Phones
My uncle is weird. He picks up the phone to tell people he can't talk on the phone. I would have liked to have left him a message. Rather than him forgetting to call me back when he is free.
Also need to find a good way out of a conversation. Getting sucked up into things is not my way of quick communication. I'll think about this some more.
Career fair today didn't go as smoothly as I had hoped. I was a bit discouraged at first when I saw all the professional looking people. But then I just thought back to the advice I gave me friend earlier. She was saying she felt intimidated by job recruiters and all the people she was competing against for the position. I said, don't sell yourself short. If you try for the job you may have a low chance at getting it. But if you don't try at all, you won't have any chance at it. So while my lowly physics degree meant little among the sea of mechanical engineer seekers. I just thought, I give really good advice. I advanced and distributed my resume.
I am a little pissed at the woman in division 11 though. She was sitting there all alone and no one was coming up to her. Little wonder since this is NASA afterall. Who knew they need MIS majors? She saw me standing there while I scanned the room for a table to go to. She then starts wagging her index finger at me. Sorry lady, I am not interested in your business finance division. "Don't be shy," she says. So to be kind to someone I came over. She asked me if I had a resume. So I handed her a copy. She then scanned it quickly, frowned and pushed it back to me. "Oh you probably need to go to division 34, 39, or 33. Yes, I already know that. Thanks for wasting 3 of my precious minutes.
Damm, my roommate stinks.
My nose
Heard on the radio today that of the 5 senses, your sense of smell is the one you never forget. That familiar fragrance you smell now will transport you back many years ago when you first took it in and all the memories of those moments will begin flooding back to you. It's kinda hard for me to believe. But there are a few aromas that are unmistakable to me. The first thing people will say is that the smell reminds you of a past girlfriend. The one that slipped away from. The one you made a mistake and lost forever. And you've regretted it ever since. There's this perfume my sister used to wear. Thank goodness it's been discontinued. It reminded me of this stinky girl who never showers. At least I thought she never did and slept with her wet dog in her bed at night. I thought that until I smelled it on my sister after she came home from college. That's when I learned the terrible truth that it was a popular perfume. I think it was Ralph Lauren. Not sure. But it stunk.
Le Soleil et moi
Il fait chaud.
Tres tres chaud!
Je le deteste.
Je ne veux pas faire quel que chose.
Je vais mourir...
Americans and our way
I was doing some math calculations the other day and I just thought, why are Americans so stuck up about our units of measurement? I'm not talking about the simple 2.54 centimeters equals 1 inch. I'm talking about volumetric conversions. What about inches squared to pounds per square inch? Wouldn't it be a lot easier to say 1 gram of water is 1 milliliter of water at 25 degrees C? It just seems so stupid to stick with fahrenheit when I can barely spell and I definitely don't know when water boils or freezes? Why don't we call soccer football? They kick the soccer ball in soccer way more than the football in football. AM and PM? What a joke. Just use 24 hours already. It removes ambiguity from the 12 hour clock and uses up less space. And oh gosh what the heck is with July 22nd, 2006? MMDDYYYY? It's not even in order. I don't like the global standard either of DDMMYYYY. I rather take to the chinese way with the YYYYMMDD because it's much easier to sort sequentially in computers. Imperial screwdrivers are hecka annoying. 3/8" screws are smaller than 1/2" screws. It takes a little extra effort to realize that as numbers get bigger, the screw is smaller. Where do 7/16" screws fit? I automatically know 8 mm screws are smaller than 12 mm. Simple. Anyone know how much a teaspoon or tablespoon is? No, you just know one is more than the other.
But it's not all bad. Our 110V electrical power is a lot safer than the 220V from some parts of the world. Driving on the right side of the road seems to have no advantage or disadvantage from the left side. NTSC TV signals is much better quality than PAL signals. And of course, there is color. Don't see why it needs a u in there to take up space.
