Packrat
One of my weird quirks is that I save almost everything, and rarely throw anything away. Not talking about perishables and stuff, of course. But anything that I might even remotely want to come back to someday, gets saved. Especially things of sentimental value, but really, it doesn't even have to be that meaningful to get kept by me.
For example, I still carry my X-Sport membership thing on my keychain, even though I hate that company. Not to mention I'm like 3 years or two different gym memberships removed from the last time I went to that place. My file cabinet is full of old bank statements, phone bills, cable bills, things that I can all look up online by now - but I just can't throw them away for some reason. I've got bookcases filled with old magazines - Sports Illustrated, PC World, EGM, ESPN the Magazine. I even save the monthly issues of "Experience Life" from my membership to Lifetime, and old copies of the Cracker Barrel from Schaumburg Township. They're just cluttering up my coffee table right now.
In my desk drawer, I've got a whole bunch of envelopes with old ticket stubs and receipts that have faded over time. They're barely even readable at this point. I've got all these expired credit cards, library cards, Britney Spears magnets sitting on my shelf.
I've got gizmos and gadgets a plenty. I've got who's-it's and what's-it's galore. You want thingamabobs? I've got 20. But who cares? No big deal, I want more... (Ok, maybe I crossed the line there, quoting Little Mermaid).
Anyways, I could go on and on. The point is, I definitely go overboard sometimes with keeping everything I have. Most of that stuff is just sitting there, collecting dust and taking up space in my house. I don't know why I can't ever just throw stuff out, or make use of the shredder I bought 2 years ago, just for that purpose.
But you know what? Lately I have been finding that every once in a while, saving everything does come back to pay unexpected dividends.
- In the corner of my closet, I rediscovered some old clothes that I forgot I still had but never wear. When I say old, I mean OLD, like from high school days (almost 10 years ago). Anyone remember Structure, the men's store that every guy my age shopped at during HS, before it got merged with Express later on?
Well some of those shirts still fit me, and I started busting out some of the old-school polos from back in the day. The 6-button ones may look stupid now (maybe they did back then too), but there's still a few that look okay. I guess it's true what I always say - it's not the shirt that matters, but the man behind the shirt that makes the difference. Haha.
Now if I can just find my old Chicago Bulls championship t-shirts... from the first 3-peat, not the second.
- Back in college, even though I wasn't that involved with the church at CFC, I still joined small groups every year and tried to participate somewhat. Since I wasn't that active, I don't have a ton of memories and remnants to show for being in those small groups. Maybe a few t-shirts, pictures, and that's about it. But one thing I found a few weeks ago was an old CD marked "ISR 6". It was a collection of praise songs that my small group (the 6th at the ISR dorm, see how that works?) put together for each other.
I barely remember even getting that CD in the first place, and at most I maybe listened to it once or twice in my Sony Discman (another throwback), before replacing it with the Bone Thugs N Harmony's E1999 album. Yeah, I was into the ghetto stuff back then. So anyways, I loaded up the ISR 6 songs onto my IPod and started listening to it in my car on the way to/from work the past couple weeks. And I have to say, hearing those songs has been one of the most blessing things I have experienced in a long time.
Everyone knows how much I love the cheesy pop/R&B, or the 90's alternative bands, or the 2Pac and Biggie era of rap. But I've been realizing that none of that music truly feeds my soul, the way these praise songs have impacted me and stayed in my heart over the years. As much as I still love Britney, Boyz II Men, and Bone Thugs, I couldn't say that any of their music carries nearly as much meaning to me in my life when I stop to think about it. Not that I'm saying there's anything wrong with simple thoughtless music (see my essay on Britney Spears for more thoughts, 3/23/03 entry), but I do feel like our souls hunger for more than "junk food" sometimes. And listening to that ISR 6 CD really filled me up at a time when I needed it a lot.
