some tv stuff

Season 4 Ep 7

Watch this episode, I found it hilarious and yet I realize I behave in a similar manner. Malcolm is a genius but all the people around him are complete morons so he complains all the time about everything. One day he decides to keep his mouth shut and just not say anything but the result of his actions (or lack of actions rather) is quite serious. Maybe I should start actually think about what I say before I actually say it... because it's not going so well.





Resident Evil Degeneration was awesome. I've never played any of the video games of its series but watching this movie still made sense. The storyline is exciting (in my opinion) and the characters were really well created. You can feel their fear at crucial moments in the movie and their facial expressions were very realistic. The only character that seemed over the top was Leon S Kennedy, the guy with the pistol. Since he is the main character, he is fearless and pulls all of these stunts that would have otherwise killed him if he isn't the main character. This is also the only movie that actually relates to the game itself, the films portrayed by real actors makes absolutely no sense and those were terrible. I recommend you watch this thing.

Worst thing that can happen to a blogger

What's the worst thing that can happen to any blogger? Aside from having no readers and no comments, there is something worse... and that is bot spamming. Recently I've gotten more and more random garbage comments from "anonymous" people that have been spamming my old posts with porn links. Now it brings me a lot of pain to put up moderation for comments because I know that even without moderation you guys don't post any comments so how will anyone post once they need to be approved to post?

Once again, I appreciate anyone who takes time out of his or her busy life to read about some of the stuff I've been ranting on.

some thoughts part 2

We all want to be special in our own little way but the truth of the matter is--most of us are simply a dime a dozen.



I've put off this for quite some time now so here it is.

For the past week I've been quite upset. I got my first B in college. I missed A- by 1 point, which is equivalent to getting 1 more multiple choice question answered correctly on the final exam. The more I thought about it the less it made sense to me. Somehow the class average and the median was higher than mine. The curve obviously worked against me. I was so sure of myself, so sure that I would get an A in that class (CIS) that I didn't really take the final seriously. I'd like to blame the professor, I'd like to blame the cheaters in the class, I'd like to blame anyone but myself but the truth is, I am to blame. If everyone managed to ace this exam, there is no excuse to why I did not.

I thought about it and every time I did, I felt a lot of anger. I don't believe I'm a docile person at all, in fact I demanded that I get to review over my final exam and I did. We found one answer marked wrong that was right, but it didn't matter anyway because I still did not reach the cut off for that A-. I decided that there was no use in asking for any way to boost my grade because I really hated the professor.

As for why this trivial thing makes me angry, it's just a matter of pride. I was so stressed out that I think I had an ulcer. The thought of no longer being able to brag about having a 4.0 GPA makes me sad. All of last semester and this semester I kept bragging on about how easy my classes were and how I didn't study much at all for them and still got straight A's (which was true for the most part). I guess this is karma getting back at me because I really should be more humble about it. Humility is a difficult virtue for me to harness because pride stands in the way. It's so much easier being the bad guy.

I wanted to be special, at least be able to tell others that I maintained a 4.0 in college, but guess not. I vowed to never get another B in college and that's what I'm going to do.

Winter Solstice

Today, December 21st is the shortest day of the year, also known as the Winter Solstice. Today also marks the beginning of Winter. From today onwards, each day will add about another minute of daylight (or was it second?) until the Summer Solstice (the longest day of the year).

A friend of mine has her birthday today, and its one of those few dates that I remember because of the date. I wish her a happy birthday.

I hate finals week

Tomorrow I have two finals. However, I've stalled and stalled and still haven't really "studied." I have no idea how people have the willpower to study all day, everyday, for an entire week. I just began my "studying" and I'm already bored out of my mind and came here to write about this crap. It's not as crazy as Stony Brook, in which it counts for over 50% of your final grade, but still... I should be studying but I don't feel the urge to.

End of English Class Thoughts

As you may or may not know, I had an epic English class this semester. To end the term, we read the Death of Ivan Ilych and saw the play Death of a Salesman. Now how is reading about death a good way to end the semester? These stories weren't so much about death, but rather about life.

Death of a Salesman is a tragedy, for it shows how a man in search of greatness only blinds himself to the truth, thus leads his household into turmoil. The salesman, Willy Loman, is 63 years old and a very unsuccessful salesman. Even though his salary is based solely on commission, he refuses to quit his job despite earning next to nothing. His whole life he dreamed about being a great salesman, to be respected and well liked. He taught his children all the wrong things--that they were magnificent and born that way. All of the lies that Willy fed his children only corrupted them as they grew older. It was no mistake that both his sons grew up to be worthless individuals.

Death of Ivan Ilych on the other hand, is about a man who has it all--money, status, family--yet the irony is he has very little in life. Ilych, hit with the harsh reality of terminal illness and chronic pains, starts to question his own life. Having lived a life of propriety, while his achievements and status rose to new heights, Ilych's life in fact was like a rock falling into abyss. All of his accomplishments meant nothing to him because his marriage was a mess. He cared for no one but himself, and thus no one sympathized for him during his illness. Surrounded by falsity, Ilych dies a miserable death, realizing he lived his life the wrong way. He lived a life deemed "correct" by the rest of society, not what the way he wanted to live. The people all around him, including his wife, are all selfish individuals who care only about moving up in the social ladder.

Both of these stories offer interesting lessons. One very important thing I've come across while thinking about both of these stories is the discussion on lies. Willy Loman reminds me that "a lie told often enough becomes truth." This is a very dangerous misconception that many people fail to realize. In fact, I've finally realized something about myself. All these years I have been lying to myself, believing in things that are not such. The truth hurts and that is why most people cannot face the truth. Denial is only a hindrance to self-improvement, and recognition of the problem is the first step.

Curves Hurt

Curves hurt...

So this girl with very nice curves tore my heart out and stuff. I wanted to get to know her but she simply walked away! No, nothing like that happened, honest! The curves I'm talking about are the ones given by different professors. First of all I would like to tell you how much I dislike curves.

The breakdown for my CIS class is 25% A's (including A and A-), 35% B, 35% C, 5% D-F. What the hell does this mean? Since there are 40 people in the class, that means only two people fail the course. What the shit man, what the shit? The lowest grade on the freaking midterm was two 35's, so that means if you even guessed half the damn test right you can pass the class with a C. Of course, people such as myself don't want to just "pass," we want to go above and beyond. Of course that isn't going to happen because only 10 people are going to get A's, and half of 10 are going to get A-'s. So it really hurts me in the long run to have a "curve" in this class because everything is based on how other people do. What if everyone got a 100 and I got a 95? That means I would fail because I'm on the bottom percentile, which makes no bloody sense.

I'd much rather they access you based on the traditional 93+=A, 90-93=A-, etc. As a matter of fact my accounting class is going to be yet another class with a bunch of curves. Only thing is, only 15% of the class will get A's. I'm wondering how this semester will turn out... will I break my combo of straight A's only the second semester in?!

Back

Okay there goes my short hiatus.

Apparently, loneliness is contagious.

