{susurrus nocturnae}

2009-04-24T17:00:00.000-07:00

Leaving Las Vegas. So I accepted a job out in San Jose, California, and so I'll be moving out of Las Vegas soon. And I dunno, I guess the finality of it all hasn't really & truly set in yet, but I don't feel a whole lot of sadness over it. I'm sure it's one of those things where I need to give it some time before I can really reflect on the whole experience.I feel like it's one of those towns

2009-04-23T19:00:00.002-07:00

Sometimes you have to take a step backwards to take two steps forward later on....right?

2009-04-17T17:00:00.002-07:00

Bartending. So since I didn't really have anything important to do this week, I signed up for bartending classes at ABC Bartending School. I guess learning how to bartend had always been on my list of things to do, and being laid off just gave me the time and an excuse to do it.I figured it was either bartending or (blackjack/craps) dealer school, and I reasoned that bartending is probably a

2009-04-08T23:00:00.001-07:00

"Breadwinner." So I got laid off from my job at the end of last month. And on the whole, I think I've been dealing with it alright- no crying, and general pouting has been kept to a minimum. Just trying to take it like a man(?). I dunno, I guess it makes it easier just knowing that it wasn't anything that I did or didn't do; times just got tough, and budget got cut- "blame it on the

2009-04-08T22:26:00.003-07:00

25 Factoids that Unintentionally Turned into Anecdotes.1. I have a love/hate relationship with blogging. I've probably actually blogged about everything on this list at one point or another.2. I hate hate HATE flossing my teeth, doing dishes, mowing the lawn, jogging/running, tanning, wearing shorts.3. I was a nerdy kid all throughout school- never got invited to any parties, was in the math

2009-03-12T23:53:00.006-07:00

Misery Business. So things took a turn for the worse on my job, and it looks like the worst case scenario is panning out. So funding for the project got cut absurdly low, which is juuuust short of the finishing stroke of a death sentence. I guess technically, it's still petering along on life-support, but it's grim... totally Terri Schaivo-esque.Anyways, so whereas a couple months ago,

2009-02-28T20:00:00.001-08:00

I was talking to my cousin today, and he said that his friends had met my mom at some kinda Taiwanese dinner banquet or something and thought she was kind of fierce and intimidating. And his friends said that after meeting my mom, they suspect that she's the reason why my personality is the way it is- that is: fearful, afraid, shy, hesitant all the time. It's weird, I never chalked it up to

2009-02-27T17:00:00.004-08:00

Crotch Rocketeer. So I took (& passed) a motorcycle safety class last weekend (2 and a half days long), and in the state of Nevada, that entitles me to the motorcycle endorsement on my driver's license. Not bad for $100. Seriously though, the test was kind of a joke, like how can you seriously say we're ready for the streets after just that?? I guess they figure the fear of death will keep

2009-02-07T23:00:00.002-08:00

Chicane - No Ordinary Morning"If there was nothing that I could say,Turned your back and you just walked awayLeaves me numb inside I think of you,Together is all I knew.We moved too fast but I had no sign,I would try to turn the hands of timeI looked to you for a reason whyThe loved we had passed me by.And as the sun would set you would rise,Fall from the sky into paradise.Is there no light in

2009-02-07T22:00:00.003-08:00

No Closure. Have you ever read the book Life of Pi? It's about a boy trapped at sea on a lifeboat with a tiger. And eventually, over time, he starts thinking of the tiger as his companion in the struggle for survival, kinda like the Wilson volleyball in Tom Hanks' Cast Away.Anyways, towards the end of the book, when they finally reach shore, the tiger just hops out of the boat and dashes away

2009-02-04T19:00:00.003-08:00

So I recently got a new laptop and a new phone. Since I've been in the habit of vaguely reviewing these kindsa products when I get new ones, I guess I'll do just that.Laptop. So the last laptop that I had (a Lenovo) crapped out after less than a year and a half (the CD/DVD drive just stopped working, and the whole thing would overheat and shut itself down without a notebook cooler). Anyways,

2008-12-23T19:00:00.000-08:00

My iPod got stolen off my cubicle desk at work today. It happened during lunch sometime. And I'm sure that's how it went down, because as I was leaving to go buy lunch, the iPod caught my eye, and I debated for a moment whether to plug it in to charge while I was gone. It was as if it blipped into my aware & conscious thoughts for just a moment, like a wink goodbye before it got taken.Geez,

