and Kumar or Napoleon Dynamite. Now I realize that there are many more idiots out there just like me.
Anyways, I ended up finding the DVD at Wal-Mart and when I was buying it using one of those "self-checkout" stations, the thing beeped and the voice said "Authorization Required", not letting me proceed. This confused me until the attendant came by and told me he just had to make sure I was at least 17. Funny, I never realized that stores actually check whether or not you're old enough to buy a certain movie.
The experience also made me think, as I was showing the attendant guy what movie I was buying. Would I be more embarrassed about getting a movie like Harold & Kumar cause it's such a stupid movie, or more embarrased about buying a porno DVD? I think it might be a close argument. Not that I personally was that embarrassed about buying H&K; after all, I've bought many Britney Spears CDs in the past, even got her McDonald's CD, as well as her stickers and folders.
I noticed that when Best Buy, Circuit City, or Wal-Mart have DVD sales, they seem to always dicount the Braveheart DVD. Which is weird, since they put all these crappy movies that nobody is ever going to buy in the same bin. I suspect they are trying to sell as many copies of that DVD, before they suddenly announce that they are releasing a "special collector's edition" 4-disc set with 100 minutes of unreleased footage and directors commentary. Actually, I can almost guarantee that's what's gonna happen. Too bad I already fell for their tricks and bought the regular Braveheart DVD a few months ago when Circuit City was having their specials.
At work, I moved again. The project I'm working on got its own room and now I am upstairs again. Not that big of a deal, I kind of like the move so far cause I have more space in my new spot.
Weekend was pretty good, visited Ray (and saw P for a little bit) in Milwaukee. The trip was yet another reminder for me that my body is getting old though. We went out to a few local bars Friday night, and by about 1am I was pretty much sleepwalking around with the rest of the group. Don't know how the other guys still had the energy to go to the casino afterwards, but for me there was no way.
Saturday morning, played some ball at a Marquette gym. Their place is pretty much like IMPE, maybe a little older and not as fancy. Ran a couple full court games and after the first 2 times up and down the court, felt like my lungs were gonna collapse. Not good, but I lasted longer than I thought I would. Played alright too, especially considering I haven't touched a basketball in maybe 3 years.
Also checked out a local brewery tour, place was called Lakefront. It was a pretty good tour and for $5, you get a souvenir glass and 4 beers. Can't beat that deal. If any of you out there ever go to this place, I recommend the Lakefront White, it tastes a lot like Blue Moon.
Afternoon, watched the Illini beat Purdue. Not the prettiest game, but a win is a win. Still haven't decided if Dee or Luther is our best player, and coming into this season I thought Deron would easily be the MVP. So I guess that tells you how balanced this team is. Gotta love Dee though, after he hit one of his big 2nd half shots, he showed everyone his pride for ILLINOIS:
This is now my desktop wallpaper. We definitely need more guys like him in Chicago, who stay loyal to the programs around here.
Anyways, after the Illini game, we played some ping pong, and then they were going to hit up the Bucks/Jazz game. I didn't feel like I would be able to go to the game and drive back to Illinois afterwards, so I decided to just call it a trip there, skip the game and head home early. From what I heard, the Bucks game sucked anyways and I didn't miss much.
Some of the pictures from Milwaukee:
Another fun part from the weekend was the heater going out at our townhouse. It's like losing electricity, except not as fun. Actually it wasn't too bad, I just wore a couple extra layers, and between my halogen light, 2 computers, TV, and ironing my clothes, enough heat was generated to survive. I'm just glad it wasn't one of those super cold winter days outside, not sure how we would've held up under worse conditions.
I haven't done a list in a while, how about a list of services/amenities I use, in increasing order of how much it sucks if/when it goes down:
10. GPS - Yes, I do use GPS from time to time for navigation purposes.
9. Regular TV - When I think about it, there's not a lot of stuff I really watch on regular TV anymore. Pretty much just football on Sundays, and reruns of King of Queens on the U.
8. Radio - Radio is actually pretty important to me, especially when you consider that it includes both AM and FM. A free source of music at any given time, and when there's no good songs on at all, there's always sports talk to listen to. And when I'm not near a TV, or I'm near a TV that sucks/doesn't have cable (i.e. Darien home), I can usually listen to important game broadcasts on the radio.
7. Cell phone - This has moved down my list significantly in the past year or so. I have consciously been trying not to depend on my phone as much, and let that little thing control my life. At one point things were just ridiculous and I had to just turn it off when I didn't absolutely need it. Still, I can't live entirely without my phone, and it definitely sucks when my cell service goes down.
