Anti Norton AntiVirus
I've had my laptop for a few months now, and pretty much everything about it is great, except for one thing. It came pre-loaded with Norton AntiVirus software, which only had a 3 month subscription that ran out a few weeks ago, and now it won't stop bugging me to renew. I tried to uninstall the program, and not only did I fail at that endeavor, but I now get these stupid error messages every time I boot up, in addition to the reminders to renew.
Some of you may be thinking, how hard can it be to uninstall a program? Just go to the Start menu, the program folder, and find the "Uninstall Norton AntiVirus" shortcut, right? Sounds good, but there was no such option to be found, anywhere. Believe me, I looked everywhere. When was the last time you saw a program that didn't come with its own uninstall feature? I mean, even the little dinky apps you download from freeware sites all come with an option that lets you uninstall.
It's ok though, no big deal. I'll use my computer smarts and go to the Windows Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs, and Remove Norton AV myself. Again, no such luck. Norton AntiVirus was listed, but when I selected it, there was no button there to "Change/Remove" like every other program has.
Now I was pissed. How can there be no option in Control Panel to remove this program? I mean, it's one thing if it's a Microsoft program, which might have features closely integrated to Windows and stuff, and even then, I think they usually give you the option to remove. But this is THIRD-PARTY SOFTWARE. HOW DARE THEY TELL ME WHAT PROGRAM I CAN AND CAN'T REMOVE??!
Actually, I checked some of the other programs in the Control Panel list, and to my surprise, a few of the other ones were the same way, no "Change/Remove" button. I don't remember this ever being an issue in Windows 2000, maybe it's a new thing in XP? In any case, it's BS. Nobody should have the right to decide what I keep and what I delete on MY computer, except for me.
At one point in this ordeal, I hit a new low. That is, when I told Olivia about my problems and she decided she would try to help me. You know you're in trouble when your girlfriend is working on fixing your computer for you. The same girl who still connects with dialup, uses the internet mostly to shop for clothes or look up pictures of puppies, and believes it's a good idea to click those "Unsubscribe" links in spam emails. Needless to say, it took her about 5 minutes of struggling with my computer before she, too, gave up. Even though I wanted the program off my system, I have to admit that deep down, I was somewhat relieved when she failed. It just wouldn't sit too well with my manhood if I needed my girlfriend to fix my computer for me.
So after all this, I still got the error messages and the renewal reminders to deal with. What makes those reminders that much more infuriating is the way they are presented. At the top, a message that says "Your virus definitions are not up to date" in red letters. As you all know, red means danger. Then it gives two options:
[ ] Renew now (recommended)
[ ] Remind me again in {drop down box} days
WOW, thank you SO MUCH for the recommendation! I wasn't going to renew, but since you recommend it, sign me up immediately! Worse yet, the only selections in the drop down box were either "1" or "15". So basically, I have three choices: 1. Paying these assclowns for a service that I think is worthless to begin with (more on this in a little bit), 2. Having them bug me to pay them every day for as long as I have this computer, or 3. Having them bug me every 15 days for as long as I have this computer. Awesome.
If there's one thing I hate, it's shady and/or unprofessional business practice. For example, when record companies flood Kazaa with bogus files to foil downloaders, it just makes me that much more determined to steal their music out of spite. Likewise, when Norton Antivirus tries to coerce me into subscribing to their services thru repeated harrassment, I do not respond well.
For a while now, I have thought of the whole antivirus industry as a sham to begin with. By now, I have been using computers for more than 10 years and as far as I can remember, not once has my antivirus software saved me from any real threat. There actually was a time when I respected Peter Norton because of his exceptionally useful set of DOS utilities, and thus figured his antivirus programs would be just as good. Unfortunately, I think his name has been sufficiently whored out to the large corporations over the years, to the point where he probably has little if anything to do with the software that still bears his picture on the cover. And if I ever meet the people who designed the current version of Norton Antivirus, I swear I will punch them all in their ovaries, Ron Burgundy style.
I'm not saying that there aren't viruses (virii?) out there. I'm sure there do exist viruses that can destroy your computer, but I think as long as you aren't a dumbass about opening suspicious attachments and that kind of thing, you wouldn't really have to worry about getting them. Either way, if a really potent virus does happen to come along, your antivirus software probably won't be able to catch it anyways, because it's too new to have any definitions available.