2008-12-23T00:00:00.008-08:00

So I took the PE (Professional Engineers exam) back near the end of October. I took the Mechanical (Machine Design) test. It was another one of those godawful 8-hour tests. I finally DID manage to get my butt into gear and hardcore study for the last 2 or 3 weeks before the exam. I went through some review DVD's and made a notebook of formulas, and I worked a practice test. I still felt like

2008-12-23T00:00:00.004-08:00

Transitive Property in Arguments. Maybe it's very engineer-like of me, but I've realized that when I'm arguing a point, I tend to construct my logical arguments according to a pretty predictable pattern. The most commonly employed tactic I use is to use analogies. In trying to make a point, I liken situations to others. In trying to prove that items A & D are similar, I like to say: If A=B

2008-11-05T22:00:00.005-08:00

Obama-nation. So yea, of COURSE I'm happy that the Democrats are back in charge, and reason (hopefully) will be restored to science policy, foreign policy, habeas corpus, etc, etc.But seriously... Prop 8?? wtf? I'm utterly confounded by how California of all places could allow something like that to pass. If this can happen in the state largely regarded as the liberal bastion of the US, what

2008-10-30T20:00:00.003-07:00

*USA-RS. So there's been a really big shakeup in my job- I might have alluded to the possibility previously; I can't recall. Ok, so I can never remember how much I've mentioned about my job, but ok, a little background... So I work on the "Yucca Mountain Project," which is a project that the US goverment's Department of Energy contracts out. The company I currently work for (Bechtel SAIC) has

2008-10-10T21:00:00.001-07:00

* "It's Complicated."

2008-09-28T19:30:00.002-07:00

Mr. Nobody. So I dropped out of my muay thai school earlier this month cuz I just couldn't make it to class enough for it to be worth the cost. One by one, all these activities and things that I used to like, all the things I used to define myself by, seem to have fallen by the wayside. I haven't read any good comic books or graphic novels in months (or any regular books either). I haven't

2008-09-28T19:00:00.001-07:00

Froot Loops & Broken Promises. I remember how Froot Loops were my favorite cereal during my early teenage years. Probably in no small part due to the fact that my mom didn't let us buy sugary cereals like that much, so I didn't get to have them very often. But MAN, did I love me some Froot Loops! And I remember back before college, I promised myself that I'd never outgrow my love of Froot

2008-09-28T03:00:00.005-07:00

*Flaunt. So recently, the thing that scares me most about time passing is the 10-year high school reunion inching closer & closer. In American society it seems, the 10-year reunion is the one that you have to really flaunt for and try to IMPRESS everyone, like “look what a success I’ve become! Don’t you regret not being nicer to me / not going out with me / not being my friend?” Like in the

2008-08-23T21:00:00.001-07:00

"I'm in shape- round is a shape!" I was working out at the gym with a coworker recently, and we were on the ellipticals when he asked "ok, are we done?" And my reply was "hold on... 5 more minutes. I wanna see how this cake turns out." (We were watching the Food Network.) And I laughed immediately after the words came out of my mouth, not just from the sheer weirdness of what I said, but at

2008-08-23T12:00:00.003-07:00

The Robot Uprising Has Begun. The GPS unit that I bought a couple months back has been acting up recently. I really only use it on my trips out to LA, and all the other times, it just sits on my bookshelf. Well, recently, without anyone touching it, the GPS unit powers itself on. At first, I'd just walk past and wonder why the screen was on, but I didn't think much of it at the time. THEN,

2008-08-15T17:00:00.002-07:00

*Bad Hair Day. So, after receiving arguably the worst haircut of my LIFE, I've resolved to stop getting my hair cut at bargain places like SuperCuts. The $15 or 20 bucks I save is just NOT worth the grief of loathing what I see every time I look in the mirror for months afterwards. Yea, it was so bad that I went out and bought a hat immediately afterwards. And for those of you that know me,

2008-08-07T23:00:00.002-07:00

Bad Karma. I feel like my karma balance has been low lately. Just a lot of unpleasantness and not enough good things in my life. And I'm not really sure if the world works according to the simplistic notion that doing good deeds will bring good your way. Or that if you're evil, then bad things will happen to you. But I DO know that converse is true: when bad things happen to you, you feel

2008-08-07T21:00:00.005-07:00

(cont.) "Yea he's a looker, but I really think it's guts that matter most."But... but... *sigh* I'm prone to regret- always wondering what was on that road not traveled. I don't doubt that this opportunity would be an adventure, but am I ready to throw caution to the wind along with all the "safe" things I've built up my life around? I don't know. And like I've said before, not making a