6. Cable TV - It's got everything regular TV has, but oh so much more. Sportscenter, Pimp My Ride, World Series of Poker, college basketball, Chappelle's Show, the list goes on.
5. Heat - I guess it depends on how cold it is outside. As I described above, it wasn't so bad last night considering I have 2 blankets and wore many layers. But if it were one of those sub-zero Chicago winter nights, that would suck a lot more.
4. Electricity - Needs no explanation. We've all experienced power outages, it happens at least a few times a year to remind us of how much we would miss electricity if we didn't have it. Among other things, it means no light at night, stuff in the fridge spoils, sump pump fails and house floods.
3. Internet - Unlike cell phones, I can't realistically envision forcing myself to depend on the internet less. I've already written plenty of stuff about what I need the internet for, and it seems like I'm still constantly finding more uses for it.
2. Gasoline - We've never had a serious gasoline shortage during our driving years, but if one ever happened, I would be screwed. Driving a car that struggles to get 20 mpg on the highway doesn't exactly help.
1. Water/Plumbing - We need water for drinking, obviously, but that's not the biggest thing that scares me. What if you couldn't flush your toilets for more than a day or two? Oh the horror.
Monday, January 03, 2005
2005
If I haven't seen and/or talked to you in the past couple weeks, then let me wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year here in this blog. The holiday season has given me a week and two days off from work (ending tomorrow), and of course I have no complaints about that. It was definitely nice to get this time to spend on things other than circuits, lasers, and status reports for once.
Among the things I've been doing instead of work:
- Got some nice gifts (and also my second annual Christmas card from the one friend I know who sends out Christmas cards). I won't list all of the gifts I got here, but they were all very nice and I appreciated every one a lot. Since I'm not really into gift giving as much as other people, and I suck at thinking of gift ideas for friends and loved ones, I don't usually expect to get a lot of gifts for Christmas, birthdays, etc. But to all the people who made the effort to get me something, I just want to say thanks again.
- Watched a bunch of movies, all on DVD, none in the theater. Some of the DVDs were gifts, actually. I saw Mystery Men for the first time, pretty funny if you like Ben Stiller. Also cross off Major League from my list of movies to see, now I will have to watch Major League 2 and 3. And of course I had to watch Home Alone on Christmas day, it being one of my all-time favorite movies.
One DVD I really wanted to watch, but was denied, was Napoleon Dynamite. I wanted to see that movie when it came out in the theaters, it just looked hilarious in the commercials. Then I kind of forgot about it until the DVD was released a couple weeks ago. Some people I know who watched the movie told me it was funny, and they are more mature than me, so I'm almost positive that I will love this movie. Unfortunately when I went to buy it, they were sold out at Best Buy, Circuit City, and Wal-Mart. I didn't know so many other people wanted that DVD too, but what do I know. The good news was that they had plenty of copies of the Anaconda DVD still available, so I bought like 10 of those for myself and to give to 9 of my friends. Gotta grab those while you can, you know. Anyways, I'm still fiending to watch Napoleon Dynamite one of these days, so this story is far from over. Stay tuned for updates on this ongoing saga.
- For the 3rd year in a row, I washed my car on New Years Eve or New Years Day. It's weird, but the weather just seems to get warm on those two days for some reason. Those of you who know me know how I feel about washing my car, I love it. Getting all that salt off is like a huge sigh of relief for me.
- News of the Tsunami was easily the worst part of this year's holiday season. Just the thought of well over 100,000 people dying in one single event is nuts. Compared to some of the tragedies we deal with in our country, this just blows them all away. As I hear more and more news of major disasters around the world these days, I can't help but be reminded of all the prophecies in the Bible. These are all signs that the end times are near. Not trying to be Chicken Little here, but at the very least, I guess it's a very sober reminder for each of us to value our lives and our limited time here on this earth. Whatever that may mean.
- Went with Olivia to Room 22 for the New Years countdown. I think every single 20-something Asian in the Chicagoland area was at this party. Well, maybe not all of them, but there were a lot. I didn't bring my camera but some of Olivia's friends took some pictures of us there, so if I get those, I might put them up. Other than that, there wasn't much else to note about New Years.
