Tuesday Syndrome

Tuesdays are i-hate-me days. I work my butt off practicing an aria about 100 times in a week, then go to my lesson and totally mess it up! Man, opera is freaking hard. There's everything technical, then there's emoting. I personally, humbly speaking, find it very hard to emote in a language I don't speak! It's too easy to forget what you're singing.

And my teacher totally coddles me! She is very unmean! But I still feel like crap.

On a different note, see an absolutely AMAZING Eponine here. "One more day all on my own! One more day with him not caring!" Original Broadway cast of Les Miserables. Kinda scary Marius and Cosette (why does Cosette have to wear the ugly black dress with lace collar BTW?). Everyone else is beyond brilliant. I've watched this video like 15 times.

Paris

My husband surprised me with a trip to Paris over thanksgiving so we went for 5 days!! It was fun. We went to see all the touristy stuff. France is so craaazy I could've taken a thousand pictures. Like all the ornamentation on the buildings, those boggle my mind. Fashion-wise, there was a huge trend of wearing your boots over your pants, I guess that's kind of an 80s comeback. And it is very strange, there are really no fat people in Paris. But I must say their subway is really disgusting; I've been spoiled by the MTR in HK.

Shot of the river:

A store window with a fancy castle:
PRINCESS MONONOKE!!! (At the Louvre):
Notre Dame:
Crepes:
At Versailles. Since we went in the winter, Versailles wasn't looking its best. This fountain was sooo cool though, the bottom tier has four merfolk (split-tail style, like the Starbucks logo), then cherub mer-kids above, then fish, then lobsters on top. HOW COOL:

Self-explanatory. I am thankful that a steady-handed tourist girl walked by at this moment:

I can't believe I watched 4 episodes of X-Files while folding and chatting tonight. I'm so happy I got to chat with Karen for a long time tonight :)

SCULLY: That was Detective Manners. He said they just found your bleeping UFO.

ok i didn't actually watch 2.5 of the episodes since I was chatting. Another one's starting right now but I am going to sleep!

hi world

For the past week, every day has seemed like a grind repeating itself over and over again. Every night when I turn my light out at (avg) 3:45am, I feel like where did the day go, this is just like yesterday. There's so much in my head that I wish to calm by reading or writing, neither of which I can do, because I've been doing a project that has me working from the moment I wake until the moment I turn the light out... but I'm shipping that order off today!

One exception was Casino Royale and Babel that we saw on Saturday.

Casino Royale: the new Bond is very... sinewy. If the world is a buffet and we are all food, the new Bond would be roasted prime rib. A yummy, juicy hunk of steak. The Bond girl (Eva Green) would be molton chocolate cake.

(Me: an out-of-season mango.)

Babel: remind me never to see another Babel/Traffic/Syriana type movie ever again. You know the ones--1) three separate stories that are connected, 2) involves children dying or in danger, 3) scenes that take place in the desert or Mexico or both in the case of Babel, 4) stars a cast member from "Ocean's 11", 5) moody cinematography and music and reality-style camera work, 6) and don't forget the political issues such as drug trafficking, oil, gun control, illegal immigration! OK I liked Syriana a lot. But these movies are so depressing and disturbing, I can't deal. I will stay away from any future movies that give off a Babel/Traffic/Syriana vibe.

Confession:

I LOVE "SPY GAME" (the movie)

I'm a dork

No wonder I'm a K(nock)O(ut) :P

Time's Op-Ed article last week I found very funny. It's about a study that shows people form opinions about other people in a 100-millisecond glance based on their faces, using a very low-level part of our brains. For example, Clinton looks like an "affable rascal" and Putin is "less gentle grandpa than live mink." The interesting question posed is to what extent do our personalities form our faces VS. our faces forming our personalities. Here is an excerpt (it's not on their website):

"Faciel symmetry appeals to us too. Dick Cheney's least trustworthy feature is easily his smile, a lopsided thing that makes him look as if half his face is pleased with something while the other half is paying bills....

The mingling of face and temperament raises the question of whether the two co-evolve or one produces the other. Was John Kerry's hangdog face responsible for his sodden campaigning? Did Richard Nixon grow his shadowy stubble, or did his shadowy stubble grow him? The British weekly New Scientist has touched on this, exploring what is known as nominative determinism--the common case of people whose names echo their jobs. There is a director of penal reform Frances Crook, the marine biologist Steven Haddock. American culture has been rife with such synchonicity--pitcher Rollie Fingers, Senator George McGovern. 'Are these whimsicalities of chance," Carl Jung once asked, "or the suggestive effects of the name?'

If name drives careers and faces drive personalities, we should have sympathy for politicians consigned by countenance to personalities they might not have chosen. As the midterm elections end and presidential hopefuls look ahead to 2008, there are perils for both the lovely and the unlovely. Those easy on the eye should take care not to overstate the point (MITT ROMNEY: MORE SYMMETRICAL THAN EVER!). Those with aesthetic hurdles should consider whther it's finally time for that eye lift or chin tuck...."

Recital

Today was the recital for my teacher's students. First off, it was in a house that had the most stunning entertaining area I'd ever seen; they obviously only bothered with the 2 living room areas, dining room, and kitchen; their bedrooms and basement was just so-so. It had a contemporary style with clean lines and spacious rooms and large beautiful wall art, huge ceiling-to-floor windows stretching and wrapping around the whole area. The room we sang in is made just for this type of thing (the homeowner's a huge opera fan), with a Steinway grand piano, friendly acoustics, hardwood floors, and light flooding in from the glass walls and skylights. OK I just had to start with that.

