| Jeezum..... |
[Jul. 14th, 2009|11:32 am] |
Well, fuck.
The past few weeks have just been a whirlwind of stress and my body is not responding to it well.
First of all, my stomach has been fucked up since BEFORE Disneyland. Ample amounts of tums, pepto-bismol, and kefir have been consumed. The latter seems to be the only thing which can actually help regulate the churning bag of acide inside me.
Fun, I kow.
Other than that, I haven't been sleeping well, felt like shit for days on end, started to break out a little....yeah, it's just not been great.
Most of the stress is passed now, what with my grandfather's service being the other week. But my body is still recouperating from it. Damn this auto-immune disorder!
Oh, but what else is new? Well, my uncle is still an asshole. See, my grandfather told the grandkids that he would pay for our education...pretty sweet deal, right? Yeah, well, it would be if my uncle wasn't a dick. He's now saying since it wasn't in writing, that we don't get any trust money. Therefore, my grad school options are now limited to being within California, because if I go to grad school, my parents are paying for it.
Well, fuck. All the good IR grad schools are east coast (Kennedy School, Fletcher, George Washington, Columbia, etc). So, it may be back to SFSU for me.....which, I guess isn't horrible, but it ain't all that great either. The thing that irks me most is that I'm won't even bother to apply to those other schools, and it would have been nice to see whether or not I got in.....
But, that means I'll still be in the bay for the forseeable future. |
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| To paraphrase my friend Shaun... |
[Jun. 29th, 2009|02:40 pm] |
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Gay Pride ≠ [blaring] tacky techno music in front of other people's houses, spray paint on their homes, [leaving] plastic cups in their front yard, [puking] in their streets and [yelling] "woooooooooo" .... a lot. |
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| It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. |
[Jun. 16th, 2009|01:05 am] |
Well, shit.
See, this is what happens when I don't update. I end up with way too much on my mind, and it all explodes into some ranting....thing.
I guess we should start at the first thing. My Grandfather passed away last Sunday. Not entirely unexpected, but it was rather sudden in the sense that it sort of lacked a defined pretext. We are all coping in our own ways. In Chinese culture, when one lives past 75, the end of their life is supposed to be a time of happiness for their surviving relatives, because they had lived a long life. That's a consolation. My grandather was over 100.
But the news is manifesting itself in all manner of life, especially as I work with my dad in the shop my grandfather built.
Alas, circle of life and all that.
And what the fuck is going on in Iran, and why the hell isn't anyone treating this like a serious issue? Finally, I must say, a use for twitter has been found, as its one of the few sites that Iranians can access from their home country. The coup Government of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Supreme Leader Khameini has shut down cell phone and text messaging services, as well as social networking sites such as facebook. Thousands of people defied the government and the law by rallying today in Tehran and around the country. This following the highly suspect and unlikely "reelection" of Pres. Ahmadinejad.
This is a pivotal moment for the Middle East. This will have HUGE policy ramifications around the world, including for the still very new Pres. Obama. Meanwhile, we have a mainstream media who still calls Mir Hossein Mousavi "the defeated" candidate. Don't legitimize this massive fraud!
Ugh, it's so frustrating. People are literally being beaten and killed for simply voting and half the kids in America can't even be bothered to come out to vote.
So life goes on. |
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| Who's seen "Up?" |
[Jun. 4th, 2009|08:51 pm] |
Whaddya think, is this the real life inspiration for Up? |
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| (no subject) |
[May. 27th, 2009|07:48 pm] |
Prop 8....well....I don't have the energy anymore.
I'll be perfectly honest, even though I quite expected the ruling, its still pretty damn demoralizing.
I'm fucking tired of standing up for a community that by in large, refuses to take responsibility for itself.
There, I said it.
I'm going to Disneyland now. |
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| On Memorial Day.... |
[May. 25th, 2009|06:52 pm] |
Being on the left side of the political spectrum, I've always felt uneasy about such holidays. The celebration of the Military Industrial Complex always seemed a bit odd to me. But while I wouldn't describe my family as a "military family" by any sense of the word, my grandfather served proudly in WWII, attaining the rank of Staff Sargent in the 442nd Infantry Regimental Combat Team.
My grandfather's experience during the war however, was quite different than most. As you will recall, during WWII, all persons of Japanese Ancestry, whether born here or not, were rounded up by the US Government and sent to internment camps in the middle of the deserts of Utah, Arizona, and other US States. Both of my grandparents ended up in Topaz (though they did not actually meet until after the war). They were allowed to bring only what they could carry and lumped into poorly cleaned horse stalls. It was from an internment camp that my grandfather volunteered to fight in the US Army. This act alone makes my grandfather the bravest man I have ever known, to say nothing of actually going to war. The 442nd went on to become the most decorated army unit in history, earning 21 Congressional Medals of Honor, 560 Silver Stars, 4,000 Bronze Stars, and 9,486 Purple Hearts.
The bravery and acts of selflessness displayed by our men and women in the armed forces often gets overlooked by a blizzard of patriotism and self congratulations. This day is not a celebration of American military might. This day is not a affirmation of American exceptionalism. This day is a remembrance of those who have served their country through times of war.