2008-08-07T20:25:00.006-07:00

"Was it you who spoke the words that things would happen, but not to me?" I find myself in a bit of a quandary. New opportunities have presented themselves, and I'm hard-pressed to decide whether I wanna pursue them or not. At the heart of the issue is: I'm not sure if what I wanted 4 to 8 months ago is still what I want now. Back then, I was faced with a crossroads, and I wanted badly to go

2008-08-05T21:53:00.004-07:00

The Live-in Cousin 2: the Sequel. So my cousin Van has been sent to live with me & my parents here in the states for maybe like the next year or so, ostensibly to improve his English ability and prep for the GRE(?). I'm still not entirely sure whose idea it was or what all the specifics of it are, but he's here now, and apparently he's here to stay. I just get the vibe that it's more like he

2008-08-01T20:00:00.001-07:00

*I keep making promises I'm not sure I can keep. =/

2008-07-30T22:00:00.001-07:00

*So I ended up getting a new phone, cuz the one my brother bought for me last winter broke. I'm still not entirely sure what happened to it, but like it just stopped being able to make or receive calls or SMS'es. It died over 4th of July weekend, and it caused a LOT of headaches. It would show full bars, but it would never be able to get a call out, and I never knew when I missed calls or

2008-07-27T23:00:00.000-07:00

*You know, I think I like the idea of drinking wine more than I actually like drinking the wine. I feel like it's an act that exudes hoity-toitiness, and that's an image I like. I wish I had a more sensitive palate, but to be honest, I can't really tell good wine from bad. Yea, I dunno, just another case of me trying to be something different, I guess. =/"Image is nothing. Taste is everything

2008-07-27T22:00:00.002-07:00

BBQ's of the World. So me and my coworkers have been doing a "BBQ's of the World" tour the last couple months. Every weekend, we try out a bbq cuisine from a different country/culture of the world. The theme of the tour was "carnivorous diversity," so for every bbq we try, everyone brings in a fun fact about the host country/culture, and we share over dinner. Yea, the whole idea for the tour

2008-07-20T22:00:00.003-07:00

I've been having these work-related nightmares recently. It's causing me all sortsa stress. And I'm pretty sure it's because I've been put in charge of 2 performance-based incentive (PBI) items for the company. So the way I understand it, these PBI's are like a bonus round for the company, and for each one we finish, the company gets like a cash bonus from the government (our client). (

2008-07-20T00:49:00.002-07:00

Uggghhhh, I feel so crazy and paranoid sometimes. I over think things waaaaaaay too much. Like from one little thing, I extrapolate; and one extrapolation leads to another. And before I know it, I hate your guts! Hahaha.*siiiiigh* Seriously though, at times, I really DO feel like a can of crazy. No wonder I have such trouble making friends... who would wanna be friends with a crazy person? =

2008-07-05T19:00:00.003-07:00

"Look at me, my depth perception must be off again." I was talking with Kevin today, and we had a chance to catch up and talk about a lot of things. He's got his own (town)house out in the 'burbs already and everything, and he seems to be living the "American dream" already. And I mentioned that I envied where he'd gotten in life, and how he seems to have made a lot of big moves in his life

2008-06-29T22:00:00.002-07:00

I suppose I should've been able to see the signs along... But sometimes we're blinded by our hopes of what might be. But there's a fine line between being persistent and being annoying, and I'm sure I crossed that line long ago.It's kinda funny that actions and events from 7 or 9 years ago would occur again, only with the tables turned this time. What goes around comes back around, huh? Yea,

2008-06-29T19:00:00.001-07:00

"[Post-it notes can be obtained easily when you need them, torn down and thrown away when you don't. It's easy to tear and doesn't stick to your hands. It never leaves a mark and is easily forgotten. I'm that kind of post-it note.]"~Chen Xin Yi, 命中注定我愛你 (TW drama Fated to Love You)

2008-06-12T22:17:00.003-07:00

My new (boss's boss's) boss gave an informal presentation today to the young whippersnappers of the company about how he got where he is and his experiences and whatnot. One of the most clever witticisms he shared was:In the first 5 years of your life, you learn how to walk and how to talk. For the next 10 years, you're told to sit down and shut up... Then, the next 8 years or so are spent

2008-06-11T22:45:00.005-07:00

"He feared most of all the choices, that cried to be taken." In the wake of my Canada fiasco, I've been rethinking my life's plan over the medium-term (next 2-5 years). And in rough terms, I've kinda laid out a list of what I need/want to accomplish.And this OUGHT to make things real simple, like "step 1, step 2," but I find myself hesitant to take action and do what I know needs to be done.

