- Last month, Jerry Manuel was fired as manager of the White Sox. Yesterday, Bill Cartwright was fired as coach of the Bulls. Next in line will probably be Dick Jauron from the Bears. I never thought this city would see the day when the guy with the most job security is the manager of the Cubs.
- Yesterday I signed on to AIM and saw that there were less than half the normal amount of people on my buddy list that were signed on. Is this because all the college kids came home for Thanksgiving break, or was there some nationwide internet outage that I was unaware of?
- Tonight is the final episode of Real World Paris. Some people say that this series sucked because there was "not enough hooking up", but I thought it was very entertaining. I think this was actually the first season of RW that I watched almost every episode of.
*****
Thoughts on Racism
I hate racism. I think most of the civilized world is pretty much agreed that racism is bad, so there's not much point in writing about why it sucks. Instead, I feel like venting about what pisses me off just as much: when overly sensitive people overreact to certain things and call them racist, which aren't really racist.
Example 1: I was reading an article the other day about the dominance of Kenyans in the marathons around the world. A scientific study was done in 2000 by the Danish Sports Science Institute, to see if there was any genetic correlation of why marathons seem to always be won by Kenyans. The study, which provided conclusive results that Kenyans (specifically the Kalenjin tribe) do have a genetic advantage in adaptivity to long distance running, was immediately met with sharp criticism for being racist. In particular, a former champion from Kenya, Kip Keino, was "incensed" by the study's results for implying that Kenyan success in marathons was not purely due to work ethic.
Example 2: During the past baseball season, Dusty Baker was asked by reporters about whether or not the Cubs' schedule was a disadvantage because of all the day games. His reply was something to the tune of, black people were brought over here as slaves in the first place, because of their physical endurance and ability to handle long days in the sun, so he didn't believe the day games were a factor. His statements were instantly blasted by the media, white and black alike, for being racist.
Example 3: A couple months ago, Rush Limbaugh made the statement as an ESPN football analyst that Donovan McNabb was way overrated by the media, which was desperate to see a black quarterback succeed in the NFL. Within days, Limbaugh was out the door of ESPN and labeled a racist for his opinions on the matter.
Now, I'm not necessarily agreeing or disagreeing with anyone in the above examples. That's not really my point. The thing is, all three situations I mentioned involve people being way too sensitive and carelessly using the word "racism" to describe something that, in my mind, is clearly not racist. It just seems like some people are so eager to jump on anything that even remotely implies that different groups are unequal, and make a huge fuss about it.
I think a big part of this is because most of us learned all we know about racism through the public education system, in our elementary school years. All I remember from those days is the constant mantra of "All men are created equal", that slavery was horrible, and that Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King were the heroes who made our society so culturally harmonious today. That's all fine and dandy, but I'd have to say that it paints a grossly incomplete picture of what racism is really about.
First of all, even though the founding fathers of this country told us that "all men are created equal", this is obviously not the entire story. If we were all created equal, then why do some of us have darker or lighter skin to begin with? Why are some of us more prone to sickle cell anemia, others to lactose intolerance? Do we all have "equal" amounts of hair, of equal color and texture, distributed in the exact same proportion on our bodies? Even if you just think about those few simple questions, it's easy to see that we are not created equal among races, if only in a sense of physical genetics.
With this in mind, why is it so taboo for people to accept or even discuss something such as the possibility that humans of African origin may have certain advantages when it comes to athletics? I mean, is it really a coincidence that there is such a disproportionately high number of black people in the NBA, NFL, etc.? I understand that a study such as the Danish one I mentioned implies that Kenyans don't win marathons purely because of their training and work ethic, but so what? Facts are facts.
You know, a Korean guy broke the long streak of Kenyans by winning the Boston Marathon in 2001 - where was this highly touted Kenyan work ethic that year, I ask? And on the flip side, doesn't the way the Kenyans responded to the study imply that they think Asians and Whites don't win marathons due to lack of hard work? I should feel insulted! (Of course, I'll be the first to admit that I am too lazy to train for a marathon, so I'll be keeping my mouth shut about that. But maybe Rich or Dennis would have a right to say something, being the marathon trainers they are... now's your time to jump in and give those Kenyans a piece of your minds guys!)