"The average person experiences loneliness about 48 days a year, but having a lonely friend can add 17 days of loneliness annually. By comparison, every additional friend can decrease loneliness by about 5 percent, which translates to about two and a half fewer lonely days a year, the study showed."

So... that would explain why I'm sad most of the time. Of course it's not like I didn't already know why I'm sad in the first place. But is loneliness contagious? That could be said for happiness too, I learned firsthand that smiles are contagious. Eh I don't really believe in this research.

hmm

I think I'm going on a hiatus.


That is all.

New Schedules

Making a schedule for the next semester is always exciting and frustrating. Being a sophomore, our level of priority is really low, especially when we're ready to take junior level classes. As the days passed by, I watched in horror whilst all the classes I wanted to take filled up.

Two things I consider when I decide if I want to take a professor or not.

1. Is the professor funny? If he or she can teach in a funny or charismatic way, I will be able pay attention with ease.
2. Is she hot? My friend made a good point, even if the class is boring I can still manage to pay attention if the professor is appealing to the eyes.

And rarely do I ever take the arrogant professors. Arrogant professors aren't bad either, because they are arrogant because they know what they're talking about. They are usually grumpy because the students are disrespectful.

Anyway, I didn't want a "herd" in my classes. What the heck do I mean by a herd? I don't want to have all the people that I know in all of my classes. It feels like we're just traveling like a herd from class to class if that happens.

Modern "Art"

Modern art is all about abstractions. Picasso and his odd paintings come to mind. Take a look at this:



What the heck is this? This my friend, is the piece known as "Fountain" by Marcel Duchamp. It is voted in December 2004 to be the most influential artwork in the 20th century. If you look closely, turn the image 90 degrees, you might notice it is a urinal. That's right ladies and gents, behold modern art, a time when people can consider anything to be art.

Modern art is such a radical style it makes me sick. The most abstract and distorted pictures can be deemed art. I don't think it takes any skill either, I'll bet my five year old cousin can randomly put together and call it "art."

Wiki Entry

taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakit anatahu

Taumata­whakatangihanga­koauau­o­tamatea­turi­pukakapiki­maunga­horo­nuku­pokai­whenua­kitanatahu is the Māori name for a hill, 305 metres (1,000 ft) high, close to Porangahau, south of Waipukurau in southern Hawke's Bay, New Zealand. The name on the sign that marks this hill is "Taumata­whakatangihanga­koauau­o­tamatea­turi­pukakapiki­maunga­horo­nuku­pokai­whenua­kitanatahu", which translates roughly as The summit where Tamatea, the man with the big knees, the climber of mountains, the land-swallower who travelled about, played his nose flute to his loved one. At 85 letters, it has been listed in the Guinness World Records as one of the longest place names in the world.

Crazy New Zealanders,who the bloody hell would be able to pronounce such a crazy word?

WIKI ENTRY

EDIT - when you google it, you have to google Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateapokaiwhenuakitanatahu in order to get a result.

Voting for the first time

Today I went to vote for the very first time. I wasn't aware it was election day until my Law professor reminded the class. Apparently the mayor, Mike Bloomberg, is running for the third consecutive term for office. The rule is that mayors can only run for a maximum of two years. I guess since he did such an outstanding job they thought it was okay to let him keep going. The place where I voted were full of little old ladies. It isn't even an important election day so not a lot of people went to vote.

There are generally two types of voters. One, the type that votes for their party affiliation and the other type are old people. Since I was ignorant and didn't know anything about politics, I simply voted for the mayor. The American voting system is such a funny system. A huge majority of the voters have no idea where the politicians stand and vote blindly. Sadly to say, I'm one of them. Is this really what the founding fathers fought for?

Also, to my surprise, Bloomberg did not win by a landslide, but only by a couple thousand votes. The guy doesn't even make a salary for his position. In fact his annual salary is $1.

_

I absolutely hate my art history honors class. Although it is quite informative and I do learn some stuff from that class that broadens my universal knowledge, I find the exams quite bothersome. What it comes down to is hardcore memorization. We are to memorize about 35 different works of art (paintings, buildings, etc), including their titles, artists, date of creation, location, historical content and style. The exam is simply to throw back at the professor what she told us in class (and what we have read). I find that quite meaningless because after the exam all that crammed information will eventually dissipate.

Update

Relationships are such a mess. I don't know why but I can't behave like I normally do, maybe because I've pretended so much that I've lost a part of who I really am. School is easy enough but my social skills are lacking.

This is how I feel about my relationship with others (right now):



A good word to describe it: Disconnected.

Dynamic Presentation Skills

Normally I don't go to corporate events in school, especially the ones that are held during the 6-8pm time slot. But on Thursday, my friend and I went to an even called Dynamic Presentation Skills hosted by Ernst and Young. The turnout wasn't so good, about thirty or so people showed up. There were a lot of empty seats around. The main topic of the event was how to improve presentation skills. The video they showed us was really informative, humorous and helpful.

Arch Lustberg (in the video) explains to us how and why we must improve our presentation skills. According to statistics, on the list of the worst human fears, fear of public speaking is on top of the list. No matter how good your information is, if your presentation skills are lacking, your audience will not pay attention to you. To be successful, one must be able to show the audience competence and likability. If you know your material, you can be confident. However, the aspect that most people mess up is likability.

Communication with the audience should focus on 4 things:
1. Mind - What you have to say; keep it simple, direct, and brief. If you are using fancy words your audience are unfamiliar with, they will not be able to follow what point you are trying to make.
2. Face - Use an open face. Your smile must be appropriate and genuine. Do not use the neutral face (boring) and the closed face (angry).
3. Body - Gestures must be appropriate and do not do the following:
a) Defensive position - do not cross your arms.
b) Royalty position - do not put your hands behind your back.
c) Hands in pockets - do not stick your hands inside your pockets.
d) Cover your crotch position - obvious information is obvious.
4. Voice - Not too loud, not too soft, not too fast, etc.

I should probably throw myself out there more often.

Another Virus

That's right, another virus self installed on my desktop.

Last night, a stupid malware forced its way through my computer and self installed on my computer. This isn’t the first time, but it was some weak garbage the last time it happened. This time, the malware deleted my Malware Bytes and disabled my antivirus. It even locked down my task manager so I wasn’t able to end the program. It was a very serious thing. Luckily I had my laptop and was able to research the damn thing. The name of the malware is called “Security Tools.” It is a genius name to dub a virus because the name is so generic; the search results don’t come up as solutions to a virus. After spending two hours past my usual bedtime, I decided to leave it till today. “Security Tools” is a rogue antivirus program that says your computer is infected with fake viruses when in fact, it is the virus itself. It doesn’t allow you to do anything, can’t run any antivirus programs at all.