2008-05-25T14:00:00.001-07:00

*Regarding my failed Canada bid, V: "We're all disappointed FOR you; we're not disappointed IN you."...on some level, I guess I knew that. I know I can be my own worst critic sometimes, but I really DID feel like I let my friends down by hyping it up like a sure thing, and then not delivering. Maybe sometimes you just need to hear the words of reassurance out of other ppl's mouths to put your

2008-05-15T18:00:00.012-07:00

"Every time I try to leave, something keeps pulling me back, me back." Funny (read: "sad") how things have a way of never working out the way I hope. It seems to be a recurring theme for me that I just can't seem to get where I wanna go in this life. =/*Ok, well, since it's not happening now anyways, I guess it won't hurt to mention now, that a couple posts ago, I alluded to some big shakeup in

2008-05-02T19:00:00.003-07:00

Liv-ing It Up. So I had a pretty big scare recently revolving around my liver. I'm taking medication for my high blood pressure, and as a general precaution, you have to get a blood test every year to make sure the meds aren't messing up your kidney. And while they were at it, they run it through the usual gauntlet of tests to make sure nothing else was wrong.So anyways, I went and got my

2008-04-08T22:00:00.002-07:00

"Movin' on Up." So I got a promotion at work this week. =) It was alright I guess... I mean, I don't know if I expected to be jumping for joy or what, but it was just kinda like "oh, huh, ok. thanks, that's nice." I guess I just always pictured myself being happier than I was.It just all feels kinda surreal, I guess... like the money's not even real. I think it'd really hit home and I'd feel

2008-04-06T16:23:00.006-07:00

"Watch My Life Pass Me By in the Rearview Mirror." Sometimes I feel like I'm not really in control of my own life. It's like I'm in the passenger seat just being taken along for the ride, powerless to decide for myself what's gonna happen. It's fate behind the wheel, and I'm just a hostage in the car. Everyone thinks I'm making all these bold moves in my life, but I don't really even feel

2008-04-06T15:00:00.003-07:00

My mind and my heartstrings are always tugging in opposite directions, and if neither one wins, I'm stuck in the middle of the road of life like a deer in headlights. Yet no matter which one wins in the end (or neither), I'll always feel like I got the short end of the stick, and that I had little or no say in it all. -_- *siiiiigh* The grass will ALWAYS be greener on the other side. =/

2008-03-26T23:00:00.001-07:00

Death & Taxes. So I filed my own taxes for the first time ever this year. I mean, I've sent in a return before, but my mom had always filled out the forms for me, and I just put my John Hancock on it. This year was the first time I ever went through all the paperwork myself. And whereas I usually did the 1040EZ (I think), this year I did the real 1040. It wasn't too extraordinarily difficult

2008-03-17T13:00:00.001-07:00

The Great White Hype. So one of my coworkers made a comment to me this week about looking tanner than before. And I think he meant it as a compliment, but on the inside, I was just like -_-'. I know it's probably cuz I've been playing flag football and spending more time out in the sun than I have in years, but part of me couldn't help but feel irritated that my skin was getting darker.Yea, I

2008-03-05T21:47:00.006-08:00

"Is it worth it? Let me work it." I remember last summer, we had an intern who made an off the cuff remark about a technical paper being worth tens of thousands of dollars as he tossed a copy into the recycle bin. And when he said it, I thought it was just crazytalk, but he elaborated, saying how calculating how much they pay the engineers and how much time we spend, each paper costs the

2008-03-02T21:00:00.001-08:00

”Fooooosball?? Foosball’s the DEVIL!” So I signed up for my company’s flag football team this season. I’ve never been much for team sports in general (I think soccer in ~5th grade was probably the last time), and I’ve never played football on a formal team before, but I figured it might be worth trying once just to see if I like it. The company subsidized the fee for our team to join a

2008-02-29T07:42:00.003-08:00

Manager vs. Tech Specialist. So I’ve been thinking a lot recently about my long-term career goals. Among the primary questions I’m asking myself is: do I want to take the managerial route or become a technical specialist? I guess it’s on my mind cuz if I’m going to go the managerial route, I should be seeking out a different job task pretty soon. (My mentor and boss and pretty much every

2008-02-06T23:00:00.001-08:00

Addictions. Funny how you can use a product a few times, and before you know it you're addicted and don't know how you ever lived without it. Chapstick is way up there on my list. Now, when my lips are anything but pig fat greasy, I feel like my lips are cracking from dryness. Then I touch 'em and they're still perfectly supple, and I resist the urge to swab 'em down with petrolatum. Then 2