Besides being really annoying to hear the media or "activists" whining about everything all the time, I think this general hypersensitivity of our society towards racism hurts much deeper. When we are constantly calling things racist that aren't real cases of racism, it tends to trivialize the things that actually are racist. It doesn't benefit anyone to scapegoat Rush Limbaugh for the kinds of comments he made, which were, at worst, simply ignorant and misinformed. It might make Jesse Jackson or Louis Farakhan or whoever a hero in the eyes of the public to speak out in this cause, but how would this help the latest victim of a hate crime, for example? How does it help the guy who is about to be passed over for a job, not because he's not qualified, but because he's not white?
Not only this, when people overreact about anything that might remotely be considered racist, it ends hurting everyone more because it stifles any chance of us having a productive discussion on the heart of the subject. And this, in turn, breeds further ignorance and prevents us from ever achieving the one thing that could actually eliminate racism: the ability to fully understand each other and understand the truth.
The bottom line is, whenever the kinds of questions about race come up such as in the examples I mentioned, people should really take the opportunity to think about the situations instead of rushing to judgement. Calling for someone to get fired or demanding a full apology does basically nothing. After all, if someone makes a statement, he obviously must believe in it, otherwise why would he say it in the first place? So what good will firing him or forcefully making him retract it do?
Let's face it, we're never going to get everyone to suddenly stop being racist by simply forcing equality on the entire country. To me, fighting racism isn't about making everyone believe that we're all equal. It's about treating everyone with equal amounts of respect and giving everyone equal opportunities regardless of skin color. And as I mentioned before, the way to achieve this is to promote understanding of each other and of the truth. But if people are so sensitive about the subject to ever talk about or even think about the real issues, then this will never happen. This is why I say that I hate these overly sensitive people just as much as I hate the real racists themselves, because both are responsible for holding us all back from reaching a healthy state of race relations.
*****
Hopefully this entry made some sense. I realize that it is a more intense topic than one might expect on this short week of Thanksgiving, but for some reason I just felt like I needed to get these thoughts off my chest today. And now, it's time for me to go home.
Tuesday, November 25, 2003
Monday, November 24, 2003
Frickin' Freezin
This morning was so cold. Why didn't anybody warn me in advance about this snow and arctic wind? Just last week, I was walking around just fine, without even having to wear a light jacket, and thinking about washing my car. All of a sudden, I can't even run from my car in the parking lot to the entrance at work today, without having to stop and check to see whether my ears are still attached to my body, or if they froze, cracked off and blew away.
I dread cold weather because it gets harder to wake up in the morning, and then I feel so much lazier when it comes to leaving the house, working out, and just about everything else in general. I'm the kind of person who likes to use these kinds of things as an excuse to avoid doing all kinds of stuff:
"Hmmm.... I should probably go to Jewel and buy some food. Nah, it's too cold, screw it."
"The oil in my car needs to be changed. Nah, it's too cold, screw it."
"I gotta do some laundry soon. Nah, it's too cold, screw it."
One thing that the cold weather might actually push me to do is to get a remote starter for my car. I've been thinking about doing it for a long time (even back when I first got the Maxima), but obviously never followed through. Now, I think I could really use a remote starter to warm up my car in the morning while I eat, or after work while I walk through the parking lot, so I don't have to get in and wait so long for it to heat up. If anyone out there is knowledgeable about remote starters, would like to recommend a certain model to me, and/or help me install it, let me know!
Of course, a good thing that comes with the drop in temperature is the Christmas season. I'm a huge sucker for everything having to do with Christmas. People who have read my blog last year around this time would know this, as I wrote a whole thing on the best Christmas songs, movies, etc., and changed all the colors of this site to shades of red and green. I still haven't gotten around to fixing my archives and stuff, but maybe after writing this I will try to work on my template and find last year's entries.