Traffic violence
Now, I'd be the first to admit that I am a dangerous driver. You don't want me out on the road. I drive in front of people and purposely brake. Sometimes, I cut someone off really closely. My favorite thing to do is block someone in so they can't pass me. Why do I do this? Simple, because of insensitive drivers. I had a Saturn one time cut in front of me while I was in the fast lane and he was doing 65. There were 4 lanes and hardly any cars on the road. I did the the friendly high beam reminder that he should speed up or get out of my way. He did neither so I went around him and almost ran him off the road. Then there was the guy who beeped and honked incessantly for me to merge out of the fast lane. I already had my blinkers on to move out of his way. But I guess I was still too slow to merge for home. So I blocked him in with the semi next to me.
Today, I was on a one-lane road merging onto the freeway. I was speeding up very slowly because I don't like wasting gas. The lane is about to merge onto the freeway. The Altima behind me speeds up really fast and goes next to me. It boxes me in and won't let me merge onto the freeway. What the heck for? It's not like I cut it off. It's drivers like this that make me worry. All I kept thinking was if someone on the freeway was going fast, he would have hit him and he would have died right in front of my eyes with his middle finger still protruding from his hands.
Ouch!
That hurts. But I'm a veteran at this now so it's ok. Add 3 more tickmarks to my heavenly scroll. 15 total souls saved. Best of all, because I am blood type O, the most sought after blood type, we get "Thank you gifts". They give me a free sweatshirt now instead of a t-shirt at the previous 12-lives-saved pledge level. I wonder how many lives it takes to get a jacket.
That's a good truck poster. Works for me
Sugar water
Sunday is God's day. I went to help setup some things. It wasn't as much workout as they led me to believe. Just set up a couple of tents and make sugar water, mmmm... I picked up a chinese english bible because I was in need. The sermon was a simple. Prayfirst to everything you do, even for your drive to work to go well. I didn't understand it. I think it's praying too much. You do the same mundane drive to work everyday. The idea of praying makes me fall into Ying-Ying's trap of predestination. If it's already destined to happen. What is the point of praying? Saw a friend there but she covered her face and ran away from me. Slept the whole day wondering if I should do nothing or not.
Saturday brunch
I had breakfast with Fiona this morning. Her dad picked up the tab. Can you believe that Din Tai Fong costs $67 for 7 people? So good and so affordable.
This wonton soup looks so plain but it is oh so good. This restaurant is famous for sui gao.
Afterwards, I went to Santa Monica beach with ah Peng. I have a new canvas to take pictures. She doesn't mind me taking pictures of her. This way I can get some practice shooting people. Unfortunately, it looks like she might be taller than me. What does that have to do with pictures? Nothing. I don't like being short.
Procastination
Look at all the letters I received today. Isn't that little face cute?
Let me start with a disclaimer: I am a procrastinator. I am a hypocrite. Having said that I can continue with why I received the pile of letters shown above.
On June 17th, a guy whom I do not know RSVP'ed me that he would be joining our rafting trip. I was a bit miffed that I had to call into the whitewater company yet again to add someone. Why are people adding themselves so late to my evite? But I was happy to do it, the more people that comes the merrier. Since the deposit due date passed, I had to pay the $70 for him. He was one of those people who had trouble with my address as explained in a previous post. He asked me to be "certain" that was my address so he could mail out his deposit "ASAP". I replied to his email on June 19th.
On July 1st, the final payment was due. I went to the mailbox and only one person had sent me their final payment. I still had 7 on my unpaid list. Multiply that by $69 and we have some serious problem. Oh what to do, what to do? I wrote a stern email to the parties involved inquiring about my missing payment. Since there was no way of getting the money to me short of wasting even more to overnight a letter, I had to cover all 7 people. So in order to put myself at ease with such a large sum of money I wanted everyone to give me a phone call to explain their tardiness. The calls trickled in slowly but surely. The responses were unanimous: procrastination. I got love for you right here. No problem. I am inflicted by the same poison. Just toss your check in the mail after you get off the phone with me and we are squared away. A picture on the back of the envelope would be nice too.