About 14 people sang (my teacher has 32 students though). My song went okay I guess. Well basically, every person who sang, I'd be like "OMG this person is SO GOOD." I was so focused on how good everyone else was, I don't really know how I did.

The order went like this: 2 ladies who aren't very "serious" singers went first, then 8 advanced students, then intermission, then 4 less-advanced students. I was in the "advanced" section, something that increased nervousness... and these people were freaking GOOD...

In the advanced section 1) there were 2 musical-theater girls abt 25 yrs old who were amazing show stoppers, just perfect and showy. I didn't really get to talk to them, but they sounded completely pro to me. One of them had been with my teacher since she was 10, which makes it 14 yrs with her, waa?

2) There were 4 opera men who were REALLY good, at least I though so! One of them is 27 and is my teacher's star student who's going pro soon. However, I was more blown away by a teenage tenor, who, unfortunately, went right before me.

3) And there was 1 opera girl and me. She was good. I guess it didn't blow me away. Dunno.

For the less advanced people, 2 of them were like 17-18 I guess, and I know one of them wants to apply to music school this yr, and they were yeah not very impressive. Although everyone COULD sing, just not all great, sorta like how everyone on America's Next Top Model could be a small-time model somewhere. Anyway, of the less advanced, one of them was 15, and she was sweet, and one was 12, and she was such a charmer, cute to the extreme, and a decent musical theater singer... actually, she is EXACTLY like the little girl in "You've Got Mail" (Tom's Hank's aunt) who sings "Tomorrow," remember? Anyway, she did three songs and finished with "I Feel Pretty." She nailed the "for I'm loved by a pretty wonderful boy!" Everyone died of her cuteness.

I even suck at blogging

There's stuff I want to blog about but just can't be bothered sometimes because... my thoughts are so trivial! I'll provide a smattering...

AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL: had me in stitches last night! I loved Caridee from the beginning and think she will win (she's soooo pretty and really good at modeling), but last night she was freaking hilarious... that show rocks.

RECITAL: this Sunday. I'd rather not talk about it because it nauseates me. Before my lessons I feel good about my singing. Then I get there and my teacher tells me everything I need to work on and then I feel bad about it. Then I practice a lot and then feel good again. Then go to the lesson and realize everything I still have to work on. Etc.

CURRENTLY READING: Acting for Singers. I wish I wasn't reading this book because reading about singing/acting is very weird/pointless.

BIZ: very busy as I've been saying... which is good but I want a day off. At this very moment I'm not super swamped because I'm waiting for some paper and can't do this order until it arrives--it's for the Oilily store window displays, so I'm excited I'll get to see them (2 Oilily stores in Chicago area).

LOST: last night was their "fall finale" or whatever. They've decided to do two finales per season... I know, weird... but basically they had new shows for 7 weeks, then a 2 month break, and back with 16 straight weeks. So 2 finales. Anyways... Mal was in it! Mal from Serenity/Firefly! He was in Kate's flashback. (Again, for those who don't watch Lost, I know you have NO IDEA what I'm talking about.) Ah, Mal. He played a cop who married Kate. Kate's flashbacks are my favorite, I like her stories.

OPERA: I really want to go see Salome at the Lyric Opera. The diva's supposedly crazy good. A voice that comes along "once in a hundred years," according to my teacher. And I want to see Salome, the most screwed up opera ever written! It was banned from the Met for a long time.

X-FILES: I watched 3 episodes last Monday night. Um, as a reminder, I watch while origami-ing. I really didn't want to see those episodes. One was the one where zoo animals were getting abducted by aliens. The next was the boat that made people age really quickly (I really dislike this ep and had been afraid it would come on). The 3rd ep was the sideshow circus people, Fiji Mermaid.

more of evolution, creation, etc.

This made me chuckle. Letter to the Editor in response to Time's cover article "What Makes Us Different" that explains the differences and similarities between humans and chimps (who share 99% DNA):

"'What Makes Us Different?' We're made in the image of God; chimpanzees are not. In understanding the genome, scientists can neither add to nor take away from this truth. Spiritual realities are not the province of the natural sciences. What is truly different between human beings and even our closest cousins in the animal kingdom is the ability to reason. The great apes are not reasoninig creatures, which doesn't mean they are unable to think in their own way. They just aren't able to sit around and pose questions like, What makes us different?"

had to share

u know what I realized from watching X-Files reruns? The guy who plays Alex Krycek appeared as a different minor character less than a year before he started playing Krycek!

blah blah blah

arrrr
I'm gonna send my submission to the RTHK/The Standard Short Story Competition 2006 tomorrow. I read this article online abt last year's competition receiving a record-breaking 800 entries in the junior and senior categories!! This is very disappointing because that means my chances are much lower than I thought. I don't know how many entries they got before when they were with the SCMP, but I came in co-3rd runner-up in 2004 (there was a 1st prize, a 1st runner-up, a 2nd runner-up, and two 3rd runners-up), so I thought there can't be THAT many entries. Now the task of winning seems much more daunting. How am I supposed to beat 400 people (that is if one estimates abt half of the entries are the junior category)? I don't think I'm gonna enter anymore if there are that many entries!!

I've been running on the treadmill now that there's a gym in our apartment building. I am literally in the last 3rd percentile worldwide when it comes to running. But I've actually not died yet so I think I got better stamina from all the tennis.

And I am officially very swamped... um, swamped and trying to be a singer, and write my short story, and go to the gym, and go to church, and... see Marie Antoinette and the Queen and the Prestige. Whatever, no biggie.