For me, the Christmas season this year officially started last Friday night. Every day for the past 7 months, I've driven past the intersection on the way to/from work where NW Hwy and Hicks split off, and the area looks pretty boring, nothing special. But coming home late that night from the city, I was so surprised to see that same intersection lit up by all these Christmas lights, strung around all the bushes and trees by the street. I didn't even notice there were bushes and trees there before, but I guess I'm just not too observant about that kind of stuff. Anyways, it looked really cool, and instantly put me in the happy Christmas mood. Props to Palatine township.
This was followed up on Sunday after church, when me and my sister watched one of our favorite all-time movies playing on WGN, Home Alone. Later that day, I noticed that it was on TBS Superstation too. I just love that movie so much, it brings back all these great memories and feelings, especially associated with Christmastime. So if the lights on the trees and stuff weren't enough, watching Home Alone definitely left no further doubt in my mind that Christmas season was here.
In the meantime, it seems that Thanksgiving has been forgotten for the moment. But I know that I won't forget it later this week, when I get to enjoy a much needed long weekend. That's the cool part I realized about Thanksgiving since I started working, is that most of us (sorry P) have a built-in thing to be thankful for. That is, getting the day(s) off for the holiday. Hopefully, I will also find myself thankful for Ahman Green running me out to a huge early lead in one of the Thursday NFL games.
As for the snow, well, I hope it won't affect me as much this year, since I don't have to commute from Darien anymore. Although, now I park outside in the driveway, so that could suck. Either way, I'm pretty sure I'd rather see snow covering the ground, than this "light flurries with no accumulation" BS. The way I see it, if it's gonna snow, and wind is gonna blast it in my face, it better at least look nice and wintery outside.
To sum up:
- It's frickin freezing
- Cold weather makes me lazy
- I need a remote starter
- At least it's Christmas season
- I love Christmas season
- But don't forget about Thanksgiving
- Snow a lot, or not at all
*****
Update: I fixed the archives, and the links to my Christmas entries from last year are as follows:
Christmas DBA Nominations
DBA Winners
While looking for these posts, I discovered a cool feature in the new Blogger interface that lets you search for posts containing certain words. I didn't know you could do that, it would've saved me some time trying to find those Christmas blogs in all the weeks before Christmas (it turns out that I posted them the week of Christmas, how wacky).
This morning was so cold. Why didn't anybody warn me in advance about this snow and arctic wind? Just last week, I was walking around just fine, without even having to wear a light jacket, and thinking about washing my car. All of a sudden, I can't even run from my car in the parking lot to the entrance at work today, without having to stop and check to see whether my ears are still attached to my body, or if they froze, cracked off and blew away.
I dread cold weather because it gets harder to wake up in the morning, and then I feel so much lazier when it comes to leaving the house, working out, and just about everything else in general. I'm the kind of person who likes to use these kinds of things as an excuse to avoid doing all kinds of stuff:
"Hmmm.... I should probably go to Jewel and buy some food. Nah, it's too cold, screw it."
"The oil in my car needs to be changed. Nah, it's too cold, screw it."
"I gotta do some laundry soon. Nah, it's too cold, screw it."
One thing that the cold weather might actually push me to do is to get a remote starter for my car. I've been thinking about doing it for a long time (even back when I first got the Maxima), but obviously never followed through. Now, I think I could really use a remote starter to warm up my car in the morning while I eat, or after work while I walk through the parking lot, so I don't have to get in and wait so long for it to heat up. If anyone out there is knowledgeable about remote starters, would like to recommend a certain model to me, and/or help me install it, let me know!
Of course, a good thing that comes with the drop in temperature is the Christmas season. I'm a huge sucker for everything having to do with Christmas. People who have read my blog last year around this time would know this, as I wrote a whole thing on the best Christmas songs, movies, etc., and changed all the colors of this site to shades of red and green. I still haven't gotten around to fixing my archives and stuff, but maybe after writing this I will try to work on my template and find last year's entries.
For me, the Christmas season this year officially started last Friday night. Every day for the past 7 months, I've driven past the intersection on the way to/from work where NW Hwy and Hicks split off, and the area looks pretty boring, nothing special. But coming home late that night from the city, I was so surprised to see that same intersection lit up by all these Christmas lights, strung around all the bushes and trees by the street. I didn't even notice there were bushes and trees there before, but I guess I'm just not too observant about that kind of stuff. Anyways, it looked really cool, and instantly put me in the happy Christmas mood. Props to Palatine township.