Basically what I'm saying is, all NAV really does is slow down your computer, interfere with some legitimate installation programs, and try to charge you for letting them continue to do so. I suppose if you are the ignorant type, you might enjoy paying for that false sense of security. But for me, I will never ever pay for worthless garbage. I just want the stupid program off my computer and out of my life. And soon, before I flip out and the ovary-punching rampage begins.
Thursday, November 11, 2004
Friday, November 05, 2004
Seizure
I witnessed someone having a seizure yesterday. It was probably the scariest thing I have ever seen in person. A bunch of us were in a meeting, when suddenly the guy next to me started spasming and making all these weird noises. Face turning blue, then white, then red, white again, mouth foaming and everything.
Not knowing what the freak was happening or what to do about it, all we could do was try to steady him in his chair as he was violently shaking. Then after the spasms stopped, he started moving around like a zombie as we tried to keep him in the room until the paramedics arrived. When we stopped him from moving around too far, he started fighting us and shouting. At first it was incoherent, then he was shouting stuff like "LET ME GO" or "STOP HOLDING ME", which continued even after the paramedics got there and were trying to strap him to a stretcher.
Like I said, it was one of the scariest things I have ever experienced firsthand. At one point I was holding him when his eyes rolled backwards, his mouth all foamy, and his body went limp. I really thought he was going to die right there in my arms.
For the rest of the day I felt a little lightheaded and weak, as that scene kept replaying in my head. He was literally in the middle of a sentence when all of this started happening, and within seconds, complete chaos. Always knew him as a normal, somewhat quiet guy, nice person and good sense of humor, maybe only a year or two older than me. I think they said he was on medication for something, but other than that, he seemed healthy enough.
I don't know how many of you out there have witnessed anything like that, but I haven't ever seen anything remotely close to this in my life and it scared the crap out of me. And I don't think of myself as a person who scares easily in general. Didn't know if it was a heart attack, panic attack, epilepsy, or even demon possession at the time. Afterwards, one of the medics explained that he would probably be okay, that it looked a lot worse than it was, and it was common for the person to be combative in their disoriented state, which he definitely was. And thankfully, the news today is that he was released from the hospital and is doing fine, so I guess the medic was right.
Still, I really hope I (or anyone) would ever have to witness, or worse yet, have a seizure like that. If any of you are ever in that situation, though, one thing I heard is that you should put something soft in the person's mouth so they don't bite their tongue off. Other than that, just hope the paramedics get there fast and let them handle it.
Thus ends my horror story of the day. Sorry if it was disturbing.
I witnessed someone having a seizure yesterday. It was probably the scariest thing I have ever seen in person. A bunch of us were in a meeting, when suddenly the guy next to me started spasming and making all these weird noises. Face turning blue, then white, then red, white again, mouth foaming and everything.
Not knowing what the freak was happening or what to do about it, all we could do was try to steady him in his chair as he was violently shaking. Then after the spasms stopped, he started moving around like a zombie as we tried to keep him in the room until the paramedics arrived. When we stopped him from moving around too far, he started fighting us and shouting. At first it was incoherent, then he was shouting stuff like "LET ME GO" or "STOP HOLDING ME", which continued even after the paramedics got there and were trying to strap him to a stretcher.
Like I said, it was one of the scariest things I have ever experienced firsthand. At one point I was holding him when his eyes rolled backwards, his mouth all foamy, and his body went limp. I really thought he was going to die right there in my arms.
For the rest of the day I felt a little lightheaded and weak, as that scene kept replaying in my head. He was literally in the middle of a sentence when all of this started happening, and within seconds, complete chaos. Always knew him as a normal, somewhat quiet guy, nice person and good sense of humor, maybe only a year or two older than me. I think they said he was on medication for something, but other than that, he seemed healthy enough.
I don't know how many of you out there have witnessed anything like that, but I haven't ever seen anything remotely close to this in my life and it scared the crap out of me. And I don't think of myself as a person who scares easily in general. Didn't know if it was a heart attack, panic attack, epilepsy, or even demon possession at the time. Afterwards, one of the medics explained that he would probably be okay, that it looked a lot worse than it was, and it was common for the person to be combative in their disoriented state, which he definitely was. And thankfully, the news today is that he was released from the hospital and is doing fine, so I guess the medic was right.