OH by the way, I am totally addicted to X-files rerun marathons while origami-ing on every Monday night from 11pm - 4am (which, I'm only up 'til like 3am, I sleep from 3am to 11am), sometimes Fridays, and right now it's Thursday and it's on, yay but I sometimes hate watching X-files reruns really late b/c it can get to be freaky. Like I had to not watch during that Brady Bunch house episode. It was kinda like the Shining! But a few months ago there was one of the funny episodes, and the local small-town sheriff was Luke Wilson and it was funny hahahaha... that's my favorite episode I guess... I sorta dislike the monster episodes most... the gov't conspiracy/alien ones used to be my favorite but they're maybe too serious, like sometimes you just want to watch a silly Buffy episode, not the ones about killing the "big bad." Anyway, yeah I like the funny X-files and ones that are kinda different, like the hallucination mushroom one, and the one that was like "Groundhog Day," those were good ones, and I think they were back-to-back. The one on right now is another small-town, log-cabin, sheriffs and rangers, and mysterious death ones. Sometimes I try to keep track of how many times Mulder has died. I think it's somewhere around 15, if you include misunderstandings.

I should NOT be blogging. What I should be doing now is threading tiny little needles with tiny little threads, then stringing them into tiny little cranes, adding a tiny little bead with a tiny little hole, then tying a tiny little knot. Repeat 175 times. It can make a girl crazy, lemme tell ya.

VERY EXCITED ABOUT (ramblings)

MARIE ANTOINETTE AND THE PRESTIGE!!! Both coming out this Friday. I KNOW they'll be good. How can Sofia Coppola or Christopher Nolan mess up? I know lots of people who consider Batman Begins the best movie of the year last year, including myself, although it's sort of a tie with Serenity. Weird huh? Last year's movies were so unremarkable, a BATMAN movie is considered best. And Sofia! Some high-budgetry going on with Marie Antoinette. Kirsten Dunst better be good. I loved Jason Schwartzman in I Heart Huckabees and Shopgirl. (But I loved Mark Wahlberg more in Huckabees.)

opera

Currently singing: "Batti, Batti" from Don Giovanni

I was previously singing "Ah! Je Veux Vivre" from Romeo et Juliette. I think my teacher realized I can't handle it, although she says "we just did that one to mess around." The recital is coming up, and I guess she realized I need something easier. She already pushed back the recital by a week, since people aren't doing very well (myself included, I know). The person who comes in after my lesson thought she should push it back by a month, which I would've totally agreed with if I were still doing "Ah! Je Veux Vivre."

I am swamped with work too so I haven't even been able to practice as much as I'd like. I guess Christmas orders start about now.

it was good

I am still giddy about the Departed. I can go on and on about the differences between it and Infernal Affairs and the effect of those differences... as well as the weird stuff they chose to keep... but I won't. Mostly the characters were sooo much more developed in the Departed, it's beautiful to watch them unfold. I seriously want to see it again. It was especially entertaining because I didn't have to think about the complex plot, since I already knew it. I've never been much of a Leo DiCaprio fan, and I had trouble picturing him as a tough guy before seeing this, but he should win best actor, not kidding.

BY THE WAY, THIS MOVIE IS HILARIOUS. Mark Wahlberg should win best comedic performance. And his hair... man the hair... it's the most hideous hair ever... but he's funnier with the hair...

The Departed

Just saw The Departed with Tim and Busta. I felt physically sick afterwards, partially b/c I was hungry, but also because it was so stressful and I felt bad for all the characters. It was better than Infernal Affairs, of course. I loved Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Wahlberg, they are geniuses. Jack Nicholson was genius but too freaky. I found it very weird that they stuck with so many random scenes from the original! Why would you do that? First of all, the overall plot is exactly the same--except a little bit of the ending, which is to be expected anyway since the there are two versions to the ending of Internal Affairs. I guess the HK version was just TOO GOOD to change HUH? Like, they kept all the little details like meeting on the roof, and coming out the movie theater with the phone ringing, and the cast on the arm, and trying to spot who's a cop, etc etc. But they totally embellished on the characters of DiCaprio's boss (not Wong Sir) and Nicholson. And thankfully, they made Sammy Cheung and Kelly Chan's characters into one. The original girls were excruciating to watch--Sammy's shrieking (does she ever stop?) and Kelly's bad crying as usual.

have been very busy

moving to out new apt, major craziness... haven't forgotten abt my emails and blog, will get back soon (to: VLi). However, I must say I was very excited when V. Li told me she read Kavalier and Clay and officially calls it her favorite book. See? I don't lie.

A picture I took of Korben in the dark

HAHAHA BAD CAT

My voice teacher, like another teacher before, said I lack ego to be a good singer. Yes, they can tell by the way I sing that I hate myself. But people who think they are good singers when they are not are really embarrassing. I know those people. I've seen those people on American Idol. Maybe I need hypnosis. I'm not gonna just snap out of it! I'm doomed.

middle child syndrome

I've always been very interested in middle child syndrome, but it seems like information about it is extremely conflicting... some say they are "black sheep" loner types who end up in jail, some say they are creative, quiet pushovers, but ultimately the conclusion is always that middle children suffer inwardly.

Weird thing is, an overwhelming portion of my close friends are middle children. Among my friends who come from families of 3 children, something like 80% of the time, the middle child is the most outwardly put together. I'd say that some of them are inwardly the most messed up people I know HAHAHA, sad but true.

I've always thought that one of the worst things I can imagine is discovering I have an identical twin separated from birth, then finding out she is outgoing, smart, successful, selfless, confident, dresses perfectly, sings, and has a Nobel Prize. I'd just DIE. Because then I would know that I was nurtured wrong, not that I was just born this way.