And it is with great pride that I can say my grandfather was one such person. May he rest in peace. |
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| random musings |
[May. 23rd, 2009|05:17 pm] |
So, San Francisco is a really great food town. That's one of the reasons I love living in this part of the state. We seem to be right in the middle of everything good. We can get a ton of fresh, local produce, great seafood, great meat, great wine, etc, etc, etc.
It's great when everything comes together though.
Thanks to KQED's Check Please Bay Area, I was tipped off to a place called Gialina Pizza, by Glen Park BART. And holy sweet bejesus, this place is friggen amazing. Shane and I went last night...it was pretty packed and initially the guy told us it would be a 30 min wait. Shane was apprehensive, but the smell coming out of the place was too much to resist. We ended up waiting maybe 10-15 minutes before being seated. We had already been glancing at the menu, so we knew what we wanted, their potato pizza, with applewood smoked bacon, rosemary, and gorgonzola, and we added sausage. For starters, we got soft polenta with taleggio, spigarello, and spicy chili spread. As I told Shane, you know you're on to something good when a chef can take something as simple as cornmeal porridge, and make it extraordinary. And oh man, was it ever delicious. And the pizza itself? Out of this world. This is definitely my new favorite pizza place in the city. In fact, it may have ruined pizza everywhere else for me, with the exception of Cheeseboard and Zachary's in Berkeley.
Can't wait to go back.
And oh yeah, right after we sat down, I'm glancing around, drinking in the ambiance. I look over to the table next to us, and Tory Belleci, of Mythbusters fame, is sitting there eating with friends. Crazy.
But anyway, the pizza is amazing. Highly recommended. |
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| musings |
[May. 14th, 2009|08:19 pm] |
Well....with the help of google maps, I've found that the route I walk Sydney on, around the perimeter of campus, is 2 miles. That seems to tire her out sufficiently for an average day. We're gonna have to start walking more often, weather permitting.
A somewhat spontaneous decision about a month ago has led Shane and I, and our permanent houseguest/roomie Nick to put together a little jaunt to Disneyland. Suffice to say, the three of us are pretty stoked. I'm really excited because the three of us have a great repoire together, and I think this trip is gonna be super fun.
Plus, they re-opened Big Thunder Ranch BBQ. OMGWTFBBQ!
What else is new? I thoroughly enjoyed the new Star Trek film. I did have some issues with some of the writing and presentation, but overall, I thought it was a worthwhile entry to the Trek series, and did a better job than The Phantom Menace, at preserving and re-inventing the Star Trek legacy.
And oh yeah, Taken was pretty damned good too. |
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| (no subject) |
[May. 3rd, 2009|04:08 pm] |
so, im updating from my phone. please excuse the lack of proper grammar and syntax. usually im a stickler for such things, but hey, im typing on a goddamn touchscreen.
anyways....im at a wedding at the moment for a family friend. he also happens to be half chinese, half japanese, and secular too. so i almost feel like this could be my wedding. well, minus all the heterosexuality.
more later, im tired of typing on a damn phone. |
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 29th, 2009|07:59 pm] |
So, I almost met Michael J. Fox today.
Kinda.
My dad calls me all excited at 7. "Michael J. Fox was just in the store! He bought flowers!"
Awesome.
But for the fact that I left work early today.
I mean, it's not like Back to the Future is one of my favorite movie franchises of all time, or that I have a replica of the "OUTATIME" license plate in my room. Or that I plan on buying the Flux Capacitor replica that they've got out now.
So, I almost had a cool celebrity sighting today. As opposed to the real celebrity sightings I've had. Dana Carvey came into my store when I worked at the toy store in San Rafael, and I saw "The Maker" himself, George Lucas, eating lunch with his son Jett at the very same mall. If I lacked any sort of social ettiquette, I might have had the balls to go ask for his autograph, but I thought, if I were having lunch with my son, and some fanboy came up to me....well, I left them alone.
le sigh.
And, I figured it was worth an update. Honestly, I do have every intention of writing more, it just never seems to fit in with my day anymore.
So what's new in the past month?
Well, roomate drama out the wazoo. I thought I was going to avoid any further roommate drama with this last one, but noooooooooooooooooooo. It's not so much drama between me and him, but just with him (and his b/f). Seriously, it's draining on the soul. Whenever my roommate is here there's just a whole lot of negative energy around.
100 Days of Obama. Some good, some not so good. I'm really of the opinion that 100 days is but a drop in the bucket and a completely arbitrary "measuring" point which offers little useful analysis or insight. I'm not so much opposed to the stimulus plan, but it's a gamble. I'm fine with the way the Somali pirate situation is handled. The politicization of the torture debate worries me, but I'm glad the documents that were released were released.
So, let's see what the next 265 days bring....that's probably a better unit to measure progress by.
That's my story, and I'm stickin to it. |
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 3rd, 2009|09:45 am] |
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I'm happy for Iowa, but in what kind of fucked up world can Iowa legalize gay marriage before California?!?!?! |
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| writers block |
[Apr. 2nd, 2009|09:08 pm] |
Yeah, writer's block. That's my excuse and I'm stickin' to it.