After using trusty Google, I found my answer. I went into safe mode and ran MSCONFIG to disable all the startup processes, so the annoying virus wouldn’t start on startup. Next, I ran REGEDIT and deleted the registry with the folder with the virus. Since Malware Bytes was still down, I tried to reinstall it. No such luck I’m afraid. Somehow the virus managed is programmed to auto delete the .EXE file of MBAM. I got around it by installing an updated version onto an USB drive and ran a scan and removed the virus. However, it was still messed up because when I rebooted, I still got error messages. Since “Security Tools” was gone, I can run my Avira, and so I ran a scan with that. After that, I still couldn’t install MBAM regularly. I installed Spybot Search and Destroy, and ran yet another scan. Finally, it got rid of everything. This was quite an annoying virus indeed.

I would prefer not to.

For the end of our alienation section, we read an epic short story written by the author of Moby Dick, Herman Melville. The title is Bartleby the Scrivener. I don't think you will look up what the story is about so here's the Wikipedia plot summary:


"The narrator, an elderly lawyer who has a very comfortable business helping wealthy men deal with mortgages, title deeds, and bonds, relates the story of the strangest man he has ever known.

The narrator already employs two scriveners, Nippers and Turkey. Nippers suffers from chronic indigestion, and Turkey is a drunk, but the office survives because in the mornings Turkey is sober even though Nippers is irritable, and in the afternoons Nippers has calmed down even though Turkey is drunk. Ginger Nut, the office boy, gets his name from the little cakes he brings the older men. Bartleby arrives in answer to an ad for another scrivener, and the narrator hires the forlorn-looking young man in hopes that his calmness will soothe the temperaments of the others.

One day, when asked by the narrator to help proofread a copied document, Bartleby answers with what soon becomes his stock response: "I would prefer not to." To the dismay of the narrator and to the irritation of the other employees, Bartleby performs fewer and fewer tasks around the office. The narrator makes several attempts to reason with him and to learn something about him, but Bartleby offers nothing but his signature "I would prefer not to." One weekend the narrator stops by the office unexpectedly and discovers that Bartleby has started living there. The loneliness of Bartleby's life impresses him: At night and on Sundays, Wall Street is as desolate as a ghost town. The narrator's feelings for Bartleby alternate between pity and revulsion.

For a while Bartleby remains willing to do his main work of scrivening, but eventually he "prefers not to" do this as well, so that finally he is doing nothing. And yet the narrator finds himself unable to make Bartleby leave; his unwillingness or inability to move against Bartleby mirrors Bartleby's own strange inaction. Tension gradually builds as the narrator's business associates wonder why the strange and idle Bartleby is ever-present in the office.

Sensing the threat of a ruined reputation, but emotionally unable to throw Bartleby out, the exasperated narrator finally decides to move out himself, relocating his entire business and leaving Bartleby behind. But soon the new tenants of the old space come to ask for his help: Bartleby still will not leave. Although they have thrown him out of the rooms, he continues to haunt the hallways. The narrator visits Bartleby and attempts to reason with him. Feeling desperate, the narrator now surprises even himself by inviting Bartleby to come and live with him at his own home. But Bartleby, alas, "prefers not to."

Deciding to stay away from work for the next few days for fear he will become embroiled in the new tenants' campaign to evict Bartleby, the narrator returns to find that Bartleby has been forcibly removed and imprisoned. The narrator visits him, finding him even glummer than usual. As ever, Bartleby rebuffs the narrator's friendliness. Nevertheless, the narrator bribes a turnkey to make sure Bartleby gets good and plentiful food. But when the narrator visits again a few days later, he discovers Bartleby newly dead. Bartleby, who had "preferred not to" eat, has starved.

Some time afterward, the narrator hears of a rumor to the effect that Bartleby had worked in a dead letter office, but had lost his job there. The narrator reflects that the dead letters would have made anyone of Bartleby's temperament sink into an even darker gloom. Dead letters are emblems of our mortality and of the failures of our best intentions. Through Bartleby, the narrator has glimpsed the world as the miserable scrivener must have seen it. The closing
words of the story are the narrator's resigned and pained sigh: "Ah, Bartleby! Ah, humanity!"

This was a very funny story, I couldn't help but laugh out loud as I was reading. The main character, Bartleby, seemed so serious about not wanting to do anything that it seemed unrealistic that something like this can happen in real life. The content itself was nothing to be laughed about, alienation is no laughing matter, I assure you. It was the way the story was told, the way the narrator spoke that made the story comical. When asked if Bartleby would go to the post office, he replied, "I would prefer not to." When asked if he could behave reasonably, "I would prefer not to behave reasonably," said he. In fact, this was his reply to everything, including food. Little by little, Bartleby walls himself from life and thus dies. What can I take away from this story? Aside from the laughs, a more serious lesson is to be learned. However, I can't quite put it in words so I'll leave it up to your imagination.


What is our next topic? Love and its counterfeits.

More Anticipation

Today was supposedly the accounting midterm. I prepared for it thoroughly and was ready to take it. Things don't always go my way, in fact it rarely does. Just when I thought I was ready to take the test, the professor came into the class late, told us she didn't have the test papers. Some "technical difficulties" made her unable to access the exam papers. By the time she got them, 20 minutes had already passed, so the midterm is postponed until Thursday. I wanted to take it today, to get it over with, oh well. Since we didn't have the test, she decided to teach. When that was said, well over 60% of the class left the lecture hall. She was shocked and I felt sorry for her. It seems to me that the only reason why these people come to class is for attendance purposes. Since they don't take attendance on exam days, people just leave. I suppose you can keep the body in the lecture hall but most of them dose off or turn off their brains anyway.


Blog Funny:

TL;DR

I've noticed my latest posts have been way too long, who wants to read all that right?

Anyway today's subject matter is that there is a wretched stench in the entire apartment building. I think the new neighbors downstairs are substance users, so things might get more shady. I wonder how living in a building with fumes of pot will affect my brain.

The Book

The book came in today. I immediately began reading it, despite the fact that I have other homework to do.

Some really good quotes from the book:

"I can help you to accept and open yourself mostly by accepting and revealing myself to you."

"But, if I tell you who I am, you may not like who I am and it is all that I have."

"I can only know that much of myself which I have had the courage to confide to you."

"The greatest kindness I have to offer you is always: the truth."

"To refuse the invitation to interpersonal encounter is to be an isolated dot in the center of a great circle--a small island in a vast ocean."

"To reveal myself openly and honestly takes the rawest kind of courage."

"It is a law of human life, as certain as gravity; to live fully, we must learn to use things and love people... not love things and use people."



I'm halfway done with the book--it's a short book--and I have reflected upon a lot of the things Powell has said. Powell describes five levels of communication, a very fascinating phenomenon that after some thought, is applicable to the people I meet daily. I'm not going to type out the exact text so I'm simply going to summarize.

Level 5 - Cliche Conversation
The weakest response in human interaction in which there is no communication at all. "How are you?" "It's really good to see you." We talk in cliches and we mean almost nothing of what we say. If we get a really thought out answer to the question, how are you? in detail, we would be astounded. Usually, we don't bother and give the simple, "Fine, thank you."