Still, I really hope I (or anyone) would ever have to witness, or worse yet, have a seizure like that. If any of you are ever in that situation, though, one thing I heard is that you should put something soft in the person's mouth so they don't bite their tongue off. Other than that, just hope the paramedics get there fast and let them handle it.
Thus ends my horror story of the day. Sorry if it was disturbing.
Monday, November 01, 2004
Fogo de Chao
For Olivia's birthday we went to this place, known for all-you-can-eat steak. Corner of La Salle and Ontario (or is it Erie), basically right around Hard Rock Cafe and Rock & Roll McDonalds. The deal is, you pay $48 a person for all you can eat, except drinks and dessert. Waiters come around with these big shishkebob type things with different kinds of freshly cooked meat on them. You tell them what you want, whether you want the rarer or more well done sections, and they carve it off for you on the spot.
I'm not an expert on restaurants, but I highly recommend this place. The food was really really good - we especially liked the house special rump roast cut. I liked the service and general atmosphere too, even though it was an expensive place, the people there weren't snooty, overbearing, or anything like that. You get your food fast, and they refill your water often, but they aren't bothering you every 2 minutes either to ask if everything is ok for the 50th time either. I hate when waiters do that. Thanks to their red/green coaster system (you get a coaster and flip it to the red side if you don't want to be interrupted, green side to have the waiters come by), you can eat in peace until you want to be served again.
Like I said, I'm no food critic. For $48 a person, it's probably too steep to go regularly, but unless you are a vegetarian, I definitely think it's worth going once in a while. Nothing beats a really great, high quality meal, and that is what you get at this place.
By the way, I also had dinner at Biaggi's yesterday. I don't know what the rest of you think, but back in the day at U of I, I always thought that Biaggi's was this super nice place that you only go to for special occasions. As a college student, pretty much all of our options for food were at around the same level. If it wasn't fast food, we rarely went anywhere beyond the standard places like Friday's, Chili's, Steak & Shake, Applebee's, Fazoli, Olive Garden, etc. Biaggi's always seemed like it was a big step above all those places. In my 4 years at school, I only went there once, and it was for lunch on a Sunday.
Well, when I went yesterday, the place didn't seem quite as high class as I used to think it was. Maybe the Biaggi's in Deer Park isn't as nice as the one in Champaign, but I doubt that. I think it's more because of the fact that I have gotten to eat at a lot more nicer places, in the 2 years since I left school and started working. It just feels weird that a place I used to think was so fancy, is now merely a somewhat souped-up version of Olive Garden in my mind.
Fantasy Politics
During a conversation at dinner yesterday, the topic came up on how our country's political system is limited to 2-parties. I haven't studied political science beyond junior year of high school, so I can't really get into an in-depth discussion about whether it's good to have more political parties involved or not, instead of just Democrat/Republican.
However, one thing I was thinking about was how cool it would be if we had like 20-30 political parties to choose from (instead of 2.01). Not so much in the sense of increasing democracy (i.e. allowing more groups to be represented). But if we had that many candidates for each election, from the local races to the Presidential races, then we could have fantasy leagues for politics.
I can picture it: every time an election year comes around, you and your boys would hold a draft, a few months in advance of Nov. 2nd. The standard league settings would probably require you to start 1 President, 2 Senators, a bunch of Congressmen, 1 Mayor, 1 Governor, maybe a few state senators too. Then you score points depending on how well they do in the election. Like 1 Fantasy point for every 15 electoral votes in the presidential race, 1 pt for each percentage of the vote in the other races, 10 for each win, etc.
The only problem is that there isn't enough games, it all ends up coming down to one day. Although I'm sure you could probably tweak the rules somehow, to let you have weekly matchups, even starting maybe as early as the primaries.
I know it sounds stupid, but I'm telling you, it could work. Basically all of the same things that make fantasy football or baseball exciting translate to fantasy politics. Like in this year's race, the biggest stud to get would probably be Barack Obama, pretty much a lock to win, especially more valuable at a critical position like Senator. On the other hand, if you drafted Jack Ryan, you got totally screwed when he pulled a Ricky Williams, forcing you to scramble to pick up a scrub like Alan Keyes off the waiver wire to replace him.