2008-02-03T22:00:00.002-08:00

So my b-day this year fell on the same day as the Super Bowl and was totally overshadowed. Which was just as well, I suppose. I didn’t really end up celebrating at all, and the game at least kept me amused. I dunno, I guess it’s true- after 21, there really AREN’T any more birthdays of particular significance. I just feel like I’m getting older.I can’t believe that high school (9th grade) was

2008-02-01T23:00:00.002-08:00

Stones Better Left Unturned? You know, I’d always been skeptical about those stories of ppl who suffer something so traumatic that their subconscious erases all memory of the event- (the human memory just didn’t seem so fickle to me). But recently, I discovered that I too had buried an event in my subconscious. (And still, I’m not really sure if I buried it, or if it was something that I had

2008-01-26T23:00:00.003-08:00

*So my brother got me a new phone kinda as an early b-day present while I was off in Taiwan, since my last phone broke. It's the Samsung SGH-U700 Ultra Edition II. I don't think they sell it in the States. It can type in (simplified) Chinese, but apparently Chinese SMS's won't go over the network here.Anyways, so it's a slider phone with some degree of touch sensing on front slidy part. I

2008-01-25T22:00:00.000-08:00

Moving. So this weekend, my family and I moved into a new apartment across town (from the Southwest corner of town to the Northwest). Since my lease ends at the end of January, we decided to move into a bigger place together, a 3/2. (For those of you who I didn't tell, my parents sold our house back in Texas and have been crashing in the living room of my 1/1 apartment for the past several

2008-01-19T21:06:00.000-08:00

ME (7:24:43 PM): hmmm, well, actually...ME (7:25:09 PM): given the choice to be: a cyborg, a ninja, a vampire, a superhero/villain... i suppose it would actually be a pretty tough call***ME (7:26:59 PM): but i guess there's no reason why those categories need to be mutually exclusive... the cyborg, ninja, vampire, and supervillain*Have I mentioned before how these days, I would probably be a

2008-01-19T14:00:00.000-08:00

Government 101 - Caucusing. So I went and did my civic duty today and participated today in the Nevada Democratic Caucus; it was my first time caucusing. It was alright I guess, coulda been worse, I suppose, but I still think I like the primary process a lot better.So this is how it went down: They first break the state down into a bunch of precincts, and a week or 2 in advance, they mail you

2008-01-09T23:00:00.000-08:00

I find myself gradually becoming someone/something I never meant to be. I feel like a little bit of me is dying on the inside. I don't like what I'm turning into, and I'm not proud of the things I've done. I hope this is all just a phase; I need to find myself again. I think I'm on a cathartic verge. =/

2008-01-09T20:00:00.000-08:00

Taiwan Recap. So I was in Taiwan for ~12/24-1/9, mostly in Taipei. There were two main reasons for me going back, I suppose. The 1st being that I missed my grandpa's 80th birthday banquet to take my FE exam back in October, so I guilt-tripped myself into going back to Taiwan as a means to make it up to him in my mind. The 2nd reason was that several of my best friends from high school were

2007-12-20T21:00:00.000-08:00

*Body Image & Working Out. So I guess I have pretty sensitive skin or something, because nearly every time I wait for more than like 30 hours to shower, I get these red spots on my body- almost like bugbites or pimples in the formative stage, but not. Well, I had a couple of these on my chest again this week, and my heart just dropped. I remember that's how the cysts I had started out, and

2007-11-19T23:00:00.000-08:00

On College Athletics Programs. I remember while going through my education at UT, I was always bitter at the fact that they dumped so much money into the athletics program instead of on more academic pursuits. I figured isn't that what a university is all about?? LEARNING? I guess I just didn't really understand at the time.I had a slight inkling of it while studying abroad, but really, I

2007-11-19T21:00:00.000-08:00

Power Outage. So the electricity in my apartment got cut off today. I had had a feeling that something had probably gone wrong in the activation process cuz I never received an electric bill... ever. But I mean, I DID definitely called the power company when I moved in (I did it twice, actually), telling them to activate it in my name. So when I never received any bills, I thought maybe it

2007-11-15T21:00:00.000-08:00

Grad School? So I'm seriously considering going back to school. It had been floating around in my head for awhile now, but I guess it just kinda built to the critical point today. I've been working on this new project at work (computer model of thermal expansion) for a couple weeks now, and I've just been completely stumped as to how to solve it. And I was just sitting around at work today,

2007-11-03T20:00:00.000-07:00

Totemism. Those of you who know me know that I don't typically align myself with any of the major mainstream religions (though occasionally I might claim a vague allegiance to Buddhism). But for the most part I would consider myself a "Freethinker" (a term that isn't used much in the US, but that I picked up in Singapore)- and I kinda like that title, cuz (in addition to sounding better than "I