Maria! Say it loud and there's music playing, say it soft and it's almost like praying

I can't get over how good Maria Sharapova's hair/head wear looks at the US Open. Like her day dress, don't like the evening dress. She rocked today!!!

Day--black visor and black ribbon in honey blond hair, genius!:

Night--black ribbon barrett, side-swept bangs, I'd wear this hair to a formal event!:

stupid throat thing

OK I went to the doctor and he said he can't see anything in my throat and doesn't know what it is. Which is weird because when I look in the mirror and say Ah and use a flashlight, I'm pretty sure I see something! There are several possibilities but one is a canker sore on my soft palette or tonsil. I actually think this is it. But it might be an infection. Canker sores have to have a white center but what I think I see doesn't have that. It might be something lower in my throat that I can't see (because it's hard to tell exactly where the pain's coming from since it radiates all over the place). This is making me crazy. My appointment with ENT is in 2 weeks! Stupid.

Another clue is that it tastes weird, which tells me it should be an open sore or something... I know this sounds totally gross but really it's not very... I don't even have much pain, it's just annoying...

Right now I don't know if I should stop singing. If it's a canker sore, there's no point in stopping singing. Problem is, I don't know for sure if this is non-singing related. I actually starting having a sore throat from when I sang a bad high note, BUT I dunno if this is the same sore or something totally different that just happened to feel the same...

happy birthday V. Li

Got back from Boston a few days ago. I really didn't want to come back to Illinois. Not that I like Boston, I just didn't want to be here. I don't know where I want to live. I don't think I'll be happy anywhere.

I've had a sore throat thing for 4 weeks so I'm gonna see a doctor in half an hour. I think it has something to do with singing. I'm the worst singer that ever lived. Anyway hope it goes away. I've been making hot water with honey and lemon, mostly because it's my comfort drink. I doubt its usefulness in curing throats. It never occurred to me that the type of flower the bees get their pollen from influences the taste of their honey. The honey I got from Chinatown is "lychee honey." As in, they honey comes from pollen from lychee tree flowers? Bees are cool. Except big ones close-up are nasty.

Hmmm have a lot on my mind... actually right now I'm swamped with work. I'm sure all at-home crafters feel my pain when I say I can't stand that people don't think my work is a full-time job and then some just because I work from home and make stuff.

I LOVE this...

This ad... is da bomb. One of my favorite show tunes! I Feel Pretty, sung by Maria (how appropriate) in West Side Story. I want to play Maria (as in, be in the musical, not play with Sharapova!). I can't stop watching it hAHAH.. it's so cute.

If you're Rihanna, don't read this! --FURTHER BASHING ADDED!

Puh-leeze...
RIHANNA... what a sorry excuse for a pop singer. What did the producers see or hear in her? Her voice is instantly recognizable by its extremely nasal sound. And she's not physically attractive (I'm SORRY, she's just NOT) nor is she an exceptional performer like many of her female pop/R&B contemporaries with one name. The fact that she does so many cameos and appearance in non-music related shows (Bring It On 2, My Super Sweet Sixteen, etc.) tells me that she needs all this extra publicity that's obviously put together by her powerful producers as a desperate attempt to boost popularity and record sales. Her song "Unfaithful," how inappropriate for someone like her to be singing it. She 18, it's just awkward that she's singing about how she's mentally murdering her husband/boyfriend by cheating on him. Wassup? You're 18, CHILL. And I can totally see someone like Christina Aguilera or Kelly Clarkson making this terrible song (so partially not her fault) non-excruciating. It's just the nasally thing is not for this very BAD song.

OK about that song "Unfaithful" (I previously thought it was called "Murderer" OK whatever). Is it JUST ME? Has anyone else noticed the similarities to Rob Thomas's "Lonely No More"??? If you don't know these two songs, here are the lyrics of the chorus, which are VERY similar, and I'M NOT KIDDING, the melodies are ALMOST IDENTICAL (well except Lonely No More is better).

Unfaithful (youtube here, OMG, it's SOOO BAD):
I don't wanna do this anymore
I don't wanna be the reason why
Every time I walk out the door
I see him die a little more inside

Lonely No More (youtube here):
I don't wanna be lonely no more
I don't wanna have to pay for this
I don't want to know the lover at my door
Is just another heartache on my list

HERE COMES SURVIVOR

I know this officially makes me the biggest dork ever, but I am excited out of my mind about the new season of "Survivor"!!! The teams are gonna be divided up by race--blacks, whites, hispanics, asians--isn't that awesome?! Will citizens of the world ever cease to be intrigued by race? It's gonna premiere on September 14. I can't wait I can't wait!

Survivor talk makes me feel seriously deprived of a fulfilling TV schedule during the summer months. I'm not complaining; I quite like not having TV control my primetime hours. This summer, the only show for which I had appointment viewing is "The Closer," which rocks any other crime show's pants off. I am soooo excited about "Survivor" and having something to look forward to every Thursday! OK and "Lost" and "ANTM" on Wednesdays. And "Veronica Mars" on Tuesdays. But on a scale of 1 to 10, my excitement about "Survivor" is always a 10, while the other ones are just 9 HAHAHA.

Quote of the day

"I wanna be the light that burns out your eyes 'cause I know little things about me that would sing in the silence." --Counting Crows, "Catapult"

"Catapult" is one crazy-ass song.

BTW, the tape player didn't work, hafta get another one. The saga continues...

ashitaka and yakul

Movies, crises

Firstly, I bought a good/new tape recorder/player on Ebay for pretty cheap. I'm gonna try to sell my digital one, which is so argh because I'm gonna lose so much money on it. I'm gonna try to post for sale ads in the Medill (NU School of Journalism) buildings, since it's really a voice recorder and not a music recorder.