This was followed up on Sunday after church, when me and my sister watched one of our favorite all-time movies playing on WGN, Home Alone. Later that day, I noticed that it was on TBS Superstation too. I just love that movie so much, it brings back all these great memories and feelings, especially associated with Christmastime. So if the lights on the trees and stuff weren't enough, watching Home Alone definitely left no further doubt in my mind that Christmas season was here.
In the meantime, it seems that Thanksgiving has been forgotten for the moment. But I know that I won't forget it later this week, when I get to enjoy a much needed long weekend. That's the cool part I realized about Thanksgiving since I started working, is that most of us (sorry P) have a built-in thing to be thankful for. That is, getting the day(s) off for the holiday. Hopefully, I will also find myself thankful for Ahman Green running me out to a huge early lead in one of the Thursday NFL games.
As for the snow, well, I hope it won't affect me as much this year, since I don't have to commute from Darien anymore. Although, now I park outside in the driveway, so that could suck. Either way, I'm pretty sure I'd rather see snow covering the ground, than this "light flurries with no accumulation" BS. The way I see it, if it's gonna snow, and wind is gonna blast it in my face, it better at least look nice and wintery outside.
To sum up:
- It's frickin freezing
- Cold weather makes me lazy
- I need a remote starter
- At least it's Christmas season
- I love Christmas season
- But don't forget about Thanksgiving
- Snow a lot, or not at all
*****
Update: I fixed the archives, and the links to my Christmas entries from last year are as follows:
Christmas DBA Nominations
DBA Winners
While looking for these posts, I discovered a cool feature in the new Blogger interface that lets you search for posts containing certain words. I didn't know you could do that, it would've saved me some time trying to find those Christmas blogs in all the weeks before Christmas (it turns out that I posted them the week of Christmas, how wacky).
Friday, November 21, 2003
Feel the Rush
A list of some of the most exciting rushes in my life, past and present:
- Executing a successful Psi Storm on Marines/Medics/Firebats in Starcraft. I love the sound of all those humans dying at once.
- "Flopping a set" in Hold'em.
- Any time one of my fantasy players scores a TD
- Hearing the new intake roar for the first time when I floored it in my Maxima
- Having an 8oz. Filet Mignon plus King Crab Legs dinner at Bob Chinn's when I'm really hungry
- Being at a great live performance of one of your favorite songs (my personal examples include Red Hot Chili Peppers "Under the Bridge", Britney Spears "You Drive Me Crazy", 311 "Down", and more)
- Loading Piya's blog and seeing a new Choose Your Own Adventure or Stork article
- Making a solid tackle (As some friends know, this was not limited to the football field. But that was in the past, so don't worry anymore)
- Getting an awesome "alone" hand in Euchre
- Nailing a good break in 9-ball (or to a lesser extent, 8-ball), I love hearing that sound and watching the balls go flying
- Jumping off a cliff (into water)
- Pulling off all the shifts perfectly and setting a new time record in Daytona USA Arcade, Advanced or Expert tracks
- Finding an awesome parking spot in the city with time still on the meter (I know Chras feels me on this one)
- Walking out of an ECE exam feeling like I completely owned it (this has not happened very often)
- Last day of school or work before a long vacation
- Arriving at the terminal in O'Hare after a long vacation. Home Sweet Home...
- Finding a really cute BCBG dress on sale (just kidding)
- Entering a classified lab or room here at work
- Washing my hands using my sister's Bath & Body Works Exfoliating soap for the first time
- Ordering stuff online and getting it in the mail
- Climbing trees (haven't done this since I was about 10 years old... anyone wanna go to the Arboretum sometime?)
There's more, but that's all I will list for now.
A list of some of the most exciting rushes in my life, past and present:
- Executing a successful Psi Storm on Marines/Medics/Firebats in Starcraft. I love the sound of all those humans dying at once.