Level 4 - Reporting the Facts about Others
We remain content on restating facts on what others have done or said. We offer no personal reflection on these facts. We simply report them, we give nothing of ourselves and invite nothing from others in return.

Level 3 - My Ideas and Judgments
There is some communication of my person. I will take the risk of telling you some of my ideas and reveal some of my judgments. My words are carefully thought out, I will carefully watch how you react. I want to be sure that you will accept me with my ideas, judgments, and decisions. If you appear bored, uninterested, disgusted, I will retreat to safer ground--change the subject, or worse, I will start to say things I suspect that you want me to say.

Level 2 - My Feelings (emotions)
The thing that most clearly differentiate and individuate me from others, that make the communication of my person a unique knowledge, are my feelings or emotions. The feelings that lie under my ideas, judgments and convictions are uniquely mine.

Level 1 - Peak Communication
(Can't really be summarized because I do not truly understand it).

Wonder if I'll ever be able to accomplish level 1.

Why Am I Afraid to Show You Who I Am?

The following post will be a very long one, I believe most of you will forgo it. It talks about a lot of things I relate to and has a very important meaning for me. But if you appreciate thinking about life, go on and read what I have to say.

"Why am I afraid to show you who I am?" by John Powell.

A two page excerpt from English class:


Someone has aptly distinguished five levels of communication on which persons can relate to one another. Perhaps it will help our understanding of these levels to visualize a person locked inside of a prison. The prisoner in our example is a man, but he represents every human being. He is urged by an inner insistence to go out to others and yet afraid to do so. The five levels of communication, which will be described a little latter, represent five degrees of willingness to go outside of the self, to communicate the self to others.

The main in the prison—and he is everyone—has been there for years, although ironically the grated iron doors are not locked. He can go out of his prison, but in his long detention he has learned to fear the possible dangers that he might encounter. He has come to feel some sort of safety and protection behind the walls of his prison, where he is a voluntary captive. The darkness of his prison shields him from a clear view of himself. He is not sure what he would look like in broad daylight. Above all, he is not sure how the world, which he seems from behind the bars, and the people whom he sees moving about in that world, would receive him. He is fragmented by an almost desperate need for that world and for those people and at the same time, by an almost desperate fear of the risks of rejection he would be taking if he ended his isolation.

This prisoner is reminiscent of what Viktor Frankl writes, in his book Man's Search for Meaning, about his fellow prisoners in the Nazi concentration camp at Dachau. These prisoners yearned desperately for their freedom. Yet some of them had been held captive so long that when they were eventually released, they walked out into the sunlight, blinked nervously, and then silently walked back into the familiar darkness of the prison. They had been accustomed to this darkness for such a long time.

This is visualized, if somewhat dramatic, dilemma that all of us experience at some time in our lives and in the process of becoming persons. Most of us make only a weak response to the invitation of encounter with others and our world because we feel uncomfortable in exposing our nakedness as persons. Some of us are willing only to pretend this exodus, while others somehow find in themselves the courage to go all the way out to freedom....


This is what I have to say:

Alienation is wall building, to protect ourselves from getting hurt. Sometimes this process is invisible to the builder; it disconnects the builder from others, him/herself, and purpose in life. Why do people build walls? They are afraid of what others think. We all want to be loved, as human beings, and being liked is the step down from it. Most of the time we take what others think a bit too much.

We are afraid of rejection, "Oh is that what you think? I don't think I like you." This is why people conform to norms. To deviate from the norm is to stand out as weird, and people have a natural tendency to conform to what others are doing. Who are you really? Is it who you want to be? Or is it who others want you to be?

Why am I afraid to tell you who I really am? I'm afraid to tell you who I really am because if I tell you who I am, you might not like who I am--and that's all I've got. Because really, what else do I have to offer if you don't like me for who I am? It is for this very reason that most people shield themselves against the world, choosing to reveal what part they deem "safe" to show others.

I guess this is why I am such a cynic in general. I once revealed to this person who I really am, the truth, and tore down the walls. "To reveal myself openly and honestly takes the rawest kind of courage," as John Powell would put it. And you know what? When it didn't work out, the feeling of rejection was very overwhelming. After that, I rebuilt my invisible wall once again, feeling unsafe, crawling back into my cave. I'm afraid to open up again, only to get let down. But you know what, if the person doesn't like you for who you are, then it isn't the right person. Relationships have to be mutual, or else it’s a sham.

I ordered the book just now, on Barnes and Noble for $6 (the book costs $2). I hope I'll learn more about myself and if not, at least get some good insights for life. So far it seems like such a fascinating topic...


Blog funny:

A New Chapter Begins

Since I like my English class so much, I'm going to dedicate this entire post on what's going on in that class. Our last topic was evil human nature, narcissism, violence and murder. All of that sums up to the dark half of human nature. If people weren't so selfish, thinking only of I Me Mine all the time, the world will be a very different place.

Ex:
I want your brand new Jordans. I'm going to cut you if you don't hand them over.
But you love me, how can you do this to me?


I Me Mine Lyrics--by the Beatles

All thru' the day I me mine, I me mine, I me mine.
All thru' the night I me mine, I me mine, I me mine.
Now they're frightened of leaving it
Ev'ryone's weaving it,
Coming on strong all the time,
All thru' the day I me mine.

I-I-me-me mine,
I-I-me-me mine,

All I can hear I me mine, I me mine, I me mine.
Even those tears I me mine, I me mine, I me mine.
No-one's frightened of playing it
Ev'ryone's saying it,
Flowing more freely than wine,
All thru' Your life, I me mine.

I-I-me-me mine,
I-I-me-me mine,

All I can hear I me mine, I me mine, I me mine.
Even those tears I me mine, I me mine, I me mine.
No-one's frightened of playing it
Ev'ryone's saying it,
Flowing more freely than wine,
All thru' your life I me mine.


You get the point. Everyone's out to look out for themselves. Remember other people are people too, the world doesn't revolve around you or me, but for everyone. Take for example all of those dictators that killed millions of people for their enjoyment (Hitler). Was he mentally unstable? No, he was well aware of what he was doing, but his narcissism, his disregard for other human beings led him to do very evil deeds. Just remember this world will be a better place if we all loved ourselves a bit less and put others a bit higher.


Our next topic will be a very universal feeling that everyone comes across sometime in their lifetime--alienation.

The Dark Half

World War I comic

World War II comic

So I found out the brilliant artist for these comics, his name is AngusMcLeod on Deviant Art. Anyway, check it out, it's very witty and humorous.


On a more serious note, my English Professor is really something. His approach to teaching the class is to teach us about life. Right now we are on the theme of "the dark side of human nature" and that was why I had to write an essay on passion-violence. Right now we are watching a movie based on Stephen King's novel, The Dark Half. It's a horror film about this guy who has a split personality--by day he is a professor, by night he is a diabolical killer who tortures the victims before killing them. The whole point of this theme is to show us the dark side of all of us. Some of us keep the dark side locked up so it can never do any harm. Others let them out. The professor gave us many many tales of how twisted and sick humanity can be. He gave us many bloody, gruesome, terrifying tales that made me sick to my stomach.