Secondly, we found an apartment and will sign lease soon. Yay... I pretty much found out there are mid-rise buildings (7-story) on the 800th block of Hinman Ave, so I drove over there to check 'em out. Ended up walking in one building, looked at the available apts, got my husband to look after work, submitted application the next day, and I am loving our future apartment so far.

This weekend we saw Little Miss Sunshine, which my husband loved and says best movie of the year so far. I liked it but don't feel strongly about it. Actually some parts made me sad, even though it's not a sad movie at all, I'm just messed up. But I liked Steve Carell best.... On Saturday, while doing my work of cutting and folding (total bummer: I had to buy a roll of over-priced paper and cut 110 squares, when they sell the pre-cut squares for MUCH cheaper online, but I couldn't wait for shipping), I put in A Very Long Engagement, and has anyone seen this? I love it, but even though I've seen it 3 times, I can't get the characters straight... and the music is so saaaad... and the seaside-lighthouse-tuba parts are saaad... see it.

And I am having a crisis about booking plane tickets home, which will end tomorrow will lots of dollars.

And I am having a crisis about a large order... due to various payment-related complications... I am waiting for a check... and I HATE waiting for transactions... and people who are sending me money who don't return emails promptly... because I'm a control freak.

I SUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have really low self-esteem! I SUCK! I hate me!

I hate that I have really low self-esteem! I hate that I hate me!

I hate that: 1) no one will ever hire me to sing in a paying chorus because I sight sing at a high-school level; 2) no one will ever hire me for musical theater because I can't dance; 3) no one will ever audition me for opera because I don't have a resume.

I hate that I can't find my TWO pitch forks, which are both A's, by the way. (I hate that I don't have perfect pitch). I have (HAD) two because I misplace things so easily. Such as my foot-long ruler that I use everyday to measure boxes and ribbon and string (origami stuff), I literally spend about 10 minutes per day looking for my ruler (in a 1-bedroom apartment). Today I found it in my toiletry bag in the bathroom. Yesterday under a pile of papers. Not to mention scissors and needles--it's a miracle that I haven't permanently lost any needles to date.

I hate that it's almost 2AM and I'm still up while I have to get up in the morning to go look at apartments! And go to a barbecue!

How weird is this

Video Games Live

"Video Games Live™ is an immersive concert event featuring music from the most popular video games of all time. Top orchestras & choirs perform along with exclusive video footage and music arrangements, synchronized lighting, solo performers, electronic percussionists, live action and unique interactive segments to create an explosive entertainment experience!"

Apartments and voice lessons

I hate moving. There is an exciting aspect. Especially this time it will be at most 30 mins away, so there isn't the stress factor of all your stuff arriving in good order. Anyway, our lease ends on 9/30, and my husband says he 100% wants to move out of the dump we currently inhabit (while I am more like 50%, but 100% trumps any other percentage above 0%). My goal is a newish mid-rise building above the 3rd floor for under $1250/mo including parking spaces. Definitely not "vintage-style" (Amelie-esque) or courtyard-type. I've contacted the usual suspects in Evanston and there are no availabilities, although some might open up in August but not looking good. For over $1550 (incl. parking), there are availabilities, but those are not worth it, because they are nice but small and close to campus, which inflates the price. I've already looked at a place across the street, and it's not gonna work... due to a very dark brown carpet, very little light, a dumpster for a view, general oldness, a baby crying, and extremely rank smoke smell that I'm sure won't be there once the place gets cleaned up but still.

I'd want most to live in Glenview, where my husband works (and my voice lessons are!), but the only non-bad apartments there are these extremely nice ones that are really expensive. We are seriously considering Arlington Heights, which has nice new good-location ones for about $1100 (incl. parking). My only concern is the distance from downtown Chicago and downtown Evanston. Argh... I'm sure I can live with it.

And my voice lessons.... My teacher thinks I can really be something, and because I can't afford to go every week, she's gonna give me 2 free lessons to go 4 weeks in a row! YAY! But she is also making me buy a tape player--AFTER I got a digital recorder (that I can't return), b/c I didn't want to buy a newly manufactured relic, but she thinks the digital recorder doesn't sound real. Anyone have an old tape player? AND she wants me to get a keyboard (since I can't afford a piano, of course). I need a scholarship.

What about the dinosaurs?

This entry is about my thoughts on the book "The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief" by Francis S. Collins

I am a very scientific and a very troubled person. Therefore, I was excited to read this book by one of the most prominent scientists in the world right now who is also a devoted Christian. He led the Genome Project and is the highest authority on all-things genetic, and things genetic are very cutting-edge, the newest of the new.

I was particularly excited to find out how it's possible that the world was created in seven days. See, everything I've read and seen and studied my whole life (except the Bible) tells me that the first few chapters of Genesis are NOT possible and that the world is more than a few billion years old. I guess it dates back to at least seventh grade, where at the end of our science exam on evolution, the question was posed: Do you believe in evolution or creation? I only answered in a very badly-phrased sentence: "Evolution, because what about the dinosaurs?" OK apparently our teacher wanted us to give a more detailed explanation of how we feel, so I didn't get many points on that question, but it shoulda said so. Over the years, I've cited the dinosaurs as a major question I have about Christianity. Many MANY people have looked at me like I'm really weird or questioned why that's my main concern when there can be so many others. But it is! I can't help it. Also I've always wondered why would God create humans and chimps to have such similar genes but be unrelated, what's the point of that? Genesis just doesn't sit in my brain the way it does to others. So I was excited that a scientist was gonna tell me how it's all possible.