- "Flopping a set" in Hold'em.
- Any time one of my fantasy players scores a TD
- Hearing the new intake roar for the first time when I floored it in my Maxima
- Having an 8oz. Filet Mignon plus King Crab Legs dinner at Bob Chinn's when I'm really hungry
- Being at a great live performance of one of your favorite songs (my personal examples include Red Hot Chili Peppers "Under the Bridge", Britney Spears "You Drive Me Crazy", 311 "Down", and more)
- Loading Piya's blog and seeing a new Choose Your Own Adventure or Stork article
- Making a solid tackle (As some friends know, this was not limited to the football field. But that was in the past, so don't worry anymore)
- Getting an awesome "alone" hand in Euchre
- Nailing a good break in 9-ball (or to a lesser extent, 8-ball), I love hearing that sound and watching the balls go flying
- Jumping off a cliff (into water)
- Pulling off all the shifts perfectly and setting a new time record in Daytona USA Arcade, Advanced or Expert tracks
- Finding an awesome parking spot in the city with time still on the meter (I know Chras feels me on this one)
- Walking out of an ECE exam feeling like I completely owned it (this has not happened very often)
- Last day of school or work before a long vacation
- Arriving at the terminal in O'Hare after a long vacation. Home Sweet Home...
- Finding a really cute BCBG dress on sale (just kidding)
- Entering a classified lab or room here at work
- Washing my hands using my sister's Bath & Body Works Exfoliating soap for the first time
- Ordering stuff online and getting it in the mail
- Climbing trees (haven't done this since I was about 10 years old... anyone wanna go to the Arboretum sometime?)
There's more, but that's all I will list for now.
Wednesday, November 19, 2003
Routine
When I first stepped into the working world, one of the words that really scared me was "routine". Hearing that word made me picture an old grandpa in a nursing home, who needs to do the same thing and follow the same schedule every day, while having very little variety (or none at all) in his lifestyle. The word also brought to mind the image of a 9-5 corporate peon, as portrayed in the movie Office Space. Waking up each day at the same time to the same alarm clock, just so you can struggle through rush hour traffic to get to work, where you have to deal with the same annoying people and do all the same monotonous chores for 8 hours, then going home tired, having a beer, and collapsing in bed out of sheer exhaustion, only to restart the process the next morning.
Since neither of these lifestyles were particularly appealing to me, I made the promise to myself that I would never let my own life reach such a point of repetition and perpetual tedium. Especially being so fresh out of college, a time when I thoroughly enjoyed a most "unroutine" lifestyle, few things worried me more than getting sucked into a job and a life that was anything close to resembling a routine.
It's now been more than a year since that time, and as I stop to evaulate my current life, I'd have to say that it's a lot different than what I thought I wanted my life to be, based upon last year's standards. Despite consciously trying to avoid turning my life into a routine, I've found that a great deal of what I do every day has nevertheless become exactly that which I originally feared.
From Monday to Friday, my alarm wakes me up at the same time every morning, and I go to sleep at pretty much the same time every night too. I eat the same cereal for breakfast, and basically the same sandwich, chips, and juice for lunch. I shower at the same time, check people's blogs and other websites in pretty much the same order, and I'm even finding myself watching the same TV shows on certain nights of the week, something I never used to do. Even my weekends seem to have some set schedule these days. Saturday, sleep in and go home to Darien in the afternoon, then hang out with friends and/or Olivia. And then Sundays have strictly been a combination of church, football, and cards.
Now, without going through every single detail of my daily schedule, let's just say that it's all a far cry from the days at U of I. Even when I had classes every morning, I always considered waking up for them to be purely optional on my part (in hindsight, not a great policy). I'd eat an average of 1-2 meals a day, if that, and they usually consisted of either Ramen, frozen pizza, or Rice Garden. I'd go to sleep and wake up at any given time, weekdays or weekends regardless. And I rarely watched much TV other than late night Sportscenter reruns or MTV After Hours/Dawn Patrol.