- For those of you who went to college at U of I around the same time as I did, you'll probably remember a place called R&R's. Since the time I graduated, it has been replaced by a new bar, the Firehouse, but during my college years, R&R's was one of my favorite places to hang out. It was a pretty dumpy place, but the one thing it was known for was the Shark Bowl - a big bowl of mixed hard alcohol, fruity drinks, and ice. (Meant to be shared by a group of people at a table, but in practice, not always the case).
Anyways, each Shark Bowl had a little rubber toy shark in it (hence the name), and in those days, I collected quite a few of those sharks. A couple of them have actually been sitting in my bedroom next to the TV for years, I just never noticed them. But for no particular reason, those stupid toy sharks caught my eye the other day and got me thinking about all the fine (and not-so-fine) memories I've had at R&R's over the years. Scary to think that those days are long gone, but the one thing I have left to remind me, other than grainy pictures, are those sharks.
I wonder how long I'll be able to keep those sharks around, and how many more years will pass before I notice them again and reminiesce about the good times associated with them.
- Digging through some of my old emails, I was really amazed to find so much good stuff that people shared with me over the years. Friends who took the effort to send me notes of encouragement, when they knew I was going through struggles in my life. A lot of it was simple things like E-cards, forwards, links to articles or just simple soccer videos - I always loved those. But I also found some emails with really deep and heartfelt advice, that I didn't fully understand or appreciate until later on, as I was reading them in hindsight. I couldn't help but feel moved by the thought that people have been caring for me and praying for me and simply showing love to me, all along when I didn't even realize it. I'm not worthy.
*****
There's other examples I wanted to share, but I'm tired and need to go to bed. Nevertheless, writing this blog made me think - a lot of things pass us by in our everyday lives, without us giving a second thought to it. I can only wonder how many precious experiences I've overlooked throughout my life, that I didn't happen to save a remnant of. Are those lost forever?
I think sometimes, all it takes is for us to give ourselves a few moments to slow down. We need to more fully appreciate some parts of life that are unfortunately, too easy to just skate right by.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Friday, August 17, 2007
Shallow Thoughts
- I am the greatest spreadsheet creator of all time. All other spreadsheet makers must bow before me.
- Last week, I bowled over 200, and still lost. To someone who throws like a granny, sitting down. Ok, so it was Wii bowling, but still.
- I'm always a sucker for every new Real World season. I even wrote an application to MTV for them to cast me once (see here, 12/12/05 entry). There are many lessons I've learned from watching RW from over the years, but maybe the one that stands out the most is, there are a lot of people who are beautiful on the outside but quite ugly on the inside. So sad.
- Dish Network is pretty good, I recommend it. They have a really good HD channel lineup and they've been adding more, without jacking up the price.
- I could probably spend all day watching Food Network in HD. The people on there are so weird, but the food is so mesmerizing. Yesterday, I was watching some special on Vegas buffets. It almost made me cry.
- It seems like everyone and their mother and my sister has a Myspace or Facebook. All I have is a Friendster account somewhere, that I haven't touched in years. People have been telling me I should join Facebook, and it does sound kind of cool actually. But everyone on there has like 200 friends linked to them. If I create a page, I don't want to be the only one with a Facebook that only links to 3 friends.
- I am the greatest spreadsheet creator of all time. All other spreadsheet makers must bow before me.
- Last week, I bowled over 200, and still lost. To someone who throws like a granny, sitting down. Ok, so it was Wii bowling, but still.
- I'm always a sucker for every new Real World season. I even wrote an application to MTV for them to cast me once (see here, 12/12/05 entry). There are many lessons I've learned from watching RW from over the years, but maybe the one that stands out the most is, there are a lot of people who are beautiful on the outside but quite ugly on the inside. So sad.
- Dish Network is pretty good, I recommend it. They have a really good HD channel lineup and they've been adding more, without jacking up the price.
- I could probably spend all day watching Food Network in HD. The people on there are so weird, but the food is so mesmerizing. Yesterday, I was watching some special on Vegas buffets. It almost made me cry.