Trades would be cool too. Maybe after watching the 2nd Presidential debate, you would decide to ship G-Dubs and Phil Crane in return for Kerry, Melissa Bean, and a first round pick in the next election (which would probably get you a stud mayor like Daley).
Most importantly, if we could make fantasy politics a reality, more people would definitely follow politics more closely and passionately, like they should be anyways. We wouldn't need Puff Daddy and Cameron Diaz begging us to vote, or need Ben & Jerry's and Chipotle to remind us to register.
Ok, so in the end, maybe it's not the greatest or most realistic idea. Sorry. This is the kind of thing that happens when I go out to a club and don't drink, smoke, or dance, and then my mind wanders off to nowhere.
I guess what makes fantasy sports what it is, is that it's separate from reality (hence the "fantasy" part). To some extent you control your team's results, but mostly it still depends on a lot of things you have no control over. And when your team loses, it hurts, but outside of some lost pride, weeks of sadness, and maybe $10 or $20, it's not going to affect the rest of your life a whole lot.
As much as it sucks when your fantasy football team fails, it would suck a whole lot more if you made the wrong moves in fantasy politics, and as a result, all of a sudden your taxes were doubled and you got drafted to go fight in some war.
For Olivia's birthday we went to this place, known for all-you-can-eat steak. Corner of La Salle and Ontario (or is it Erie), basically right around Hard Rock Cafe and Rock & Roll McDonalds. The deal is, you pay $48 a person for all you can eat, except drinks and dessert. Waiters come around with these big shishkebob type things with different kinds of freshly cooked meat on them. You tell them what you want, whether you want the rarer or more well done sections, and they carve it off for you on the spot.
I'm not an expert on restaurants, but I highly recommend this place. The food was really really good - we especially liked the house special rump roast cut. I liked the service and general atmosphere too, even though it was an expensive place, the people there weren't snooty, overbearing, or anything like that. You get your food fast, and they refill your water often, but they aren't bothering you every 2 minutes either to ask if everything is ok for the 50th time either. I hate when waiters do that. Thanks to their red/green coaster system (you get a coaster and flip it to the red side if you don't want to be interrupted, green side to have the waiters come by), you can eat in peace until you want to be served again.
Like I said, I'm no food critic. For $48 a person, it's probably too steep to go regularly, but unless you are a vegetarian, I definitely think it's worth going once in a while. Nothing beats a really great, high quality meal, and that is what you get at this place.
By the way, I also had dinner at Biaggi's yesterday. I don't know what the rest of you think, but back in the day at U of I, I always thought that Biaggi's was this super nice place that you only go to for special occasions. As a college student, pretty much all of our options for food were at around the same level. If it wasn't fast food, we rarely went anywhere beyond the standard places like Friday's, Chili's, Steak & Shake, Applebee's, Fazoli, Olive Garden, etc. Biaggi's always seemed like it was a big step above all those places. In my 4 years at school, I only went there once, and it was for lunch on a Sunday.
Well, when I went yesterday, the place didn't seem quite as high class as I used to think it was. Maybe the Biaggi's in Deer Park isn't as nice as the one in Champaign, but I doubt that. I think it's more because of the fact that I have gotten to eat at a lot more nicer places, in the 2 years since I left school and started working. It just feels weird that a place I used to think was so fancy, is now merely a somewhat souped-up version of Olive Garden in my mind.
Fantasy Politics
During a conversation at dinner yesterday, the topic came up on how our country's political system is limited to 2-parties. I haven't studied political science beyond junior year of high school, so I can't really get into an in-depth discussion about whether it's good to have more political parties involved or not, instead of just Democrat/Republican.
However, one thing I was thinking about was how cool it would be if we had like 20-30 political parties to choose from (instead of 2.01). Not so much in the sense of increasing democracy (i.e. allowing more groups to be represented). But if we had that many candidates for each election, from the local races to the Presidential races, then we could have fantasy leagues for politics.