Unfortunately, he says that everything I think is correct. Which technically isn't bad.

Genetic science proves (in his opinion, without a shadow of a doubt) that people and monkeys and dogs and cats and every other animal are descended from one ancestor and evolved to where we are over time, just as Darwin said. The reasoning is our genes are really similar, and there are even some "junk" genes that don't seem to serve any function that are similar... okay there is a really detailed scientific explanation so this is just a summary. He says evolution is not a theory but a fact, and the Big Bang is true. So he says there's no way the world was created in seven days, and he even uses scripture to argue that the word for "day" in Genesis could mean a period of time and not a 24-hr day, which would make more sense. Moreover, he argues that Genesis is written poetically and allegorically, as Psalms is, and God doesn't intend for us to take it literally. So obviously, he doesn't think Adam and Eve were the first people, that in the story of Adam and Eve, there could've been some kind of civilization, while the story centered on them two (one scriptural support is the existence of Cain's wife).

Now one time I came upon a show on the Christian channel where a guy was explaining how dinosaurs and people lives together in harmony, and he attempted to prove this by showing fossils of footprints and stuff that showed the dinosaurs to be a soft creature and non-predatory, etc., which made me say This is the lamest thing I've ever seen (but, who am I to say). Well, Collins (again) wholeheartedly agrees, using harsh words against the view of Young Earth Creationism, which comes up with all these bogus things like soft dinosaurs and missing links and inaccuracy of radioactive dating of rocks, that contradicts everything and all we know about science. He also criticized the widely-accepted Intelligent Design, as every living thing is evolved and God did not just plop new species on Earth. He also thinks Christians who believe these things are not truly trying to understand the world God created.

The absolute most dissapointing thing about this book (which I was kinda expecting, because I read a review that pointed this out) is that it doesn't "prove" God exists but rather "proves" God MAY exist, that it's possible, since the world is so complex and we don't know exactly how it all got started. Although he doesn't really have an argument for belief, he definitely argues that atheism is just plain stupid, considering no one can be sure that God DOESN'T exist, while agnosticism is better but those who do not try to figure out the truth are just lazy.

His whole explanation of his faith can be summed up in "Mere Christianity," most notably the Moral Law. OK, been there, read that.

M. Night Shyamalan

Yesterday we saw Lady in the Water and Monster House.

*NO SPOILERS* Lady in the Water got really bad reviews. However, my deep love for M. Night Shyamalan's past movies (except Unbreakable) made me really sure I would still like this movie. And I'd been waiting for it to come out for a very long time. I kind of think M. Night is really mean because he always has to have some scenes that make me cry buckets, for example...

6th Sense: the conversation that Cole has with his mom in the car to tell her he sees dead people.

Signs: when Mel Gibson tells his kids individually what their mom said when they were born.

The Village: the scene where Lucius pulls Ivy from the porch into the basement, and the scene where Ivy is walking through the forest and there is a kinda narration by one of the characters: "She is more capable than most in this village. And she is led by love. The world moves for love. It kneels before it in awe."

And the music he uses is pretty similar, especially in the Village and Lady in the Water... it's so so good... so about Lady in the Water... the most cry-inducing scene is unexpected... the "Lady" is talking to another character (not to give anything away for ppl who are gonna see it), kinda telling him a story, and THAT music is playing, the one that is sad and uplifting...

What I have to say about this movie is the critics aren't wrong but it depends on what kind of person you are... Botton line is, you hafta be geeky to love M. Night's movies... and not be obsessed with hidden agendas... and only care about characters... and I don't need realism... most of my favorite movies are "unrealistic"... for me, everything in a movie is real during the time I am watching it, so it doesn't matter how weird the created world is, as long as the characters and emotions are real... but for those who are not like that, who are grounded in the real world, then I get that you might not like this movie for this reason...

On a side note... I LOVE THE VILLAGE. Another poorly reviewed film. Sorta SPOILER>> With this one, the created reality is not exactly fantastical, as in, it is possible that the events that occur in this movie could be real, once u get to the end. It got bad reviews because it's not creepy enough and the surprise ending isn't cool enough... but Ivy (Bryce Dallas Howard) and Lucius (Joaquin Phoenix) are so beyond brilliant... how about just watch the two scenes mentioned above--the one on the porch and the one with Ivy in the forest...

Monster House (computer animated story about kids and a haunted house) is "Ain't It Cool News' 10th Anniversary Film Event" as in, Harry Knowles's favorite film of the summer so far. As for me, I was surprised that I somewhat enjoyed it, since I'm not much for most animated films, due to the fact that they are targeting kids. One thing I don't like about Disney movies is the "funny" lines that are so rated G. Monster House (not Disney) doesn't have those lines and features real emotion in the characters, and it is pretty easy to see this not as animation if the characters' heads weren't disproportionately big.

dunno

So I'm taking voice lessons now. I guess they are not tax deductible. My teacher seems really good, but then again I've only had 2 teachers in the past to compare to. Also I read somewhere it's really important to have a well-connected teacher who can get you jobs. And I really don't know how connected mine is. The thing is, she knows I am interested in paid choruses, and she thinks that's lame, as she thinks I can do opera. I know I should discuss this with her, but seriously, Who's gonna hire me when I have no resume? I haven't been in a stage production since 3rd grade.