As I've said before, and I'm sure most of my friends would agree, it was this exact characteristic of unpredictability and freedom that made college such a great time. I know that I will always miss those days when the concepts of "schedule" and "routine" seemed as foreign as Chinese TPS reports (don't ask me what that is supposed to mean, I don't know).
But as much as my habits and lifestyle have moved away from the old college ways, I'm surprised to find that I'm not as bothered or worried about this as I originally thought I would be. In fact, I think I'm actually subconsciously starting to crave more routine in my current life. Part of it is, there's a certain comfort in waking up and knowing that there's nothing I'm going to encounter today, that I haven't already encountered and gotten through plenty of times already in the past. Not that every day is exactly the same for me, and I still do face new things all the time. But following a good routine just seems to make life easier, less stressful, and a lot more productive overall. And that is definitely a good thing in my book.
I guess living within the guidelines of my routine means that the days of chaotic college life will be officially left behind. In a way, it does make me sad to let go of all the spontaneity and lack of boundaries that I enjoyed so much. It means there won't be nearly as many wacky stories with me pulling allnighters, sleeping for 16 hours straight on Chras's bed, playing Starcraft or shooting pool instead of studying for a final, or going to class the morning after your 21st birthday. But, it also means that I won't be constantly "learning the hard way" what it's like to work a long 8 hour day after making some unwise decisions the night before. And you know what? I think I'm getting older and mature enough to the point where I'm willing to give up the crazy experiences and the highs and lows for some good old consistency and steadiness in my life.
Of course, I think from my point of view, I can consider my routine lifestyle to be a positive thing largely because it is mostly by my own voluntary choice. I'm still quite wary of ever unwittingly becoming a "slave to routine", and I do believe that if I had my daily schedule imposed on me, my thoughts on the whole thing would be much different. I mean, it's not as if I'm like that guy in Office Space who is forced into a rut by the demands of his job and everything around me. Nor am I the nursing home grandpa, whose habits have become so ingrained through years of repetition that they have formed an unending and unbreakable cycle. Well, not yet, at least.
Maybe it's all a matter of perspective, but I really don't mind living a semi-repetitive life, as long as I feel like I'm still in control and I'm still happy doing what I do. Even if it makes me dull or boring, and people call me "old man" for always having to go home by 11 or earlier, I'm fine with that. Like I said before, I'm getting too old to always be having to recover from the results of my own poor judgement. After all, I'm a boring guy anyways, so hey, I might as well just accept that fact and make the most out of it by getting enough sleep and living healthier while I'm at it, right?
*****
Yesterday I "got in the zone" for $9.88 at Target (that means I bought the new Britney Spears album). I didn't realize Target sold CD's that cheap, I've been getting ripped off at Best Buy all this time!
Anyways, I've only listened to the first 6 or 7 tracks, but so far I'm liking this CD. I was kind of expecting it to suck, after the stuff I've been seeing and hearing on the MTV and ABC specials, and also her song with Madonna blows. But, I'm pretty impressed with the sound and style of the rest of the songs I'm hearing. I'm glad it's not as overtly raunchy as the media has been saying, but it does remind me somewhat of Janet Jackson's Velvet Rope in its edgy qualities. Up to this point, I definitely like this album better than the last CD, which had way too much of the Neptunes influence in my opinion (I never really got into the Neptunes, I thought they were grossly overrated and I still don't like Pharrell's stuff, but I'm sure others will disagree). So yeah, those are my thoughts on the first half of the album, hopefully the second half will not disappoint.
*****
My mom and dad are celebrating their 25th anniversary today. In typical fobby Chinese fashion, they are choosing to commemorate this occasion by inviting me to eat with them at Todai.
I don't know how it is in other families, but having grown up under my parents and watching them go through all the tough times of life, I know that making their marriage last 25 years is no small accomplishment. I feel really lucky and happy to see them reach this point. I know my sister can attest to seeing the many times when everything seemed like it was so close to falling apart or blowing up, but somehow everything stuck together through it all.
For me personally, in this age when divorced and separated couple are more common than those that stay married, seeing my own parents make their marriage work for 25 years really gives me a reason to believe and have faith that I myself can someday get married and make it last too.