2007-11-03T12:12:00.000-07:00

Ok, so the surgery I had a couple months back to remove some cysts was a complete and utter failure. The cysts weren't malignant or anything, so getting 'em removed was more motivated by cosmetic reasons. But I just wound up with scars that are bigger and uglier than the cysts ever were to begin with. >:O The dermatologist said I have genetics to blame for my poor scar-healing ability, but

2007-11-01T23:04:00.000-07:00

"I Feel Like a Reject From the Freakshow" ~Stretch Princess - Freakshow. I've been suffering from some serious self-confidence issues for quite awhile now. I've never had particularly high self-esteem, but I feel like recently, it's lower than ever. It's a long-term issue that started in my childhood that I've never quite been able to beat. But it's just... at a real low point right now. =/Ok

2007-11-01T22:02:00.000-07:00

"High on Pot." I really dislike those handicap toilets- you know, the ones where you sit a bit higher up than normal and your feet aren't flat on the ground so that you're on your tippy-toes the whole time? I dunno, I guess it just feels like I can't get any leverage, ya know? Which technically doesn't even make any sense- (I just studied this again for the FE exam, but) if you idealize [it]

2007-10-25T23:00:00.000-07:00

The FE Exam. If you've talked to me at all in the past month or two, you should know that the big thing on my mind these days is my upcoming FE/EIT (Fundamentals of Engineering/ Engineer-In-Training) exam this Saturday (10/27). It's seriously got me stressed out. Between that, the work stress, the sleep deprivation, and other things going on, I feel like I'm near the breaking point

2007-10-25T00:00:00.000-07:00

These two black widows have made their homes on my patio. (The arachnid variety, if I even need to specify, AHAHAHA.) Now, I'm no entomologist (or arachnologist, technically, since spiders aren't true "insects"), but I know the scarlet hourglass of death when I see it, hah. From my somewhat limited knowledge of spiders, I know that the black widow is regarded as one of the most dangerous, and

2007-10-13T04:00:00.000-07:00

Whispers of the Heart (The Dangers of Lotus Gates). I had some of the best rage I've tasted in a long time at the gym tonight, allowing me to work out until I nearly puked before calling it quits. It was like unleashing a limit break (to use the Final Fantasy terminology). And it felt really good at the time, but afterwards I was reflecting on the risks of tapping into your body's reserves

2007-10-12T01:30:00.001-07:00

Sometimes you feel like you've got a decently strong hand until the flop comes out, and you're just like Ok, well THAT didn't go quite as expected. And you just gotta accept the fact that it's not in the cards for you this time. Sometimes you've got no choice but to fold 'em, and that's alright. And all you can do is root for your friends at the table who are chasing after the same pot.

2007-09-13T23:00:00.000-07:00

It's been a pretty bad day, cuz my phone BROKE! >:O But yea, the whole thing was just so coincidental. I was like wth? My BROTHER's the one that breaks phones in the family! This is totally uncharacteristic of me! Hah.Anyways, so I was go-karting with my coworkers today after work, and during a crash I felt a little *snap* in my pocket. I didn't realize what had happened until awhile later

2007-09-04T23:00:00.000-07:00

Zen and the Art of Muay Thai Psycho Maintenance. (...that was a pun/literary allusion, which most ppl except probably the Flash will miss, hah.) You know that scene/situation from that movie Kung Pow where this one character is like, “pay no attention to Wimp Lo, we purposely trained him wrong... as a joke.” Yea, well, sometimes that’s how I feel about the muay thai school I signed up with.

2007-09-04T22:00:00.000-07:00

Living With the Parents. So my parents have been staying at my place for almost 2 weeks now, and I guess it hasn't been quite as bad as I imagined, but it hasn't exactly been a picnic either. They sleep in my living room, so if I come home late at night, I have to try to be super sneaky so as not to wake them up; and they sleep early, so then I’m basically cooped up in my room once they go to

2007-09-04T20:00:00.000-07:00

*I had surgery today to remove these 2 cysts on my chest that had been there since junior year of college (there musta been something seriously unsanitary about Jester) and never went away. The dermatologist described cysts as being like "pimples gone horribly horribly wrong." It starts off like a normal pimple, then your body responds wrong, and then you're left with a growth under your skin

2007-08-25T12:00:00.000-07:00

*I got in my 1st "real" car accident today. Well, in my terms, I woulda called it the late part of last night, but in strict technical terms, I guess it was roughly 5 AM when it happened.I was coming home from a night out at Rum Jungle with the coworkers when it happened. And the natural inclination I suppose would be to think that I was drunk when it happened, but to tell the truth, I hadn't