I already went into my voice lessons professing zero knowledge and sophistication: I don't have a repertoire, I don't listen to classical singers and don't know who they are, I don't have a music degree, I didn't even know what kind of soprano I was, I suck at sight singing... my dream job was just to sing in a paying chorus. There are two here I think that are full-time and unionized, but the competition is murder. But if I can do opera, no one would opt for chorus instead. However, being an opera singer sounds like a nightmare to me. Auditions all the time, lots of travel, need connections, need to be famous to get jobs, lots of anxiety.

They're not that bad.

Saw some movies lately...

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest -- why do the critics dislike this movie so much? OK when I'm watching it, I keep thinking, This scene must've been expensive, so I agree that the script should've been more focused on the characters and less on the special effects and action, fine but it's not that big a deal, the film still entertained me the whole time and I was happy to be sitting there... it's not THAT BAD... I mean, it's still good, despite the script problems. And my favorite part is the 3-way sword fight ah ha ha... the first five minutes of it rocked!

The Family Stone -- I heart Rachel McAdams big time, ever since the Notebook, then Mean Girls (!!!), and even Red Eye, she is awesome! And she's awesome in this too. Even though she plays the mean girl again, I just feel so bad for her character... especially if you watch the deleted scenes. I'm probably the only person on the planet who sympathizes with her character, actually. Boo hiss.

Syriana -- I really liked this movie. The dialog is insanity, it's like they don't want anyone to get what the heck's going on. Seriously, I concentrated really hard, and I had no clue what they were talking about. Until the very end, then you go "oh, that's what the whole movie's about," and everything makes sense. It was nice to look at, the scenes were shot nicely, etc.

Conan and the People's Court

For those who don't know, "Celebrity Survey" is a segment on Conan O'Brien in which they throw out a survey question and make up answers for 3 celebrities. The first two answers are always serious, then the third one is funny. On last night's Celebrity Survey:

Q: When all else fails, I...

Matt Lauer says: Go to commercial.

Joy Behar says: Improvise.

Ben Affleck says: Start filming "All Else 2."

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

OK there is a "Judge" show that I actually like... well more than the others, I guess. And it's "The People's Court." For those who don't know, these judges try small-claims cases in about 15 minutes per case on TV. At the end of each case on "The People's Court," a guy interviews the defendants and plaintiffs in the hallway for about 15 seconds each on how they feel about the verdict and whatnot. On today's show, after a case, interviewing a (not very sophisticated type of) guy after a trial:

Interviewer: I notice the musical note tattoo on your ear. What's that about?
Guy: It's a musical note tattoo.
Interviewer: Yeah, does it signify anything?
Guy: Uh... I play music.
Interviewer: What do you play?
Guy: What do I play?
Interviewer: Yeah what instruments to you play?
Guy: I play the jukebox... and the radio.

HAHAHAHAHA.

What a downer

I finished re-reading the God of Small Things. I recommend anyone who's read it once to read it again. Once you know the plot, the beginning is much easier (less impossible) to understand. But it's even more of a downer the second time....

This passage I like:

"It was he who had introduced them to Raudra Bhima--crazed, bloodthirsty Bhima in search of death and vengeance. He is searching for the beast that lives in him, Comrade Pillai had told them--frioghtened, wide-eyed children--when the ordinarily good-natured Bhima began to bay and snarl.

Which beast in particular, Comrade Pillai didn't say. Searching for the Man who lives in him was perhaps what he really meant, because certainly no beast has essayed the boundless, infinitely inventive art of human hatred. No beast can match its range and power."

ravinia

Last night went to Ravinia to watch Verdi's Requiem performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, tonight performed Beethoven's 9th Symphony with Northwestern's Summer Orchestra and Chorus. There was one guy with binoculars hahaha. I left Jacksonville right before we were gonna do Verdi's Requiem, arrr why?

I've realized that most people in the chorus are annoying or weird. Oh well. High school choir rocked. Even though everyone was annoying or weird.

Today I found the skirt on clearance at macys.com (refer to previous entry)! HERE. I got it.

What I did

Went to Sacramento from July 1 - 5, it was cooool. There were various mini family reunions, a really nice kitten, fireworks at home (I've never had that before, another fear overcome), perfect weather (not the stupid San Francisco type), corks, sweet smells....

If one had the choice, like really had the choice, of where in the world to live, how is one ever to choose between, say, the seashore of Monterey teeming with sea life, and the rolling hills and ancient nature of Napa Valley. If one had the choice, how can one not choose such places to spend one's days, to breathe the air that we are meant to breathe. "Master of beauty, craftsman of the snowflake, inimitable contriver, endower of Earth so gorgeous & different from the boring Moon, thank you for such as it is my gift." A quote I love, by John Berryman.

Here are some pictures. I only took a few while we were in Napa, which is why I had to preface this with the reunions and fireworks etc etc, which are not documented in the following photos. OK here's one of my cousin's daughters (technically my mom's cousin). They are SPECIAL, for real, they were adopted from China as one-year-olds and they are so cool. They just played with their new stuffed animals at the restaurant and giggled at their own indecipherable conversations for a few hours. The older one is the biggest tomboy (soccer, Power Rangers) while the younger one is the biggest girly girl (dance, fashion, Barbie movies), it's uncanny.

Next one is of my dad on the putting green outside the condo in Napa:

And... me with a skirt that I loved but couldn't justify buying, because, um, how many skirts is too many skirts? The number I have, possibly.

The only sports team I care about

EVANSTON, Ill. - Northwestern University football coach Randy Walker died of an apparent heart attack Thursday night. He was 52.

Walker died after feeling chest pains around 10 p.m. at his suburban Chicago home, said Mike Wolf, the school's assistant athletic director for media services.

"He will go down as a person who added a great deal to football," Northwestern president Henry Bienen said at a news conference Friday.