When I first stepped into the working world, one of the words that really scared me was "routine". Hearing that word made me picture an old grandpa in a nursing home, who needs to do the same thing and follow the same schedule every day, while having very little variety (or none at all) in his lifestyle. The word also brought to mind the image of a 9-5 corporate peon, as portrayed in the movie Office Space. Waking up each day at the same time to the same alarm clock, just so you can struggle through rush hour traffic to get to work, where you have to deal with the same annoying people and do all the same monotonous chores for 8 hours, then going home tired, having a beer, and collapsing in bed out of sheer exhaustion, only to restart the process the next morning.
Since neither of these lifestyles were particularly appealing to me, I made the promise to myself that I would never let my own life reach such a point of repetition and perpetual tedium. Especially being so fresh out of college, a time when I thoroughly enjoyed a most "unroutine" lifestyle, few things worried me more than getting sucked into a job and a life that was anything close to resembling a routine.
It's now been more than a year since that time, and as I stop to evaulate my current life, I'd have to say that it's a lot different than what I thought I wanted my life to be, based upon last year's standards. Despite consciously trying to avoid turning my life into a routine, I've found that a great deal of what I do every day has nevertheless become exactly that which I originally feared.
From Monday to Friday, my alarm wakes me up at the same time every morning, and I go to sleep at pretty much the same time every night too. I eat the same cereal for breakfast, and basically the same sandwich, chips, and juice for lunch. I shower at the same time, check people's blogs and other websites in pretty much the same order, and I'm even finding myself watching the same TV shows on certain nights of the week, something I never used to do. Even my weekends seem to have some set schedule these days. Saturday, sleep in and go home to Darien in the afternoon, then hang out with friends and/or Olivia. And then Sundays have strictly been a combination of church, football, and cards.
Now, without going through every single detail of my daily schedule, let's just say that it's all a far cry from the days at U of I. Even when I had classes every morning, I always considered waking up for them to be purely optional on my part (in hindsight, not a great policy). I'd eat an average of 1-2 meals a day, if that, and they usually consisted of either Ramen, frozen pizza, or Rice Garden. I'd go to sleep and wake up at any given time, weekdays or weekends regardless. And I rarely watched much TV other than late night Sportscenter reruns or MTV After Hours/Dawn Patrol.
As I've said before, and I'm sure most of my friends would agree, it was this exact characteristic of unpredictability and freedom that made college such a great time. I know that I will always miss those days when the concepts of "schedule" and "routine" seemed as foreign as Chinese TPS reports (don't ask me what that is supposed to mean, I don't know).
But as much as my habits and lifestyle have moved away from the old college ways, I'm surprised to find that I'm not as bothered or worried about this as I originally thought I would be. In fact, I think I'm actually subconsciously starting to crave more routine in my current life. Part of it is, there's a certain comfort in waking up and knowing that there's nothing I'm going to encounter today, that I haven't already encountered and gotten through plenty of times already in the past. Not that every day is exactly the same for me, and I still do face new things all the time. But following a good routine just seems to make life easier, less stressful, and a lot more productive overall. And that is definitely a good thing in my book.
I guess living within the guidelines of my routine means that the days of chaotic college life will be officially left behind. In a way, it does make me sad to let go of all the spontaneity and lack of boundaries that I enjoyed so much. It means there won't be nearly as many wacky stories with me pulling allnighters, sleeping for 16 hours straight on Chras's bed, playing Starcraft or shooting pool instead of studying for a final, or going to class the morning after your 21st birthday. But, it also means that I won't be constantly "learning the hard way" what it's like to work a long 8 hour day after making some unwise decisions the night before. And you know what? I think I'm getting older and mature enough to the point where I'm willing to give up the crazy experiences and the highs and lows for some good old consistency and steadiness in my life.
Of course, I think from my point of view, I can consider my routine lifestyle to be a positive thing largely because it is mostly by my own voluntary choice. I'm still quite wary of ever unwittingly becoming a "slave to routine", and I do believe that if I had my daily schedule imposed on me, my thoughts on the whole thing would be much different. I mean, it's not as if I'm like that guy in Office Space who is forced into a rut by the demands of his job and everything around me. Nor am I the nursing home grandpa, whose habits have become so ingrained through years of repetition that they have formed an unending and unbreakable cycle. Well, not yet, at least.