One guy didn't call me. Yes, it was the dude I mentioned in the previous paragraph. In fact, his "ASAP" apparently meant longer than 3 weeks because I haven't received his deposit yet either. So I was quite disturbed at his behavior. But being me, I have to be nice. On July 3rd, I called up my friend who invited him and asked her to contact him for me. Just in case he didn't receive my stern email. Two days later after hearing nothing, I called up my friend again. She sounded surprised. She said he told her that he would contact me when she called him two days ago. She calls me back afterwards and says he sent out his check two days ago and I would receive it on Friday. He would give a call.
At this point I didn't care about his call anymore. It doesn't mean anything since I already paid his reservation. You can already guess that his letter is not part of the pile in the picture above. It is now Friday. I feel bad for my friend since she has to play middle man to this. I call her up and I leave a message saying I am canceling his reservation. The tactic worked. 10 minutes later, I finally hear the guy's voice. I decided to give him a final chance. All he has to say is that it was sent on Monday and he doesn't know why it hasn't arrived. He told me he gave it to his mom to mail and she didn't get it out until probably yesterday. YOU JERK! YOU TOTAL AND COMPLETE JERK! Ohmigosh, I wanted to rip his head off. You had 3 weeks to send me a check. You had 1 week to give me a simple phone call. You didn't do either. You knew you were late with my payment and yet you didn't go put the envelope in the mailbox yourself when you knew time is important. You got my message stating a mandatory phone to me is needed and you never did it until I decided to cancel your reservation. Go get your own damm reservation. I doubt you even sent your check.
Around the world in 7 days
There's a positive and a negative to having such a sharp camera. Shows all my blemishes. Terrible. And yes, that is a turtleneck sweater I am wearing in July with 100 degree weather. That's 38 C to those of you using the proper system. Stupid 40 degree (20 C) drop in temperature in the lab. I'm going to get sick at this rate. Now I understand why those Hong Kong people are able to wear overcoats and sweaters in summer.
Hoang called to say Hien's engagement ceremony is actually going to take place on Sunday instead of Saturday. While I am slightly bummed by this announcement. I feel good that I don't have to make consecutive weekend trips up north. It's good to live life on a whim and change my mind whenever I want to.
84 cents to send a letter halfway around the globe in about a week. Amazing world we live in. So economical and so fast. Oh I got a new penpal, didn't you know? You can probably guess who, she leaves her marks on this blog quite often.
Didn't play tennis today because J__ couldn't make it. And no I didn't cancel. I don't have a racket and Mark doesn't either so there's really nothing that can be done. I ache all over anyway. Running is tough stuff. I did a few pushups afterwards too. Who needs the gym? I could do this and be fit. To end on a good note. J__ asked me how old I was. I promptly replied 30 so that I would be more mature and fit in. Mark is well into his 30's. She said, "No way. You look 22-23." Awwwww bless your heart dear. You made my day. I returned the favor, she looked 25 to me. Apparently she's a lot older. But women don't tell.
Running
Behold the power that is my new 6 megapixel Casio camera. Watch the sun slowly creep over the tops of the building. This is a shot of building 306: Observational Instruments Laboratory. Or as I call it OIL. It's where I work.
Went out running with J__ and Mark today. It was a good run. Almansor Park is a nice place. Big beautiful pond. Acres of green grass. Basketball courts. Tennis courts. Rubber tracks that wind every which way through and around the park. Baseball field. Soccer field. Golf course. Even has a gym where they play badminton. And some old men lawn bowling. Why didn't I come here before? Unfortunately, I was in the presence of professionals. They run 4 laps, equivalent to 4 miles.
The first lap is a nice easy jog. No problem I thought, I could do that. Or so I though. I was out of breath and could barely move after one lap. And they go faster the next 3 laps? Utter madness I tell you! Mark is a seasoned runner and he's been running since highschool. J__ is a training for a triathlon. I think I know someone living far far away who is doing the same thing. She eats 6 egg whites in the morning. Goes to sleep at 11 and wakes up at 5 to run 5 miles and swim a few laps before work. And every once in awhile, she comes out to run with Mark after work like today. Now that is discipline. I sleep at 10 and wake at 6 and I still fall asleep at work. Terrible.