I can picture it: every time an election year comes around, you and your boys would hold a draft, a few months in advance of Nov. 2nd. The standard league settings would probably require you to start 1 President, 2 Senators, a bunch of Congressmen, 1 Mayor, 1 Governor, maybe a few state senators too. Then you score points depending on how well they do in the election. Like 1 Fantasy point for every 15 electoral votes in the presidential race, 1 pt for each percentage of the vote in the other races, 10 for each win, etc.
The only problem is that there isn't enough games, it all ends up coming down to one day. Although I'm sure you could probably tweak the rules somehow, to let you have weekly matchups, even starting maybe as early as the primaries.
I know it sounds stupid, but I'm telling you, it could work. Basically all of the same things that make fantasy football or baseball exciting translate to fantasy politics. Like in this year's race, the biggest stud to get would probably be Barack Obama, pretty much a lock to win, especially more valuable at a critical position like Senator. On the other hand, if you drafted Jack Ryan, you got totally screwed when he pulled a Ricky Williams, forcing you to scramble to pick up a scrub like Alan Keyes off the waiver wire to replace him.
Trades would be cool too. Maybe after watching the 2nd Presidential debate, you would decide to ship G-Dubs and Phil Crane in return for Kerry, Melissa Bean, and a first round pick in the next election (which would probably get you a stud mayor like Daley).
Most importantly, if we could make fantasy politics a reality, more people would definitely follow politics more closely and passionately, like they should be anyways. We wouldn't need Puff Daddy and Cameron Diaz begging us to vote, or need Ben & Jerry's and Chipotle to remind us to register.
Ok, so in the end, maybe it's not the greatest or most realistic idea. Sorry. This is the kind of thing that happens when I go out to a club and don't drink, smoke, or dance, and then my mind wanders off to nowhere.
I guess what makes fantasy sports what it is, is that it's separate from reality (hence the "fantasy" part). To some extent you control your team's results, but mostly it still depends on a lot of things you have no control over. And when your team loses, it hurts, but outside of some lost pride, weeks of sadness, and maybe $10 or $20, it's not going to affect the rest of your life a whole lot.
As much as it sucks when your fantasy football team fails, it would suck a whole lot more if you made the wrong moves in fantasy politics, and as a result, all of a sudden your taxes were doubled and you got drafted to go fight in some war.
Thursday, October 28, 2004
Halloween
Being the boring person that I am, I do not plan on dressing up for Halloween this year. But that doesn't mean I don't encourage all of you out there to dress up for Halloween, which I do. Now that we are too old to trick-or-treat for candy, seeing all the different ideas people come up with for Halloween costumes these days is definitely the best part about the holiday for me.
For me, the last time I remember having a "real" costume was in about 4th grade when I was a Ninja Turtle (Donatello). Basically it was just a purple eyemask with a turtle nose, a t-shirt with a picture of the shell on the back, and a plastic Bo (which was light green for some reason). Other than that, the other two costumes I remember having were:
1. Walter Payton - Probably the most complete costume, with jersey, shoulder pads, pants, helmet and everything.
2. Karate Kid - I think because my mom and dad didn't feel like buying a costume, so they just made me wear my uniform from judo class instead.
Another memorable Halloween costume was my sister's, one year when she decided to be a "boy". I think I might have written about this before, but basically she was just using it as an excuse to wear my Air Jordan shoes and Little League Baseball hat, which she thought was the coolest things ever but I never let her touch them. We definitely got a lot of confused looks when we went trick-or-treating that year, nobody knew what the heck she was supposed to be dressed up as.
Someone (I think Vira) was telling me once about her bad Halloween experience as a kid, when the kids that didn't have a costume at school had to make their own costume out of a paper bag. Haha... I thought that was hilarious. "Hmmm, looks like your parents didn't dress you up for Halloween. Here, take this paper bag and make one yourself, so you don't look out of place with the other kids!"
There were a few good Halloween moments in college too. One year we were hanging out at Brothers, and then these guys came in dressed as Teletubbies. All the girls in the bar were fighting to dance with them and stuff. As Mr. Chan would say, "HO-larious".