2007-08-11T18:00:00.000-07:00

Mangekyo Sharingan. I remember when I got Lasik'ed a couple years ago, they told me that young folk like myself (especially those who used computers a lot) ran the distinct risk of probably having to get it done again in like 10 years or so. And despite the side effect of kinda jacking up my night vision, I don't regret having it done at all- it's SO convenient compared to the glasses and

2007-08-11T17:00:00.000-07:00

You know, I think that colored wifebeaters, like colored bras for the ladies, are best suited for occasions where you expect people to see you in them. Like seriously, otherwise, it's kinda weird to have the colors showing through your dress shirts and whatnot. Same can be said about the length of the beater. The good ones for wearing without a shirt are cut short so as not to make your torso

2007-07-15T19:43:00.000-07:00

Thoroughbred Dreaming. You know how sometimes when you wake up in the middle of doing something in a dream, you'll keep doing whatever you were doing even as you're half awake? Yea, I had one of those kindsa dreams last night. And whereas it usually just causes a lot of sleeptalking, but this time was kinda different...So the dream I guess was about this futuristic horse race, where instead

2007-07-15T11:00:00.000-07:00

*So after 2+ years of loyal service, my laptop finally died on me over the 4th of July holiday. I think the fan had broken or something cuz it started overheating a lot, and it would auto power itself off a lot. Well, then I decided to try using the restore partition to reset the software and everything to factory settings, and it kept dying half way through the restore. And it was all just

2007-07-09T23:00:00.000-07:00

*After many years of saying they were going to, and half a year of actually trying, my parents are very close to selling our house in Plano. I guess a part of me just never thought that this would actually happen. (I'm pretty sure I've written about these feelings before, during one of their past periods of "we're gonna sell" tough talk, but I feel I oughta vent again.)And yea, I guess part of

2007-07-09T22:00:00.000-07:00

Going Home, to the Place Where I Belong. I went back to Plano this past week for the 4th of July holiday. It was the first time I've been back to Plano since I moved to Vegas back in January. I had Wednesday off for the holiday, and it was my Friday off, so I took off Thursday and part of Tuesday to make like a 5 day vacation.Tuesday. I got in late at night and went to watch Transformers with

2007-06-27T23:00:00.000-07:00

*BSC Field Trip. I got to take a little field trip for work (on company time) on 6/26 with all the summer interns. They took us to see the actual Yucca Mountain, which is in the middle of the Nevada Test Site (where they used to test bombs and stuff; they don't anymore, but it's federal government land). It was maybe like 45 minutes or so north of Las Vegas, like seriously in the middle of

2007-06-27T22:00:00.000-07:00

You know, I decided I kinda like it when I have red eye in pictures- it makes my eyes match my hair, HAH! (Looking slightly creepy and demonic is another fun side-effect. =P)

2007-06-27T21:00:00.000-07:00

I Hate Wal-Mart. For the longest time, I wasn't sure why I harbored this deep-seated rancor against Wal-Mart. Maybe cuz the "liberal media propaganda machine" called the intarwebs tells me that it costs Americans jobs and destabilizes local economies? Or it's bullying business tactics? Maybe cuz my mom frequently comments about how the whole store feels so "cheap" (condescendingly) on the

2007-06-26T22:00:00.000-07:00

A Little Too Emo For My Own Good. Almost anytime I have a lot of time to myself to think, I start sinking into depression. I think that's just like the natural state of things in my mind. I can avert it and push it to the back of my mind if I stay physically busy or mentally occupied enough, but given enough time to just sit and think, I naturally start drifting towards that dark, brooding

2007-06-26T19:00:00.000-07:00

LA - June 22-24. So going to LA seems to be a roughly once a month kinda thing for me these days. Half out of boredom, and half cuz it's the only place that comes to mind that I can (semi-) conveniently drive to without a whole lot of planning. And the fact that I can stay for free with my brother and Michael doesn't hurt either. So yea, since I get every other Friday off from work, that

2007-06-13T07:00:00.000-07:00

*6th Blog Birthday. I don't post nearly as much as I used to, but the blog's probably not going away any time soon. "Another day another dollar..."