I didn't embarress myself too badly. I was more or less keeping up with them the first lap, although they probably slowed for me. I ran half the 2nd lap and half the 3rd lap. They were finished with their 4th by then.
We went out for some wonton noodles afterwards. 4 dollar bowl of noodle? It's like we're in Hong Kong again! Food is always a popular topic for me and so we were talking about what to eat. J__ said she'll cook for us someday. Oh man... homecooked meal. I only just had some nice cooking from ah Peng on Saturday. Can I possibly experience too much pleasure?
Tomorrow we're going to play tennis.
Temper
She called me yesterday for no apparent reason. Which is always a good reason to call me. Just to say hi and nothing else. The last time I talked to Adekunbi was about a month ago during our final. Usually, I don't hear from people after class is over. I might run into them a few times at school afterwards but nothing ever develops into a friendship. It's not like it's highschool. But maybe it's different for her. I like how she is so modest about all her academic accomplishments. I'm a Physics major and let me tell you, just about everyone in my major is cocky and arrogant. So it's a breath of fresh air when someone aged 17 has only one more year of college before she gets a degree says she's not all that smart. She's a biochem major as I found out yesterday and we just talked about nothing for about 2 hours. She says if I want I can join one of her study sessions with Brenda and introduce me as a chemistry genius. Heheh, now that's a good friend.
I like her because she sounds so naive and innocent to the world. Sorta like me. But since I am quite a few years her senior, I know just a tad more how ugly the world is. But we both still have some grandiose ideas about how to make the world a little better place. We're like dull swords about to be tempered by the harsh brutal world of reality. I'm just a little further along the assembly line.
So with any luck Chris will call me out to say he got his driver's license and the three of us can go hiking in Santa Monica. That would be fun.
Bounds
Ah Peng called me on Friday night. She sounded lonely and tired. She gets Saturdays off so I thought I might drop by and see how she's doing. She plays the helpless girl role quite well. Knowing this, I still can't help but feel sorry for her and want to help her all the time. Yeah, she has to work 6 days a week. Yeah, no internet access, no phone, no tv, no friends, no nothing. But eh... that's not too difficult a life. Is it? I'm thinking I've gone through worse. But like I said, she's good at acting helpless. So I came over on Saturday to at least see what I can do about her internet.
She lives over in Chino which is a good 30 minute drive from me. Darn truck is expensive to drive over there. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to do anything about her internet. There just weren't any free wireless networks to tap into. Her dad refuses to add a telephone line so what can I do? We had some pho in the morning and then headed off to Phuc Loc Tho for some shopping. She bought a little bracelet. I was trying to look for some big chinese worry balls. But no one seems to make them the size of a squash ball. My french classmate was playing with a couple of balls that size once. I thought they were ridiculously large but when I started grinding them in my hands, it felt very natural and relaxing.
When we got home again, she noticed her bracelet was one of those art project things you have to put together yourself. She apparently has no patience for that kind of stuff. I do. So I started putting it together. She and her sister were really surprised. Here I was a tech geek putting together a dainty little bracelet. It's fun and 3 hours later I was done.
Her dad came home and the kids sought their opportunity while I was there and started asking about internet access. Her dad still seems to think I am a cool guy. He's overly nice to me. I try not to cross any bounds on any of the decisions he makes on his kids. I don't want to come between anyone. I know he doesn't want his kids to be hooked on the computer all day long. And I know he respects me enough to know that the computer is my life and that I think it's a necessary skill to have these days. He reluctantly agreed to setup a phone line. But I didn't initiate anything. I was just sitting there trying to put together the last jewel on the bracelet. His kids used my presence to their advantage. Can't say I wouldn't have done the same thing in their shoes.