This year, I have heard a few ideas on costumes so far, which I am interested to see. Among them:
- Kobe Bryant
- Johnny Damon
- The little Asian kid from The Grudge
- Slutty Bee
- Slutty Flower
- Jessica Simpson
- Keymaster from the Matrix
- Krang (from TMNT)
- Greg "Fossilman" Raymer
Hopefully I'll get to see some of those this weekend...
Being the boring person that I am, I do not plan on dressing up for Halloween this year. But that doesn't mean I don't encourage all of you out there to dress up for Halloween, which I do. Now that we are too old to trick-or-treat for candy, seeing all the different ideas people come up with for Halloween costumes these days is definitely the best part about the holiday for me.
For me, the last time I remember having a "real" costume was in about 4th grade when I was a Ninja Turtle (Donatello). Basically it was just a purple eyemask with a turtle nose, a t-shirt with a picture of the shell on the back, and a plastic Bo (which was light green for some reason). Other than that, the other two costumes I remember having were:
1. Walter Payton - Probably the most complete costume, with jersey, shoulder pads, pants, helmet and everything.
2. Karate Kid - I think because my mom and dad didn't feel like buying a costume, so they just made me wear my uniform from judo class instead.
Another memorable Halloween costume was my sister's, one year when she decided to be a "boy". I think I might have written about this before, but basically she was just using it as an excuse to wear my Air Jordan shoes and Little League Baseball hat, which she thought was the coolest things ever but I never let her touch them. We definitely got a lot of confused looks when we went trick-or-treating that year, nobody knew what the heck she was supposed to be dressed up as.
Someone (I think Vira) was telling me once about her bad Halloween experience as a kid, when the kids that didn't have a costume at school had to make their own costume out of a paper bag. Haha... I thought that was hilarious. "Hmmm, looks like your parents didn't dress you up for Halloween. Here, take this paper bag and make one yourself, so you don't look out of place with the other kids!"
There were a few good Halloween moments in college too. One year we were hanging out at Brothers, and then these guys came in dressed as Teletubbies. All the girls in the bar were fighting to dance with them and stuff. As Mr. Chan would say, "HO-larious".
This year, I have heard a few ideas on costumes so far, which I am interested to see. Among them:
- Kobe Bryant
- Johnny Damon
- The little Asian kid from The Grudge
- Slutty Bee
- Slutty Flower
- Jessica Simpson
- Keymaster from the Matrix
- Krang (from TMNT)
- Greg "Fossilman" Raymer
Hopefully I'll get to see some of those this weekend...
Monday, October 25, 2004
I went to the dentist over the weekend for a checkup and cleaning. First time in at least 3-4 years. I had been avoiding it for a long time, mostly because I was so afraid that I would have to get my wisdom teeth pulled.
The visit went alright, except for all the pain and bloodiness involved. Actually, the dentist told me I had "nice teeth", except I needed to get them cleaned regularly. Most importantly, she decided that my wisdom teeth did not need to be pulled. YAY
The other day I was at Marshall Fields and decided to buy a dress shirt. I wasn't sure what my neck and arm sizes were, so I had one of the sales guys measure me. As he was measuring my neck, he was like "wow, you have a really small neck." Olivia was also there and agreed with him. Made me feel so inadequate. Nobody wants to be a pencil-neck.
For future reference, if anyone wants to buy me a fitted dress shirt, my measurements are: 15 1/2, 32.
Okay fine, it's actually 15 1/4, 32.
I was browsing the internet the other day and saw this exercise video called "Yoga for Wimps". Probably a knockoff of those "_____ for Dummies" books. But apparently this is one of the top-selling videos on the market today. I'm thinking to myself, maybe I should try selling a video called "Math for Nerds".
Every once in a while I open up my old high school yearbook and flip through the memories. It's a little scary to think that 6-7 years have already passed since then. One thing I noticed is that the girls at our high school were kind of ugly in general. A few were good, but they were the exception, not the rule. Maybe it's just my imagination, but I think high school girls today are much more attractive than they were back when I was 18 or so. Sluttier too, but more attractive nonetheless.
Anyways, seeing a lot of the old faces, and reading the things they wrote in my yearbook, made me wonder where are all these people today and what are they doing with their lives? What happened to the guy who joined the Army, the quiet girl who went to the small artsy college, or the Mexicans I only saw in gym class and working at WalMart? Did the kid everybody suspected was gay finally come out of the closet, and if so, is he one of those super-flamboyant homos that I can totally picture him being? Which of the plain-looking girls got hotter and which of the hot girls got fatter in college?