- It seems like everyone and their mother and my sister has a Myspace or Facebook. All I have is a Friendster account somewhere, that I haven't touched in years. People have been telling me I should join Facebook, and it does sound kind of cool actually. But everyone on there has like 200 friends linked to them. If I create a page, I don't want to be the only one with a Facebook that only links to 3 friends.
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Carrie
I never watched any season of American Idol, never was much of a fan of country music, and it hurts me to see a car getting keyed and smashed up in a video. But against all odds, I'm finding myself becoming a big fan of this Carrie Underwood woman:
I don't think she even won that season of A.I. that she was in. I only knew of her because I used her name to rip on Cubs pitcher Kerry (under)-Wood. That, and supposedly she was dating Cowboys QB Tony Romo last year. Either way, hopefully her next single/video will be good also.
In other news, I got my first IPod recently. Actually, it's a used IPod, a really old generation from like 3 years ago, with the battery almost dead, which I originally gave my sister for Christmas or her bday or something. Now that she has a Nano and 2 Shuffles, I get the leftovers. She used to be the one to inherit my old stuff, but I guess now I get the hand-me-downs. But that's ok, I'm not complaining. Having my own IPod does make me appreciate the ITunes software a lot more, with how you can organize playlists and then sync up and everything.
I also took the plunge into HDTV (finally). Maybe I will write more on the subject later, if I'm not too busy watching all the random stuff I've been recording on my DVR.
Got sunburned pretty bad last week. The worst thing about sunburns is that it happens so innocently, and then the effects don't kick in right away. You gotta go through each stage slowly - the redness, the itching, the blistering, the peeling. I'd seriously rather just get branded by an iron or something, straight up. At least then you'd know exactly when and how you're getting burned, and you don't have to wait in anticipation for your skin to self destruct. I think I talked about this before in this blog, but anticipating something bad is just as bad (and sometimes even worse) than the bad thing itself.
When I have kids someday, hopefully I'll have a daughter that's as cute as this girl (except she'll probably be more Asian):
I never watched any season of American Idol, never was much of a fan of country music, and it hurts me to see a car getting keyed and smashed up in a video. But against all odds, I'm finding myself becoming a big fan of this Carrie Underwood woman:
I don't think she even won that season of A.I. that she was in. I only knew of her because I used her name to rip on Cubs pitcher Kerry (under)-Wood. That, and supposedly she was dating Cowboys QB Tony Romo last year. Either way, hopefully her next single/video will be good also.
In other news, I got my first IPod recently. Actually, it's a used IPod, a really old generation from like 3 years ago, with the battery almost dead, which I originally gave my sister for Christmas or her bday or something. Now that she has a Nano and 2 Shuffles, I get the leftovers. She used to be the one to inherit my old stuff, but I guess now I get the hand-me-downs. But that's ok, I'm not complaining. Having my own IPod does make me appreciate the ITunes software a lot more, with how you can organize playlists and then sync up and everything.
I also took the plunge into HDTV (finally). Maybe I will write more on the subject later, if I'm not too busy watching all the random stuff I've been recording on my DVR.
Got sunburned pretty bad last week. The worst thing about sunburns is that it happens so innocently, and then the effects don't kick in right away. You gotta go through each stage slowly - the redness, the itching, the blistering, the peeling. I'd seriously rather just get branded by an iron or something, straight up. At least then you'd know exactly when and how you're getting burned, and you don't have to wait in anticipation for your skin to self destruct. I think I talked about this before in this blog, but anticipating something bad is just as bad (and sometimes even worse) than the bad thing itself.
When I have kids someday, hopefully I'll have a daughter that's as cute as this girl (except she'll probably be more Asian):
Saturday, June 02, 2007
Youtubes
Had another busy week, but thought I would share some videos that entertained me:
- Some guy on the French American Idol (Nouvelle Star) with his reeeeeeeemix of Baby One More Time:
- A lovely Rasheed Wallace's sweaty jersey in the face, just for me (my favorite part is how the guy's clipboard goes flying):
- Chinese guys like to be kicked in the balls:
- Why don't our local news teams have investigative reports like this? Ron Magers and Linda Yu suck.