2007-05-31T23:00:00.000-07:00

LA Recap - May 25-28. Memorial Day weekend was a 4-day reprieve from work for me (Friday-Monday), so I decided to head out to LA. I drove out Thursday night and stopped off in Riverside for Jeni's TaiKe party. It was a little too (intentionally) fobby for my tastes, and I felt pretty out of place, so I didn't stick around for too long. On Friday, my brother & I walked around the 3rd Street

2007-05-18T21:46:00.000-07:00

Protein Packs a Punch. So my brother linked me a bargain from the forums of Slickdeals (my favorite discount site; FatWallet is alright too) for some protein supplement powders today. He said he's used them before and they worked pretty well. I thought about it all day, but eventually the Asian in me couldn't resist a bargain, so I caved and ordered some.You know, I've been (jokingly) accused

2007-05-08T01:00:00.000-07:00

TASA Reunion/Austin. I went back to Austin this weekend for the TASA (Taiwanese American Students Association) reunion that my brother organized (he was one of the original founders)- mainly an excuse for my brother to see HIS friends, and I kinda got sucked into it, hahah. But yea, it was alright I guess- I took a half-day at work on Friday and flew out around noon and got into Austin just in

2007-05-02T06:00:00.000-07:00

"Yea, I'm so tired, I'm just gonna close my eyes for a little bit, then I'll wake up and finish _____."Uhh, yea, man, I should be old enough to know that NEVER works by now. >_<

2007-04-25T21:00:00.000-07:00

"Everybody Poops." Do you ever walk into a public restroom with the intention of taking a dump, see someone else already at it, and walk back out? I know it's one of those irrational fears/anxieties, but I just really DON'T like pooping at the same time as someone else- it throws me off my game, so to speak. (I mean, I'll make an exception if it's an emergency, but by and large, I try to avoid

2007-04-25T00:00:00.000-07:00

"...Like They Do on the Discovery Channel." If you're Asian, whenever you're with relatives for any extended period of time, the question will inevitably arise: "so are you dating anyone?", "when are you gonna get married?", or a variation on that theme. And I think my relatives thought for the longest time that I was gay, just cuz I never tell them anything, and apparently I don't hang out

2007-04-23T22:00:00.000-07:00

LA. So I went to LA this past weekend and met up with a lot of the old high school/college crew. Somehow it was decided that we should all meet up on one of my SHORT weekends, but whatever, it was still a blast. Man, it's so nice to be around ppl who understand your jokes and that you don't have to worry about judging you. Like, I think I'm SERIOUSLY developing a reputation for being the

2007-04-09T02:00:00.000-07:00

I was in Taiwan & Bali this past week for my cousin's wedding. The wedding was in Bali, but I met up with the whole extended family in Taiwan and chilled there a couple days before heading over to Indonesia together.Taiwan was ok I guess. Went out a couple times in Taipei with my brother's friends who are working there now. My brother's gotten in the habit of getting a table at clubs and doing

2007-03-25T10:00:00.000-07:00

So I moved out of corporate housing and into my new apartment in a complex called Chapel Hill on the far west side of town (basically where there stops being any major roads) on March 2nd. It was a pretty hectic move, and I'm glad I allotted a whole day for it, otherwise the stress probably woulda been killer. So the movers came and dropped off a bunch of stuff that my parents had packed up to

2007-02-19T23:00:00.000-08:00

It’s a sad, sad day in a young engineer’s life when he realizes that he probably needs to be wearing a pocket protector. The epitome of geek (anti-)chic that just begs for a wedgie, a swirlie, or to get your lunch money taken away... possibly all at the same time.I recently noticed ink stains on the front pockets of my dress shirts, and I was horrified by the implications. It’s like when guys

2007-02-19T21:00:00.000-08:00

Chinese New Year. So for the New Years weekend, I drove out to LA and crashed at my brother & Michael's place. Man, the highway system in LA is pretty freaking confusing; like you have to change lanes every 5 minutes just to stay on the same highway. And the traffic during the day is pretty insane.Anyways, so I drove out on Thursday night after work (it was my Friday off). On Friday, me and

2007-02-12T23:00:00.000-08:00

"Danny the Dog."ME: went out clubbing with coworkers again this weekend. wound up with a horrid hangover and a whole night's worth of nightmaresV: haha that much fun huh?ME: hahaha, i guess depends which way u look at itME: but yea, got all liquored up beforehand at a coworker's place, and i let it slip out of my mouth that i've always been curious how tasty dog food is... and then they peer

2007-02-04T22:00:00.000-08:00

So for my b-day weekend, Michael, other Michael, and my brother came to Vegas to visit. They got in late Friday, and we went straight to the casinos. We pulled an all-nighter gambling, and I think it was around 4 in the afternoon or so on Saturday when we finally called it a "night," haha. Oh yea, and there was a good deal of drinking involved as well... (of course). And buffet action.