I do actually hve things to update about, I guess.
This past weekend, Shane, Andrew & Josh, BryBry and Kenneth and myself (of course) took an overnight trip up to Jackson Rancheria (the closest 18+ Native American gambling establishment). The dinner service left a little to be desired, and we didn't spend a whole lot of time in the Casino itself (I was the only one that came up, and I hit a decent nickel slot jackpot!), after which we ended up drinking and hanging out in my room. I guess since it's an 18+ casino, they don't serve alcohol on the casino floor?! Lame. Luckily, we planned ahead and picked up some Champagne and muscat from a little shop in Sutter Creek (the actual town, not the winery).
It was nice to get out of the city for a little escape. Though next time, I think we should hit up a little more upscale place.
So I guess that makes me officially old. Older anyways. 25, yeesh! Where does all the time go?
Anyways, I've been getting the wanderlust recently....I think I might want to do a few days in NYC sometime soon. I know, I said no more after last time, but there's a lot to do there, I suppose. Plus I still want to do my Europe trip, Japan, and maybe northern China.
What else? Saw Monsters Vs. Aliens in IMAX 3D. Pretty cool! I enjoyed it. The Dreamworks folks have been doing some really cool animated movies.
Also saw Duplicity, with Clive Owen and Julia Roberts. It was ok. I liked it, and I enjoyed it, but at the same time, I think that it was one of the worst examples of non-linear storytelling in recent memory. They tried to do an Oceans 11/12/13 thing with it, and it was....well, moderately successful. Still, it was an enjoyable movie.
So that's about it this week.... |
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| Quote for the Day |
[Mar. 23rd, 2009|07:17 pm] |
Saw this in the Chronicle's comment section:
Christianity = The belief that a cosmic Jewish Zombie who was his own father can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him you accept him as your master, so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a rib-woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree.
For the record, I'm agnostic. I'm fully open to the possibility of there being a higher power, but there's been nothing in my life to convince me of one.
In other news, I'm thinking of starting a blog proper....PolitiPop, a mixture of politics and pop culture.
But then again, who would really read it? I haven't the time to like...advertise my shit or anything. |
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| honestly.... |
[Mar. 18th, 2009|07:36 pm] |
Ok, I really don't get the whole twitter thing.
It's way too minutae oriented for me.
With one caveat. Mark Hoppus' (of Blink 182 fame) twitter is really amusing to read.
In other unrelated news, I think I'm going to shoot for 2010 Grad School. Probably International Relations. Contemplating going back to SFSU, but I do recall the good Ambassador Fischer saying to stay away from SFSU's graduate program (and he teaches in it!). Where would I go? BU? Columbia? GWU? Am I even smart enough for those schools?
I know I sure as hell can't get into Fletcher School, not even sure I want to try to get into the Kennedy School at Harvard.
Well, it's got a lot of time to pan out. But I'm slowly coming to the realization that I was a pretty damned good college student, and that I need something more intellectually challenging that working in the flower shop. I'm not in a hurry to go back or anything, but it's something now that I'm putting on the horizon as a definite solid option, as opposed to some vague desire based on not allowing my brother to one up me academically, haha. |
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| right, ok then. |
[Mar. 14th, 2009|04:39 pm] |
We are on for the Indian Casino b-day. Rock and roll?
I don't care if Bear Grylls fakes parts of his show. Dude just skinned a dead dear to make a blanket. That shit is HARDCORE. So ok, he didn't spend every night out in the wild, but dude is crazy. Apparently pine needle tea is good? Lots of vitamin (vit-uh-men) C. Who knew?
But like I always say, if you can skin a rotting Scottish Highland Deer for a blanket, you can take a night off every now and again.
Shane and I saw RxBandits on wednesday night. Gooooodtimes. Although Chris Sheets, the trombone player, was conspicuously absent. Hmm. Rumors are swirling about rehab? I hope he's back soon. Of course, my head added in all the horn lines to their songs anyway. Kinda weird how that happened actually. But Steve Choi is playing drums for this one bridge part now, and holy shit, it's amazing.
Holy shit, he skinned a rabbit and ate it. Hardcore dude, hardcore.
What if he and Anthony Bourdain did a show together? They'd be the original odd couple! |
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| oh for fuck's sake |
[Mar. 11th, 2009|04:10 pm] |
Ok, ok, but this time I have a good reason for not updating.
I've had a bitch of a stomach flu for almost two weeks. My suspicion is that I picked something up at Andrew's place when he had his party the other week. Somebody must've not washed their hands or something.
The night after, I had an awful case of the chills and I ended up throwing up. Then it started to get better, I was eating bland foods and what not. So I went back to work, and came home feeling worse. Did the same on Monday, and ended up throwing up again yesterday.
Suffice to say, it has not been fun. Especially for someone like me who enjoys FOOD so much. My diet has basically consisted of: rice, toast, cous cous, goldfish crackers, vitamin water, and jamba juice, thanks to my lovely b/f, Shane.
But basically, it has not been fun. Battling nausea, and being hungry but only eating bland foods has sapped the life out of me. I'm sure I've lost weight, and I generally feel malnourished.
Blah. |
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