If any of the people from my high school were wondering about me, I think I am exactly where they would guess that I would have ended up, based on the person I was back then. Graduated with an engineering degree after 4 years and now working as an engineer. Still skinny, nerdy looking, except my hair is a little shorter.
While having dinner at Chinatown the other day, I ran into an old friend I hadn't seen in a long time. Actually, she was the girl I went to senior prom with back in the day, but also a pretty close family friend since about 7th grade through high school. It makes me happy when I meet old friends and I see that they haven't completely changed since the last time I saw them. As opposed to suddenly learning that they are married, they look way older or fatter than what you remember, or they've been through all sorts of dramatic experiences during the last few years. "Yeah, I OD'ed on heroin in college, then went through rehab, then I got diagnosed with cancer, but underwent all this treatment and now I'm like a new man with a fresh outlook on life". Hearing something like that would freak me out. It's definitely a reassuring and comforting feeling when you can see that not everybody and everything changes as fast in this world as you may have thought.
Then earlier today I was reading Andy's Xanga page and he mentioned something about the days when we took a consumer economics one summer in high school. All the memories of those times came back, including the songs like Puff Daddy's "I'll Be Missing You" which he mentioned, riding in his cop-car (Ford Crown Victoria), or getting lunch every day at Taco Bell and trying to collect all the pieces needed to win the Batmobile.
The subject of memory is something I've been pondering more since I watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind a few weeks ago (great movie by the way). The thought of forgetting certain memories is something that has always really scared me, maybe more than anything else.
Like when I see all the many kinds of bad stuff that happens to people when they get old, the thing I probably fear the most is getting Alzheimers and losing my memory. Not that I would ever choose to go blind, become bald, have heart problems, etc., but I think I'd honestly rather suffer any one of those things, than to become senile and forget the things and the people that were important to me.
I mean, when all is said and done in our lives, what will we have left to hold onto, besides the memories of all our experiences? The things we experience on a day-to-day basis, and the relationships we have, those things will all change as time passes and the world moves on around us. You can take away my health, my possessions, even my loved ones, and eventually all of those things will indeed be taken from us. But if we can hold on to the memories forever, then those things will continue to have meaning and shape our lives, transcending the effects of time.
This got a little deeper than I intended, but hopefully it made some sense. Maybe I tend to value memories much more than other people, I don't know. And it kind of goes against the point of the movie, but I really do feel like they define so much of who I am and what my relationships mean to me.
If nothing else, it's highly therapeutic to relive old times by remembering them in my mind. Just the other day, me, Chras, P, and Vic were talking about one incident that happened freshman year of college in our DiffEq class, and it brought a huge smile to my face just to think about what we remember happening that day. When all the memories come flooding back at once, it's almost like a natural high.
I guess this is one of the main reasons why I have maintained this blog for as long as I have, because much of it is basically like a written version of my memory. Just in case my mind starts to leak someday, I can still dig into my archives and remember the things that I have experienced along the way.
On a completely unrelated topic, I just watched this new show on MTV "You've Got A Friend". What a horrible show. Basically all it proves is that people will do pretty much anything if it gets them money and/or TV time.
White Castle. It's WHAT YOU CRAVE.
The visit went alright, except for all the pain and bloodiness involved. Actually, the dentist told me I had "nice teeth", except I needed to get them cleaned regularly. Most importantly, she decided that my wisdom teeth did not need to be pulled. YAY
The other day I was at Marshall Fields and decided to buy a dress shirt. I wasn't sure what my neck and arm sizes were, so I had one of the sales guys measure me. As he was measuring my neck, he was like "wow, you have a really small neck." Olivia was also there and agreed with him. Made me feel so inadequate. Nobody wants to be a pencil-neck.
For future reference, if anyone wants to buy me a fitted dress shirt, my measurements are: 15 1/2, 32.
Okay fine, it's actually 15 1/4, 32.