- Silly Canadian lady trying to sing the National Anthem:
Had another busy week, but thought I would share some videos that entertained me:
- Some guy on the French American Idol (Nouvelle Star) with his reeeeeeeemix of Baby One More Time:
- A lovely Rasheed Wallace's sweaty jersey in the face, just for me (my favorite part is how the guy's clipboard goes flying):
- Chinese guys like to be kicked in the balls:
- Why don't our local news teams have investigative reports like this? Ron Magers and Linda Yu suck.
- Silly Canadian lady trying to sing the National Anthem:
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Needing A Break
It's been pretty busy lately for me, both at work and outside of work. I feel like I haven't really had a chance to sit down and unwind for about the last week or so, which is not a good thing. I'll try to recap a little bit here, with some help from my phone camera wherever possible.
- Mother's Day, had the parents over at the townhouse for some dinner. My sister cooked a great meal, and I tried to chip in my part by grilling some kalbi on the deck. The food turned out pretty delicious, maybe a little too delicious. I was watching some of the videos we took from that day and realized that I look like kind of a slob when I eat. I know I've been eating a LOT lately (maybe this will have be its own blog entry), but seeing myself eat reminded me of pigs feeding from a trough, to be honest. So if I have offended any of you in the past who have had to watch me eat with no manners, I apologize. I will try to not be as rude in the future.
- Went to a Sox game last week, the one that ended up being postponed due to rain. It wasn't a complete waste, because we got to watch the Bulls game on the big screen (Game 5, where they were hitting all their shots and won) during the delay. Also got to eat some Polish sausages and churros, which are excellent at US Smellular Field. And the White Sox were nice enough to offer an extra make up game and refund the money for parking. I've heard that the White Sox are one of the more professional organizations, corporate wise, around Major League Baseball (certainly better than the greedy, money gouging Tribune company), and from personal experience, I wouldn't dispute that.
- Did some shopping for my sister's b-day gift and card. I noticed that the employees at Dick's Sporting Goods are not very helpful or knowledgeable. It's also much harder to find a green iPod nano than I would have expected.
Another thing was when I was looking for a birthday card, there was a section specifically with b-day cards "For Sister". Browsing through some of those was kind of disturbing actually. I don't know what kind of relationship other people have with their sisters, but I do not see myself getting her a card with a picture of some guy in a speedo, or a joke about buying her breast implants. But hey, that's just me. Different strokes for different folks.
- A few weeks ago, when the first round of the playoffs was just starting, Andy bought tickets for Bulls "Home Game #3" for the second round (since it was hard to get tickets to the other games). When the Bulls fell behind 0-3 to the Pistons, the chances of there being a 3rd home game didn't look too promising. But then they actually won the next two to force a game 6, so his little investment paid off and I got to watch a Bulls playoff game in person for the first time.
Too bad traffic was so horrible that it took over 2 hours to get to the city. Food at the UC is definitely not as good as at Sox games either, so that didn't help. And then the game was almost as miserable to sit through, with missed open shots and stupid turnovers all night long. It was definitely sad and frustrating to watch them get eliminated, but I think there's reason to hope for a better run next year. Especially if they get a little lucky in the draft lottery tonight...
- Weekend was pretty much tied up with activities relating to Brian and Grace's wedding. I wasn't in the wedding, but helped out as an usher. Rehearsal dinner was at one of my favorite Chinese restaurants in the burbs, House of Emperor of Naperville (I call it "HOE" for short). I love their Peking duck.
The wedding itself was really nice. The church was beautiful, ceremony was really emotional, and I think everyone had a lot of fun at the reception. I'm really happy for them and just want to wish the newly married couple the best, in case they're reading this on their honeymoon (Grace, you will definitely be missed as a housemate, of course).