- Bears/Packers game earlier today, thanks to Olivia getting the tickets a few months ago. Our first time at the new improved Soldier Field, and I'm not sure if I like how it looks. The game sucked, since the Bears suck, but it was still a good time. I do have a couple pictures of this:
I think that's about all I can think of as far as highlights from the past week or so goes. By the way, congrats to Greg for winning the 2005 McNown League championship. Not that I won't be bitter about this season for a long time, but that's another story. It looks like I might pull out a 2nd place finish, which I guess isn't too bad.
Also, congrats to the #1 Illini for completing an undefeated non-conference schedule. The latest win over Cincinnati was yet another great game to add to this year's team record, but hopefully the best is still ahead. Now seems like a good time to close this entry with an old picture I dug up, one my sister took with Dee Brown a year or two ago. It might be the Chen family's only brush with true greatness:
If I haven't seen and/or talked to you in the past couple weeks, then let me wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year here in this blog. The holiday season has given me a week and two days off from work (ending tomorrow), and of course I have no complaints about that. It was definitely nice to get this time to spend on things other than circuits, lasers, and status reports for once.
Among the things I've been doing instead of work:
- Got some nice gifts (and also my second annual Christmas card from the one friend I know who sends out Christmas cards). I won't list all of the gifts I got here, but they were all very nice and I appreciated every one a lot. Since I'm not really into gift giving as much as other people, and I suck at thinking of gift ideas for friends and loved ones, I don't usually expect to get a lot of gifts for Christmas, birthdays, etc. But to all the people who made the effort to get me something, I just want to say thanks again.
- Watched a bunch of movies, all on DVD, none in the theater. Some of the DVDs were gifts, actually. I saw Mystery Men for the first time, pretty funny if you like Ben Stiller. Also cross off Major League from my list of movies to see, now I will have to watch Major League 2 and 3. And of course I had to watch Home Alone on Christmas day, it being one of my all-time favorite movies.
One DVD I really wanted to watch, but was denied, was Napoleon Dynamite. I wanted to see that movie when it came out in the theaters, it just looked hilarious in the commercials. Then I kind of forgot about it until the DVD was released a couple weeks ago. Some people I know who watched the movie told me it was funny, and they are more mature than me, so I'm almost positive that I will love this movie. Unfortunately when I went to buy it, they were sold out at Best Buy, Circuit City, and Wal-Mart. I didn't know so many other people wanted that DVD too, but what do I know. The good news was that they had plenty of copies of the Anaconda DVD still available, so I bought like 10 of those for myself and to give to 9 of my friends. Gotta grab those while you can, you know. Anyways, I'm still fiending to watch Napoleon Dynamite one of these days, so this story is far from over. Stay tuned for updates on this ongoing saga.
- For the 3rd year in a row, I washed my car on New Years Eve or New Years Day. It's weird, but the weather just seems to get warm on those two days for some reason. Those of you who know me know how I feel about washing my car, I love it. Getting all that salt off is like a huge sigh of relief for me.
- News of the Tsunami was easily the worst part of this year's holiday season. Just the thought of well over 100,000 people dying in one single event is nuts. Compared to some of the tragedies we deal with in our country, this just blows them all away. As I hear more and more news of major disasters around the world these days, I can't help but be reminded of all the prophecies in the Bible. These are all signs that the end times are near. Not trying to be Chicken Little here, but at the very least, I guess it's a very sober reminder for each of us to value our lives and our limited time here on this earth. Whatever that may mean.
- Went with Olivia to Room 22 for the New Years countdown. I think every single 20-something Asian in the Chicagoland area was at this party. Well, maybe not all of them, but there were a lot. I didn't bring my camera but some of Olivia's friends took some pictures of us there, so if I get those, I might put them up. Other than that, there wasn't much else to note about New Years.
- Bears/Packers game earlier today, thanks to Olivia getting the tickets a few months ago. Our first time at the new improved Soldier Field, and I'm not sure if I like how it looks. The game sucked, since the Bears suck, but it was still a good time. I do have a couple pictures of this:
I think that's about all I can think of as far as highlights from the past week or so goes. By the way, congrats to Greg for winning the 2005 McNown League championship. Not that I won't be bitter about this season for a long time, but that's another story. It looks like I might pull out a 2nd place finish, which I guess isn't too bad.
Also, congrats to the #1 Illini for completing an undefeated non-conference schedule. The latest win over Cincinnati was yet another great game to add to this year's team record, but hopefully the best is still ahead. Now seems like a good time to close this entry with an old picture I dug up, one my sister took with Dee Brown a year or two ago. It might be the Chen family's only brush with true greatness:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)