I was browsing the internet the other day and saw this exercise video called "Yoga for Wimps". Probably a knockoff of those "_____ for Dummies" books. But apparently this is one of the top-selling videos on the market today. I'm thinking to myself, maybe I should try selling a video called "Math for Nerds".
Every once in a while I open up my old high school yearbook and flip through the memories. It's a little scary to think that 6-7 years have already passed since then. One thing I noticed is that the girls at our high school were kind of ugly in general. A few were good, but they were the exception, not the rule. Maybe it's just my imagination, but I think high school girls today are much more attractive than they were back when I was 18 or so. Sluttier too, but more attractive nonetheless.
Anyways, seeing a lot of the old faces, and reading the things they wrote in my yearbook, made me wonder where are all these people today and what are they doing with their lives? What happened to the guy who joined the Army, the quiet girl who went to the small artsy college, or the Mexicans I only saw in gym class and working at WalMart? Did the kid everybody suspected was gay finally come out of the closet, and if so, is he one of those super-flamboyant homos that I can totally picture him being? Which of the plain-looking girls got hotter and which of the hot girls got fatter in college?
If any of the people from my high school were wondering about me, I think I am exactly where they would guess that I would have ended up, based on the person I was back then. Graduated with an engineering degree after 4 years and now working as an engineer. Still skinny, nerdy looking, except my hair is a little shorter.
While having dinner at Chinatown the other day, I ran into an old friend I hadn't seen in a long time. Actually, she was the girl I went to senior prom with back in the day, but also a pretty close family friend since about 7th grade through high school. It makes me happy when I meet old friends and I see that they haven't completely changed since the last time I saw them. As opposed to suddenly learning that they are married, they look way older or fatter than what you remember, or they've been through all sorts of dramatic experiences during the last few years. "Yeah, I OD'ed on heroin in college, then went through rehab, then I got diagnosed with cancer, but underwent all this treatment and now I'm like a new man with a fresh outlook on life". Hearing something like that would freak me out. It's definitely a reassuring and comforting feeling when you can see that not everybody and everything changes as fast in this world as you may have thought.
Then earlier today I was reading Andy's Xanga page and he mentioned something about the days when we took a consumer economics one summer in high school. All the memories of those times came back, including the songs like Puff Daddy's "I'll Be Missing You" which he mentioned, riding in his cop-car (Ford Crown Victoria), or getting lunch every day at Taco Bell and trying to collect all the pieces needed to win the Batmobile.
The subject of memory is something I've been pondering more since I watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind a few weeks ago (great movie by the way). The thought of forgetting certain memories is something that has always really scared me, maybe more than anything else.
Like when I see all the many kinds of bad stuff that happens to people when they get old, the thing I probably fear the most is getting Alzheimers and losing my memory. Not that I would ever choose to go blind, become bald, have heart problems, etc., but I think I'd honestly rather suffer any one of those things, than to become senile and forget the things and the people that were important to me.
I mean, when all is said and done in our lives, what will we have left to hold onto, besides the memories of all our experiences? The things we experience on a day-to-day basis, and the relationships we have, those things will all change as time passes and the world moves on around us. You can take away my health, my possessions, even my loved ones, and eventually all of those things will indeed be taken from us. But if we can hold on to the memories forever, then those things will continue to have meaning and shape our lives, transcending the effects of time.
This got a little deeper than I intended, but hopefully it made some sense. Maybe I tend to value memories much more than other people, I don't know. And it kind of goes against the point of the movie, but I really do feel like they define so much of who I am and what my relationships mean to me.
If nothing else, it's highly therapeutic to relive old times by remembering them in my mind. Just the other day, me, Chras, P, and Vic were talking about one incident that happened freshman year of college in our DiffEq class, and it brought a huge smile to my face just to think about what we remember happening that day. When all the memories come flooding back at once, it's almost like a natural high.
I guess this is one of the main reasons why I have maintained this blog for as long as I have, because much of it is basically like a written version of my memory. Just in case my mind starts to leak someday, I can still dig into my archives and remember the things that I have experienced along the way.
On a completely unrelated topic, I just watched this new show on MTV "You've Got A Friend". What a horrible show. Basically all it proves is that people will do pretty much anything if it gets them money and/or TV time.
White Castle. It's WHAT YOU CRAVE.
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