- Sunday, ate a LOT (big surprise, note that food is a running theme in my life these days). My mom and dad are all about Royal Buffet around Darien, so with my sister's boyfriend in town, they took us there for lunch. Royal gets a lot of hype among the Asian community, and I agree it's a great deal for the price - but I can't say I'm personally a huge fan of that place. It's still a big step below the Vegas buffets if you ask me. I'd rather pay more for a little higher quality food, and a lot classier atmosphere (where I'm the only one eating like a pig).
For dinner, more feasting was had in downtown Naperville at Tango as the CCMC people got together for my sister's bday. It was good food, but I didn't do much to dispel my reputation as a sloppy eater. I have a shirt speckled with pasta sauce stains to prove it. Thanks to Jeni, though, I do have a newfound respect for that Tide to Go marker thing.
- Watched Spiderman 3 on IMAX. I thought it was a pretty good movie, cheesy at parts but that was expected. I wasn't that huge of a fan of the first 2 anyways, I'm a bigger fan of the X-Men series personally.
I think this was the first movie I've watched in IMAX. It was cool, but I kind of thought it would be more spectacular. Maybe I was picturing something more like the OMNIMAX theater at the MSI, which I remember being in awe of when I was a kid going there on field trips. I wonder if they've improved that technology at all since then. Considering it was at least 10-15 years ago when I last went, maybe I should check out OMNIMAX again sometime soon to see if they made it even awesomer. Then again, they probably only use it to show educational crap. What a waste.
- Took my sis to the Sox vs. Oakland game on her real birthday. It was half-price night, and I do think the crowd is noticeably more rowdy and less classy on these discount nights. If I'm not mistaken, it was also a half-price night when those guys ran on the field and attacked the ump a few years ago.
One thing from the game that made me mad is, I heard someone making fun of Oakland fans by changing "Oakland A's" to "Oakland Gays". Not because I care for the well being of opposing fans at our stadium (I don't). I was upset because usually I'm pretty good at thinking of obscene/derogatory nicknames for things, and I completely missed the boat on that one. I can't believe I didn't think of the obvious one (I was personally going with "Jokeland" for most of the night, which is still clever in its own right, but comparatively wack).
My sister, bless her heart, tried to reassure me by suggesting that "Oakland Gays" was too easy for my level of expertise. I'd really like to believe that, because I should really be in the prime of my derogatory nickname career at this point in my life. It's way too early for my skills to be declining already.
It's been pretty busy lately for me, both at work and outside of work. I feel like I haven't really had a chance to sit down and unwind for about the last week or so, which is not a good thing. I'll try to recap a little bit here, with some help from my phone camera wherever possible.
- Mother's Day, had the parents over at the townhouse for some dinner. My sister cooked a great meal, and I tried to chip in my part by grilling some kalbi on the deck. The food turned out pretty delicious, maybe a little too delicious. I was watching some of the videos we took from that day and realized that I look like kind of a slob when I eat. I know I've been eating a LOT lately (maybe this will have be its own blog entry), but seeing myself eat reminded me of pigs feeding from a trough, to be honest. So if I have offended any of you in the past who have had to watch me eat with no manners, I apologize. I will try to not be as rude in the future.
- Went to a Sox game last week, the one that ended up being postponed due to rain. It wasn't a complete waste, because we got to watch the Bulls game on the big screen (Game 5, where they were hitting all their shots and won) during the delay. Also got to eat some Polish sausages and churros, which are excellent at US Smellular Field. And the White Sox were nice enough to offer an extra make up game and refund the money for parking. I've heard that the White Sox are one of the more professional organizations, corporate wise, around Major League Baseball (certainly better than the greedy, money gouging Tribune company), and from personal experience, I wouldn't dispute that.
- Did some shopping for my sister's b-day gift and card. I noticed that the employees at Dick's Sporting Goods are not very helpful or knowledgeable. It's also much harder to find a green iPod nano than I would have expected.