Maybe it's all a matter of perspective, but I really don't mind living a semi-repetitive life, as long as I feel like I'm still in control and I'm still happy doing what I do. Even if it makes me dull or boring, and people call me "old man" for always having to go home by 11 or earlier, I'm fine with that. Like I said before, I'm getting too old to always be having to recover from the results of my own poor judgement. After all, I'm a boring guy anyways, so hey, I might as well just accept that fact and make the most out of it by getting enough sleep and living healthier while I'm at it, right?
*****
Yesterday I "got in the zone" for $9.88 at Target (that means I bought the new Britney Spears album). I didn't realize Target sold CD's that cheap, I've been getting ripped off at Best Buy all this time!
Anyways, I've only listened to the first 6 or 7 tracks, but so far I'm liking this CD. I was kind of expecting it to suck, after the stuff I've been seeing and hearing on the MTV and ABC specials, and also her song with Madonna blows. But, I'm pretty impressed with the sound and style of the rest of the songs I'm hearing. I'm glad it's not as overtly raunchy as the media has been saying, but it does remind me somewhat of Janet Jackson's Velvet Rope in its edgy qualities. Up to this point, I definitely like this album better than the last CD, which had way too much of the Neptunes influence in my opinion (I never really got into the Neptunes, I thought they were grossly overrated and I still don't like Pharrell's stuff, but I'm sure others will disagree). So yeah, those are my thoughts on the first half of the album, hopefully the second half will not disappoint.
*****
My mom and dad are celebrating their 25th anniversary today. In typical fobby Chinese fashion, they are choosing to commemorate this occasion by inviting me to eat with them at Todai.
I don't know how it is in other families, but having grown up under my parents and watching them go through all the tough times of life, I know that making their marriage last 25 years is no small accomplishment. I feel really lucky and happy to see them reach this point. I know my sister can attest to seeing the many times when everything seemed like it was so close to falling apart or blowing up, but somehow everything stuck together through it all.
For me personally, in this age when divorced and separated couple are more common than those that stay married, seeing my own parents make their marriage work for 25 years really gives me a reason to believe and have faith that I myself can someday get married and make it last too.
Monday, November 17, 2003
- Work has been about as close to "nonstop" as I can imagine since early last week. I'm so happy that next week is Thanksgiving, I could really use a couple days off. I'm also jealous of my sis and all the other U of I kids that get a whole week off, but that's another story.
- Happy birthday to the Goods. Glad to see you and all the whiteys, plus Rod at B-corn on Saturday.
- I am up by 1 pt against Chras going into Monday Night Football. Terrell Owens goes for me, Thai Streets goes for him. I will definitely be watching the game closely tonight, while occasionally checking "Average Joe".
- Over the weekend I finally saw Finding Nemo. It was pretty good, but I still think "Little Mermaid" is the best movie that takes place "under the sea". Even so, I liked a lot of things about this movie. For some reason, the seagulls in this movie were my favorite part. I guess I just thought it was hilarious the way they kept making annoying noises. Also, should I be worried that Olivia kept raving about how awesome Ellen Degeneres was, as the voice of that fish who had no short-term memory? Hmmm.....
- Happy birthday to the Goods. Glad to see you and all the whiteys, plus Rod at B-corn on Saturday.
- I am up by 1 pt against Chras going into Monday Night Football. Terrell Owens goes for me, Thai Streets goes for him. I will definitely be watching the game closely tonight, while occasionally checking "Average Joe".
- Over the weekend I finally saw Finding Nemo. It was pretty good, but I still think "Little Mermaid" is the best movie that takes place "under the sea". Even so, I liked a lot of things about this movie. For some reason, the seagulls in this movie were my favorite part. I guess I just thought it was hilarious the way they kept making annoying noises. Also, should I be worried that Olivia kept raving about how awesome Ellen Degeneres was, as the voice of that fish who had no short-term memory? Hmmm.....
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