New Appreciation

I never had high standards for writing until recently, when I learned that poetic, descriptive sentences make stories ever more exciting to read. My writing still pales in comparison to some of the stuff I'm about to show you, but nevertheless, I will someday be able to produce such works of magnificence as well.

Take these sentences for example:

"She looked bloated, like a body long submerged in motionless water, and of that pallid hue. Her eyes, lost in the fatty ridges of her face, looked like two small pieces of coal pressed into a lump of dough as they moved from one face to another." (From A Rose for Emily) Faulkner has a splendid way of describing a character.

Or this gory scene:

"... left him with his skull smashed, his face unrecognizable (he could've stopped there but he doesn't): for his eyes leaped from their sockets, his nose, pushed backwards as the bones of his face were shattered, was driven firmly into the middle of his palate."

"The two branching horns pierced Gryneus' eyes, and gouged out his eyeballs, part of which clung to the horn, part trickled down on to his beard and hung there, congealed with blood."


I'm supposed to write a short narrative about a time in my life when I've lost control of my reasoning and unleashed my wrath upon a poor, helpless soul. There were times that had occurred, but unfortunately, none of those stories were violent enough to satisfy the qualifications for this paper. So I'm not entirely sure what I'll do for this paper, maybe use my imagination and make something up.

As for my HS Memoir, I'm on something near 122 but after some major editing and revision, it will probably be a lot better. Note, I am not done with it yet, not even close to revision.

Blog funny:

Break that

Alrighty I might break my wonderful 4.0 streak this term, not that I want to lewlz but I'm off to a terribad start and my motivation is downright low. There's also this social thing that's bothering me and I am quite confused on what to do.

But heres a funny picture:

WORLD WAR COMIC

For the LuLz.

The first week of school

The first week of school is always a drag. Let me break down my classes:

ENG - The old professor is simply a genius and inspirational. Although we have to write seven essays this term along with a bunch of reading, I think I'll walk away from this class with more than just a grade. I had to spend $73 to buy the book.

CIS - I'm predicting this will be my easiest class but nobody knows what's going to happen since the professor hasn't shown his face for the past week. I bought the book used for $35

LAW - The law professor has a nice use of sarcasm to make his lectures a bit more interesting. However, law puts me to sleep and reading this entire book will melt my brain. I borrowed the book from a friend.

ACC - The most stressful class I have this term and the one with the most work. I still didn't get the book yet because the bookstore ran out.

ART - Why the hell am I taking this class? Well I certainly know the answer, but you don't, ha! I spent $90 and bought the book used. I started off this class very badly, I didn't do the first reading assignment and she gave us a quiz today. Fail.

In total, I spent $198 on textbooks, and will eventually spend $273 (since the ACC book is $75).

Another thing is, I sold off all of my textbooks from last term. POL for $75, SOC for $75, BUS for $100, PHI for $25, and lent my macro book to a friend. I recovered $275, and the macro can easily be sold for $80+. I guess it ain't bad after all.

However the most interesting thing about this week was how I sold my textbooks. You see, almost everyone put out fliers for others to see what they are selling. There are hundreds of fliers on every floor and to make yours to stand out is quite a challenge. I strategically made my fliers have big bolded font and included the picture of the books with it. I knew I had to somehow get rid of all of my books within the first week or else chances are everyone will have bought what they need already. I took the initiative of seeking out where certain classes are and advertised what I was selling outside the classroom. I easily sold off all of our philosophy books (I helped 3 of my friends sell their philosophy books). I was afraid of being mugged because he past few days I've held onto so much cash. Since I was selling for my friends as well, I had to hold someone else's money for a brief period so if anything happened to me I would have been screwed. My methods of selling books is exactly what I need to do in order to succeed in the business world--take the initiative, be bold, and do what is necessary. I easily sold off all of my books while my friends still have a long list of books they need to get rid of.

~ Cheers

stuff from business class

Keys to Successful Management:

1. Do good work
2. Present the right image
3. Learn the power structure
4. Gain control of organizational resources/upgrade your skills
5. Be computer literate
6. Stay visible
7. Stay mobile
8. Support your boss
9. Find a mentor

- From Gagliardi's class

summers over

So there ends this summer vacation. It's still the best freaking summer I've had thus far in my life, and possibly the best one I'll ever have (since there is no such thing as summer vacation once school life is over). I haven't gotten a chance to do some of the things I wanted to do because I got hooked onto a new game (actually DotA standalone remake) called Heroes Of Newerth. It's in BETA and I can't stop playing it. I hope school will get me off that game soon.

Some good jokes:

My wife and I were watching Who Wants To Be A Millionaire while we were in bed. I turned to her and said, "Do you want to have sex?" "No," she answered. I then said, "Is that your final answer?" She didn't even look at me this time, simply saying "Yes." So I said, "Then I'd like to phone a friend."

A woman was standing nude, looking in the bedroom mirror. She was not happy with what she saw and said to her husband, 'I feel horrible; I look old, fat and ugly. I really need you to pay me acompliment.' The husband replies, 'Your eyesight's damn near perfect.'

When I got home last night, my wife demanded that I take her some place expensive... so, I took her to a gas station. And that's when the fight started.

My wife was hinting about what she wanted for our upcoming anniversary. She said, 'I want something shiny that goes from 0 to 200 in about 3 seconds.' I bought her a scale.

Bike Day

Today I went to Kings Plaza with Ricky, Lanson and David Yan to check out stores. I bought a new pair of sneakers (about time). I’m always very hesitant on buying sneakers (or anything else for that matter) because I’m afraid of disliking the product once I use it—hence a waste of money.

Afterwards, we went back to Lanson’s house and picked up bikes. After a long seven year retirement from biking, I've picked up the trade once again. I learned how to ride a bike during my elementary school years. Ever since my dad threw out the old bike (that he found on the streets mind you), I haven’t rode one since. Ricky brought his bike all the way from Canarsie. David Yan had his own bike. I was the only guy without a bike so I wanted to borrow Lanson’s. However, his bike was a lot bigger than I thought and since I was a newb once again, I was intimidated by the height of the bike. In the end I ended up riding Ricky’s bike because it was shorter. For the very first time today I rode on the streets. My parents never allowed me to ride a bike in the USA because the roads are made for cars, not bikes. It is fairly dangerous to ride side by side on the streets where the cars are. I feared for my life as I rode to Marine Park. Cars whizzed by behind us and my adrenaline pumped when the cars were making a turn in front of us.

After we got to Marine Park it was smooth sailing. I biked around the Marine Park bike lane for ten laps. One lap was about 0.81 miles so I biked 8 miles today, plus some extra distance from and to Lanson’s house. My crotch area started to hurt like crazy when after the third lap but I kept going. Ricky’s bike isn’t as good as Lanson’s because it only has one gear and it was way smaller in comparison. I had to pedal much more before I can shorten the distance between us and even when I went full speed, I couldn’t catch up to Lanson when he was at full speed. Today I learned something new about bikes.