Friday fun night
I didn't understand the point of it. I didn't even want to go. For some reason my friday bible study had turned into dinner and bowling. I'm thinking the reason for this one-time occasion is to take a break from church and to try to introduce more people to the group in a fun and lively atmosphere. I didn't start going to this group to have fun. I started going to learn about God.
But I remembered what I said to Mike a couple months ago. He was asking me if he should go to a party with his friends. I said, why not? You're not doing anything special that night anyway.
It's good to get out and meet people. He told me he is not feeling very good right now. Not in a "good" place. Whatever that meant. And the people at the party he will see later anyway so he wants to make a good first impression on them. What's the difference between now and later? Well, right now, he doesn't feel very good and first impressions last a long time. He ended up not going which I thought was dumb. So looking at myself. I've been lamenting over finding true friends in LA. How can I turn this down? Good thing for my logic because I had "the time of my life."
We went to U2 cafe for dinner. We got a long table and like I usually do, I head towards the middle of the table because that is where you will be able to talk to almost everyone. Never sit at the ends. There were new people here that I hadn't seen before. Time to practice my socializing skills. Started talking to the girl to the left of me. Her name is K__. She turns out to be taking Chinese classes at Pasadena Community College. She starts going on and on about how bad her professor was. I wanted to ask more about herself but oh well. I'm still not suave enough to interrupt someone without sounding full of myself.
Afterwards we went bowling. The pretty girl, J__, saw my pathetic little curve ball down the lane and pulled me aside to teach her how to do it. She had me stand behind her so that I could show her the correct stance and stuff. Ummm... still too shy to wrap my hands around a girl. And you want me to hold your hand and place it where on the ball? hmmm.... ummm... nahhh... I instead showed her how I held it and how I released. She was very touchy feely throughout the game. I was on her team and when I did a particularly bad bowl she would massage my shoulders and say, "I know you can do better John. We need you" I felt very very awkward. It just made me bowl worse. But I held on and our team eventually won.
The 8 of us remaining stayed on to play pool. We decided to break off into pairs and J__ asked me to be her partner. She came to the "fun night" with her friend K__, so why does she want to partner with me? But like I would actually turn her down. Again, she seemed to be playing the "help me" role and wanted me to teach her how to play pool. Funny, me teaching someone to play pool. And you want me to stand where and put my hands where? I ended up just placing my finger where I wanted her to shoot the ball. Someone wanted me to look good because 4 out of 5 of her shots led to a pocket. We won 4 times in a row before I absent-mindedly missed an easy shot. It was hot in the pool hall and J__ and I wanted to go over to get some boba next door. But we kept winning so we couldn't leave. Just had to throw the game a little and now we can go. When we got over to the boba place, it was another fight to pay. I lost because P____ came with us and he was taller. I asked P____ to come along because I didn't want my awkwardness to stand out. You know what is a turn-on? When a girl sings along to a song that you choose on the jukebox. I chose the song by Lauren Hill - Can't Take My Eyes Off of You. J__ and I sang along to it while we waited for our turn.
So before we left, I had to get her number. I got my "in" when she said she goes running a few times a week at Almansor Park. "Hey, I'd like to go running with you." I don't really, it's freaking hot but eh...
It's good to get out and meet people.
Isabella
I've been seeing a lot of good movies lately. This one is called Isabella. It's about a 16 year-old girl living in Macao 1999 when the island was returned to China's jurisdiction. Her mom recently passed away and she is searching for her dad who left even before she was born. Her dad is a crooked cop who sleeps with a different woman every night. They make a very unlikely pair. I liked this scene because:
1. It's Anita Mui's good ol' 80's hit.
2. Karaoke. How can anyone singing look more ridiculous than Isabella Leung right now? Sing with pride loud and ugly sounding. There's no way you can sound worse than this.
This movie has shot up to my number 1 favorite Chinese movie. Why? Because there is so much emotion and feelings that develop between the father and daughter. And most everything is conveyed through silence instead of words. The actors really have to know how to act when they have to say so much through action. I am a man of little words so I can only hope I can be as effective in my actions.