Another thing was when I was looking for a birthday card, there was a section specifically with b-day cards "For Sister". Browsing through some of those was kind of disturbing actually. I don't know what kind of relationship other people have with their sisters, but I do not see myself getting her a card with a picture of some guy in a speedo, or a joke about buying her breast implants. But hey, that's just me. Different strokes for different folks.
- A few weeks ago, when the first round of the playoffs was just starting, Andy bought tickets for Bulls "Home Game #3" for the second round (since it was hard to get tickets to the other games). When the Bulls fell behind 0-3 to the Pistons, the chances of there being a 3rd home game didn't look too promising. But then they actually won the next two to force a game 6, so his little investment paid off and I got to watch a Bulls playoff game in person for the first time.
Too bad traffic was so horrible that it took over 2 hours to get to the city. Food at the UC is definitely not as good as at Sox games either, so that didn't help. And then the game was almost as miserable to sit through, with missed open shots and stupid turnovers all night long. It was definitely sad and frustrating to watch them get eliminated, but I think there's reason to hope for a better run next year. Especially if they get a little lucky in the draft lottery tonight...
- Weekend was pretty much tied up with activities relating to Brian and Grace's wedding. I wasn't in the wedding, but helped out as an usher. Rehearsal dinner was at one of my favorite Chinese restaurants in the burbs, House of Emperor of Naperville (I call it "HOE" for short). I love their Peking duck.
The wedding itself was really nice. The church was beautiful, ceremony was really emotional, and I think everyone had a lot of fun at the reception. I'm really happy for them and just want to wish the newly married couple the best, in case they're reading this on their honeymoon (Grace, you will definitely be missed as a housemate, of course).
- Sunday, ate a LOT (big surprise, note that food is a running theme in my life these days). My mom and dad are all about Royal Buffet around Darien, so with my sister's boyfriend in town, they took us there for lunch. Royal gets a lot of hype among the Asian community, and I agree it's a great deal for the price - but I can't say I'm personally a huge fan of that place. It's still a big step below the Vegas buffets if you ask me. I'd rather pay more for a little higher quality food, and a lot classier atmosphere (where I'm the only one eating like a pig).
For dinner, more feasting was had in downtown Naperville at Tango as the CCMC people got together for my sister's bday. It was good food, but I didn't do much to dispel my reputation as a sloppy eater. I have a shirt speckled with pasta sauce stains to prove it. Thanks to Jeni, though, I do have a newfound respect for that Tide to Go marker thing.
- Watched Spiderman 3 on IMAX. I thought it was a pretty good movie, cheesy at parts but that was expected. I wasn't that huge of a fan of the first 2 anyways, I'm a bigger fan of the X-Men series personally.
I think this was the first movie I've watched in IMAX. It was cool, but I kind of thought it would be more spectacular. Maybe I was picturing something more like the OMNIMAX theater at the MSI, which I remember being in awe of when I was a kid going there on field trips. I wonder if they've improved that technology at all since then. Considering it was at least 10-15 years ago when I last went, maybe I should check out OMNIMAX again sometime soon to see if they made it even awesomer. Then again, they probably only use it to show educational crap. What a waste.
- Took my sis to the Sox vs. Oakland game on her real birthday. It was half-price night, and I do think the crowd is noticeably more rowdy and less classy on these discount nights. If I'm not mistaken, it was also a half-price night when those guys ran on the field and attacked the ump a few years ago.
One thing from the game that made me mad is, I heard someone making fun of Oakland fans by changing "Oakland A's" to "Oakland Gays". Not because I care for the well being of opposing fans at our stadium (I don't). I was upset because usually I'm pretty good at thinking of obscene/derogatory nicknames for things, and I completely missed the boat on that one. I can't believe I didn't think of the obvious one (I was personally going with "Jokeland" for most of the night, which is still clever in its own right, but comparatively wack).
My sister, bless her heart, tried to reassure me by suggesting that "Oakland Gays" was too easy for my level of expertise. I'd really like to believe that, because I should really be in the prime of my derogatory nickname career at this point in my life. It's way too early for my skills to be declining already.
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