The main reason why I wanted to bike in the first place was because Liz inspired me to go biking. Liz, Eric, Lanson and his bike gang biked from Brooklyn all the way to Manhattan sometime last week. Liz described it as “a life changing experience.” Although as much as I would like to do something exciting like biking all the way to Manhattan, I don’t think I am capable of doing so.I’m still afraid of getting hit by a car on the street because I’m still quite rusty.

A load of bad traits

I have a lot of personality traits that are undesirable. I want to change, but I'm afraid it might already be too late. I wish I can be a nicer person, but can't. Too many years of cynicism and stuff.

I wanted to post how I felt about Walgreens on here, but I decided not to.

Adding To Do list

Okay I plan on doing a parody music video with me "singing" a song. Stay tuned.

This summer in a nutshell

Monday - God damn it's work again
Tuesday - More work ugh
Wednesday - The most boring day of the week
Thursday - Good grief it's truck day... (too much work)
Friday - Truck day part II, the week is over!
Saturday - Central Park for hardcore volleyball
Sunday - Rest at home / bored

Now that work is FINALLY over, I guess I can attempt to accomplish some of my goals for the summer.

1. work on memoir
2. draw some new stuff with the mouse
3. upgrade
4. improve

Dead Fantasy

Dead Fantasy I came out a while ago back in 2007. When I first saw it on Gametrailers.com, I was amazed. I thought the trailer was for an upcoming game. To my letdown, I found out it was only a fan made movie (but a very well made one at that). The graphics are very professional, for a user made CG movie. The fight scenes were incredible and well thought out. The models for each character was very fine and smooth. However, the DoA characters looked much more appealing than the FF ones. Yuna's eyes looked messed up. Tifa's face doesn't look like her. As for the plot, we don't know what's going on, there is no vocal dialog between them, just fight sounds and over the top music.



DF II came out in March 2008. A movie of such a high quality takes well over a year for them to create (Monty Oum's site). The second one is even more epic than the first one. The fight scenes do not disappoint. Some more characters are introduced.



But what's amazing is that not one, not two, but three parts of the saga was released this year! DF 3, 4 and 5 came out last month. The plot is coming together a bit now. In #3, Tifa gets beaten down by Hitomi. What's odd about the 3rd onwards is that the characters aren't godlike anymore (they were giving each other everything they got and didn't seem to slow them down at all). Each of the characters now show signs of fatigue, and more interestingly, blood. Before, they shot and cut each other but they just got right back up. Now, everyone gets beaten to a bloody pulp.

I'm looking forward to #6 and stuff. Too bad it will come out NEXT YEAR TT.

Oh and where to watch it? Here it is.

SPOILERS

Yuna arrives in the beginning and gets ambushed by Ayane and Kasumi. Yuna's about to lose the 2v1 fight when Rikku arrives to even out the fight. The fight seems quite even until Hitomi arrives and kick the crap out of Yuna/Rikku. In the end of DF1, Tifa shows up and saves them.

In DFII, also the most epic one yet, they continue to fight nonstop. The fight scenes are really incredible. Tifa casts many spells from her materia, such as fire, ice, lighning, demi, haste, time, etc. Of course, the 3v3 doesnt last all that long, and another DoA character arrives (I don't know her name). When the 3v4 situation goes in the favor of DoA, FF gains two more allies, Rinoa and Kairi. Rinoa looked like an angel, she held the gunblade and a pair of wings. Kairi held the dual keyblade and smashed face. Towards the end, Rinoa splits them all up, making the 5v4 into a five 1v1 fights.

DFIII - Tifa vs Hitomi. Sadly, Tifa loses. Although the fight started out even, and Hitomi was poisoned, towards the end Tifa lost all of her materia and ended up losing the fight. In the end of the scene, they show Helena activating a bunch of Kasumi clones. This part confused me.

DFIV - Yuna vs Kasumi. Yuna fights Kasumi head on until a bunch of Kasumi clones appear. Yuna changes into summoning mode and calls on Shiva, Ifrit, Bahamut, and Unicorn. However, the overwhelming amount of clones mops the floor with the summons. When Yuna is just about to get slashed up, Cloud appears and saves her. They ride away together.

DFV - Tifa's story continues. Just when Tifa's knocked out of the house, a bunch of ninjas come after her. They chase her and pin her down. She puts up a good fight, killing about 30 ninjas or so. However, she gets brutally wounded and in the end, they take her away using a hellicopter.

B Express slapped in the face

B trains going down under

Well the MTA continues to screw over the city. This time, the B train will no longer make express stops--at least for two years. Commuting times are expected to go up by at least seven minutes. the B train will make local stops, but running on the express track at AVE M, J, H, Cortelyou Road, Beverly Road and Parkside Ave. What does this all mean!?!? It means the MTA sucks ass. B trains will be slower than the Q train and overcrowding is going to get worse. And it's going to take them two years to fix up a couple of stations. On the weekends, no trains will stop at Ave M/J/H at all.

House of the Dead: OverkiLL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKUSSFzRZGY

Oh god I ran through the entire game last night at my cousin's house. Holy shit this is the funniest game I've ever seen XD.

Guinness World Record: Setting a record in this brand new category, the title recognizes The House of the Dead: OVERKILL as the most profane video game in history.

This game is your typical arcade shooting game, except on the Wii. The gameplay is quite dull and you don't do too much but shoot. I played the entire thing for the story line and it was worth it. The main characters were hilarious and good god, I swear, half the dialogue consists of fuck, shit, bitch, mother, etc. The jokes are vulgar but that is what makes it funny.

Anyway in the video above shows basically what the game is all about--nonstop cursing by Detective Washington (he's modeled after Samuel L. Jackson).

I would not recommend getting the game, just watch the storyline on YT and call it a day.

Also, it should be rated like M or something because of all the profanity lawl. Edit - it is rated M, lolcat.

Rats with Wings

Look at that fatty over here. Today I will talk about the lovable pigeon. Pigeons are often dubbed "rats with wings". The other day when I saw a couple of pigeons flying on the subway tracks, it got me wondering--why don't we ever see small pigeons? Do pigeons just magically grow up to be big and fat? I have never seen a baby pigeon in my life.

Another thing, don't pigeons make mistakes? People make mistakes, they get into car accidents and other injuries. How come we don't see pigeons getting injured like flying into a wall or getting run over?

It's funny how the mind can wander.

Watching a crapload of shows

When I was a kid, back when they had cartoons on weekdays, I took them for granted. Now I found a site where I can download them from Megaupload and I can't wait to watch everything again.

Beast Wars - finished watching

I never understood the show when it was on air because I was a kid with bad English back then. I just watched it for the CGI. The show was quite good. It had a plot and it had a beginning and an end. However, it was also sad because many of the characters got killed, especially Dinobot.

Beast Machines - finished watching

This one is the sequel to Beast Wars. It was kind of weird in the end because Optimus dies to save the planet. The story is confusing at first because they lose their memories and Megatron is somehow in control of the entire planet. The modeling for the characters are somewhat ugly in my opinion but the plot makes up for it.







Monster Rancher - finished watching

This was one of those shows I was dying to see but never got the chance to watch. Back when it was on Fox 5, it aired at 3 PM exactly. I remembered that I ran home from school just to watch it but since I lived far away from the school, I would always miss the show. MR had a total of three seasons, but for some reason, Season 3 was never aired (to my knowledge). Rewatching this show made me replay Monster Rancher 2 on the Playstation. I loved this show.






Spiderman the Animated Series (1994)

This was an awesome show. It had a total of five seasons and it featured almost all of spiderman's enemies. To my surprise, Venom and Carnage only appeared in 2 story arcs (roughly 5 episodes each). I haven't rewatched the entire show as of yet, but I have seen episodes here and there. The ending was a stupid cliffhanger that was "tied up" by its sequel, Spiderman Unlimited--which was a terrible short lived 11 episode show.


Animaniacs / Pinky and the Brain - have not seen

Unfortunately, I can't find the complete set of this show anywhere. I've been looking around for a long time but with no luck. Animaniacs was a greaet show. It was quite funny and had a lot of innuendos that kids didn't understand. In fact, according to wikipedia, a lot of adults watched the show. The show's success led to a spinoff--Pinky and the Brain, which was also a smash hit.

DCAU - DC Animated Universe

Batman The Animated Series - two time Emmy award winner, I'm not that interested in this series so I might not watch it

Superman The Animated Series - This was an emmy nominated series. Again, I might or might not watch it.

Static Shock - This was a pretty good
series, but that's because it was created around the time when I actually understood the stuff, so it gave me a good impression.


Batman Beyond - I gotta rewatch this one. Batman Beyond was one of those shows I didn't understand but am quite interested in.


Justice League - This is the stuff not aired on public television. The content is much more mature and a step up in violence. The story focuses on the original seven members of the league--Superman, Batman, Martian Manhunter, Wonderwoman, Hawkgirl, Green Lantern, and the Flash. Each of the episodes were about a different plot, but enjoyable nonetheless.





Justice League Unlimited - the league expands to an X number of members. This is the end of the DCAU. I've watched the entire unlimited series and it was great. Each episode focused on a few individual heroes (a bunch of lesser known ones) and a small subplot.
















Godzilla the Series

This show is the direct sequel of the Godzilla movie in 2000. It aired on Fox 5 but I never saw the ending. Now is the time to rewatch everything.

HULK VS

I saw the trailer of these DVDs on television quite a while ago. I saw them on display at Walmart (because that's where they are sold) so it interested me.

I've watched both and I must say--I'm impressed. For a 40 minute movie, both of these were action packed and quite spectacular.



Hulk vs wolverine was cool, although the winner was quite obvious. Hulk kicked the crap out of Logan. Wolverine's claws only poke holes into the Hulk, but that only makes Hulk even angrier--thus even stronger. When Hulk punched Wolverine, he flew all the way to another part of the mountain. This movie also featured some other characters such as Sabertooth, Omega Red, and Deadpool. None of them were a match for the Hulk.




Hulk vs Thor was the better movie though. Hulk was summoned by some evil guys in Thor's world to destroy their kingdom. They extracted Dr. Bruce Banner from the Hulk--making him an unstoppable weapon. Not even the mighty Thor withstood the rage of the Hulk, he got smashed hard.

In conclusion, I seriously doubt that anyone can stop the Hulk in full rage. His power level is correlated to his rage, so fighting him will only make him stronger. He has no weakness, other than his human counterpart. Without Bruce, Hulk is the ultimate destroyer.

Oh My Gawd

I hit the jack pot!

Well not really, but I did find a site where I can download all the shows I've been dying to watch.

I'm not going to post it now but stay tuned.

Solar Eclipse 2009

WIKI post

The longest solar eclipse in 500 years--and the people living on the western hemisphere missed it all. China, India, and some other parts of Asia had the luck of viewing a once in a lifetime event. Something like this will never come by in my lifetime, that's for sure.

---------------------------------

Too much of everything is no good. Ever heard of "ignorance is bliss"? Well I believe it is true. Remember that episode when Homer Simpson got his crayon removed and he became intelligent? His intellectual self found life to be too difficult so he chose to become stupid again. If I wasn't so smart, maybe I wouldn't think so much. Thinking about random thoughts mostly makes me sad. I think I might be in for a serious case of depression. If only I was a bit dumber, I wouldn't have care in the world... live life happily and not think about what could be.

It's also true for those who are very beautiful. Beautiful women--are they blessed or are they cursed? Being stared down by all sorts of drooling men--that's probably not a great feeling. And then there's always the fear of rape.

God damn I wish the summer would end already. Every week kills me a bit more inside because of its repetitive nature. I have nothing to look forward to, I have no goal, I have no motivation whatsoever.



"But if you're not doing it for yourself, who are you doing it for??"

I would like to know.

sticks and stones may break my bones

Words hurt--a lot, especially coming from someone important to you.


Anyway, I don't know if this happens to you, but it certainly happens to me. Have you ever laughed or smiled and your face hurts because of your grin? It hurts because your face hasn't made a smile in so long that the muscles get tired from the facial expression. I don't believe people when they say frowning uses more muscles because my face gets tired when I smile or laugh a lot. I guess it's because there's not a lot to be happy about. It saddens me to know that my face hurts to smile =(.

A much simplified version:

You know when you haven't worked out for a while, and you work out, and you get sore? Well that happens to my face.

Kristin Kreuk

Kristin Kreuk, best known for her role of Lana Lang in Smallville, was cast for Chun Li in a movie recently. KK is half Dutch and half Chinese. Here is a funny video of her speaking Cantonese in the movie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPYCybm2s7Y

I thought she would perhaps know how to speak some Chinese since her mother is Chinese... but damn--I was way wrong. Her pronunciation was terrible and I laughed out loud so many times in that video XD.

Obligations

Social networks such as Facebook got me thinking. Why the hell do some people add people to friends list even though they never say a word to one another? I know this bitch from junior high school and she added me on FB a couple of months ago. I didn't want to accept, because I don't give a shit about her (she added me on Sconex before as well). When I accepted back the first time on Sconex, I asked how she was--the bitch never replied. This time I said hello again, she never replied. Honestly, why waste time to add me if you don't exchange a single word with me? Likewise, I have a ton of worthless "friends"--a ton of people whom I never even spoke to. I accepted most of them because I know who they are, I call them acquaintances. Another time, this bitch added me twice, I declined the first time, but she added me again. So the second time, I accepted to see what she would say. She said nothing.

Are most people stalkers? I don't think so. I believe they simply want to add people to increase their friend count. Oh hey look, I have 1000 friends! As if anyone gives a rat's ass about it.

Another thing that bothers me is birthday wishes. I saw this girl copy and paste the same message to three people who had the same birthdays. LoL. I think people who do these things are superficial and phony. They want the favor returned when time comes around. But guess what? Most people don't give a shit. It's your birthday, big whoop. This is why I removed my birthday so I don't get 30 spam messages of the same two words on one day. If you have something to say, why make an excuse to say it on that particular day?

Quality over quantity .

ffffuuu

I know what I want.

Unfortunately, I lack the motivation, the dedication, the inspiration.

My parents always criticize me for not studying enough. My theory is, if I can get straight A's with the least amount of studying done, it is more efficient. Why the hell should I waste my time studying hours and hours when I accomplish the same goal using less time? Isn't that what work is about anyway--to accomplish a task efficiently and quickly?

Being smart, naturally comes along with excessive stress. Why the hell do I think so much?

Work isn't bad. In fact, I kinda like brainless work, it requires no effort. Lift crates, pack out, stock shelves, match numbers. I wonder by the end of the summer my body will become more cut. All this lifting sure is tiring...

no one cares

What gets me through the day?

It used to be easier, but now it seems impossible to find motivation. I used to have something to look forward to so that each day passes by quicker. Nowadays, everything is so mundane, so repetitive, so dull...

And it's hard to find someone who cares. Sometimes I feel like chatting with someone on AIM but no one ever initiates a conversation with me. I log on AIM hoping someone has something interesting to share with me--but it doesn't happen. Maybe I should uninstall, it seems like quite a pointless program.



PS: I am not emo.

more thoughts

I think as I grow older, I gain more confidence in myself. When I was a kid, I hated to go on stage and speak in front of a crowd. I still dislike it, but I know I will have to overcome this fear. In fact, I realized that it is not the presentation itself that gets to me, but the anticipation of going up that gives me the chills. On stage, I just go with the flow, I don't quite feel as nervous as when I am sitting there, waiting to go.

So next time I have a presentation, I think I'll volunteer to go first. Everyone else is just as worried, why should I be afraid? They aren't better than I am, so I have nothing to be afraid of. Next time, I will carry this mentality into my future presentation/public speaking.

stuff

I transferred from CVS to Walgreens. Hooray for that.

Shopping for things is very difficult. The other day I needed to buy a pair of black sneakers but I simply couldn't decide on what to get--mostly because of the price and the comfort level. Most sneakers these days are way too flashy and uncomfortable. So I ended up not buying anything, so my 4th of July was a big sham. Shammity sham sham I tell you.

hmm

I see ... blind people... all the time.

I don't know whether the number of blind people are increasing, or I'm simply seeing more blind people walking around. In the past two months, I'm pretty sure I've come across at least twenty blind people. It's very unfortunate to lose the ability to see, if I went blind I would probably get myself killed in the first week (accidentally). I have no idea how they continue their lives, hell I even saw a blind man go to Baruch. It's a frightening thought to lose sight... I don't even know how they cross the street.

Also, SYEP orientations are a complete waste of time.

Some thoughts

The type of girls I like are a dying breed.

The type of girls I dislike are exponentially soaring.

Megan Fox

Megan Fox at the London premiere of 'Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.' Fox has apologized for accidentally snubbing a young fan who tried to give her a rose. Source.

Anyway, the kid was rejected and everyone made a huge fuss about her being a snob. She later apologizes to the kid on the newspaper. Kodak then offered a $5000 reward to anyone who can find the kid. And they did find him. Now they are going to set up a meeting for the boy and Fox and reunite them.

I haven't seen the movie yet, but from what critics say, it wasn't that great. But this little publicity stunt was funny. This 11 year old kid gets to meet a big movie star because he got rejected. If she had took the rose in the first place, then he wouldn't have all the attention he's currently receiving. If you go to the second link, you can see some of his facebook pictures and such--he's an eleven year old from Britain. Fox is trying to save face by having this reunion thing and not damage her reputation LOL. Honestly, call me whatever you want but I don't think she's all that great looking.

SYEP Status

I got into SYEP this year through Henry St. I decided to attend the Manhattan job fair, instead of the Brooklyn one. I arrived at Henry St. Settlement around 5:10 PM and it was packed. The line was longer than lonnnnnnnnnnnng cat (please tell me you know who longcat is, if not Google it). People were cutting the line left and right so they decided to give us number tags. I was #361. The line wasn't going anywhere. When an opportunity came around, I went for it. A lady recruiting for clerical occupations asked whoever wanted an office job to go with her. So I followed her inside the building, instead of waiting outside like a sucker. When I went inside, it was stupid. The job fair hardly had any worthwhile jobs... it was mostly daycares and daycamps. I wasn't interested in such activities. I asked around and finally got a hold of the person with the computer. You see, not all the jobs were represented in the job fair. In fact, a majority of jobs were in the computer database. I was quite picky and looked through the list over and over. Finally, I chose to work at a CVS Pharmacy in Kings Highway. The reason was proximity and the potential to continue working there in the future.

Intro to BSNS course

This summer I'm taking intro to business at Baruch. The course is condensed so we barely learn anything at all. Aside from all the technical definitions and concepts, I learned more important things from the professor. As a former employee in corporate life, he tells us stories about his experiences every now and then.

What I learned so far:

1. How to be successful in interviews
2. Proper behavior in a firm
3. The right approach

An interview is the single most important thing in deciding whether or not they should hire you. Today he picked on people randomly to answer some basic interview questions: "What are you're strengths? Weaknesses? What salary do you want?" People do not know how to answer these questions whatsoever. Any wrong answer and your resume is in the garbage pail.

More importantly, one must be confident, able to think on the feet, and be able to bullshit. You say what they want to hear, and say it with confidence. If you don't believe your own bullshit, why should they?

some thoughts

Hibachi restaurants are a rip off. The bill is way overpriced for some mediocre, flashy performance. Never again.

James, Tiff, and I ventured to Mr. Kennard’s class. James had already visited before so it was his second time there. Kennard literally told his class not to show up for the last day of class, but everyone loves him too much to not show up. The three of us sat all the way in the back of lecture room. Kennard’s class is the only AP class to still remain in the old building. That room is a large lecture styled room and quite run down. Anyway, going there gave me a run on memory lane. To me, it seemed much smaller than it used to be—probably because I’m used to the college lecture halls. When he came in after about 5 minutes late, he noticed us immediately (much to my surprise).

Since it was the last day, he didn’t really do anything in class. He talked to the three of us for the entire first period. We talked about how we were doing, what majors, etc. We talked about his job, the physics class, Yeshiva school, and our peers that graduated already. It was really humorous because he couldn’t remember who Tiffany is.

“What’s your name again?
“Tiffany”
“Oh Stephanie”
(James and I crack up)
“TIFFANY!”

According to Tiff, Kennard called her by three different names, her first, middle and last name. Since she was a regents kid, he couldn’t remember her.

I also asked him about the bomb incident in the school that made ABC news. But he laughed it off and told us it was simply a prank made by some special ed kid. "He probably would've hurt himself if the teacher didn't catch him."