Walker was the first Northwestern coach to lead the school to three bowl games. The Wildcats lost to UCLA 50-38 in the Sun Bowl last December.

"He was a tough, demanding coach," athletic director Mark Murphy said.

In October 2004, Walker checked himself into a hospital after experiencing chest pains. He was diagnosed with myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle; the condition is not a common ailment, and is usually caused by a virus.

Walker was out of the hospital in two days, and said he was taking a new approach to his diet and work schedule.

"I've really taken my doctor's orders to heart, because frankly, I want to see my grandkids someday," he said at the time.

Two months ago, Northwestern gave Walker a four-year extension through the 2011 season. He joined the school in 1999 after nine years at Miami of Ohio.

Walker's Wildcats posted 37 wins, going 7-5 last season. He led the team to three bowl games since 2000.

Northwestern shared the Big Ten title in 2000 and went to the Alamo Bowl. The Wildcats also went to the 2003 Motor City Bowl.

Walker was the first Wildcats coach to guide the team to four seasons with at least six wins since C.M. Hollister in 1899-1902.

Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany said Walker will be sorely missed.

"Not only was Randy a great friend to the conference, but to his players, his staff and fans," Delany said in a statement. "Randy accomplished a great deal at every institution he worked for, but most importantly he personified the values of intercollegiate athletics — he was positive, resilient and honest."

freude

The person who sat next to me tonight at chorus rehearsal is probably the best singer I've ever sat next to, EVER. Someone told me she just graduated from UIC, so I guess she's around 22. Anyway, she was so good, arrr, this is exactly why I joined, to be trained and inspired and given a reality check. She is my new goal. ARRR. It's the EASE, how EASY a high B flat is for her, and amazing sound.

[Warning: rambling to follow] THEN... there was a surprise placement audition to determine soprano 1 and soprano 2. OK not a "surprise" like an evil pop quiz, more like, Hey all the sopranos are now gonna sing so we know who can do what. In front of each other. Run by two girls (one of them my new goal). If you know me, you know why this is a big deal--I'm overly shy, twitchy, hang-nail bitey, nervous laughy. This is not the best thing that can happen to me. I am usually completely spent after an audition just from the 5 days of mental preparation. This usually does not apply to placement auditions because you are already "in." But in front of your peers? They were letting us size each other up, how evil. Although logically it is a good thing that I didn't know about it beforehand or I would've had a nervous breakdown. Anyway, we had to sing the first 3 lines of "My Country 'Tis of Thee," starting on C, then D, then if they think you can keep going, you do E (which yields a high note of A). I don't even know why they had to do this, I already had a placement audition with the conductor. Anyway, I was so nervous I totally squeaked and creeked between notes, major lack of breath support, had to clutch my diaphragm, which I HATE, I always need to push it with my hand when I'm nervous. Anyway, for those of you just dying to know: Soprano 1.

I think there are only like 5 soprano 1's, erm, there aren't even that many sopranos, like maybe 25 on a good day (more altos), which is unusual. Which I normally would think is cool, because then I feel like they need me, it's not like I'm just taking up another seat. Except there are only like 5 soprano 1's. There is a descant (especially high) part in one piece, and my new goal sitting next to me was singing it, and I was singing it, and she high-fived me afterward, but it was bad because... she rocked! I sucked! OMG SHE ROCKS. CRAAAAAP, I'm gonna be her (because I don't believe I can beat her).

And for anyone in the know or who did choir with me in high school... one of the pieces we are doing is "Choose Something Like A Star" by Randall Thompson, which is amazing, which I did in high school, I did some really amazing ones in high school, the two "O Magnum Mysterium" pieces (Vittoria and Lauridsen (sp? x 2)), ahh.

I am so frustrated and pumped up right now to pull out the old tapes of voice lessons to start practicing. I know I need a voice teacher. I've contacted two who for various reasons, I'm probably not gonna be seeing. The last person I'm gonna contact is a total hotshot "by audition only" teacher in Glenview (a big plus), whom I am guessing will cost more.

I feel petty, oh so petty

My boss had to pull another act of mathematic ineptitude on my last day at work. I told him $0.32 is 0.32% of $100 and his reaction? "NOOooo." Oh and he types really hard. Like serious hard--ooh I'm such a confident computer whiz, I literally "hit" enter--like he's trying to burn a hole into the screen with his finger strength via the keyboard. I can't stand that, it makes me NUTS! Can you imagine? And everytime he goes on about how great Shanghai is, I just give him this "Oh REAlly, congratulations" look. You know, how Scarlett Johansson looks at Anna Faris whenever she opens her mouth in "Lost in Translation." Oh and he has to get his 4-yr-old daughter involved in his self-importance by telling everyone (completely serious) he thinks she might look like Zhang ZiYi when she grows up. O-KAY. And he's obsessed with Zhang ZiYi.

Stuff we did today:
Woke up
Watched some World Cup
Did some work
LePeep for brunch (spinach bacon omelette)
Went to art festival
Went to Marshalls (socks)
Played tennis (2.5 hrs)
Showered
Went to Anam Cafe (beef noodles)
Watched Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

The art festival was so cool, it's pretty much the same stalls every year (in downtown Evanston) with new stuff. I'm gonna go back tomorrow to get some prints. There's this one guy who does these crazy cool paintings and sells 'em for $8,800 for the highest ones. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang rocked! It's funny. Don't watch it if you are anti- swearing, guns, nudity, humor. Robert Downey Jr. is crazy good, he should be really happy he can act, with all the issues he's had with drugs.

Where's my free steak?

I'm only gonna be working at my job for 2.5 more days and the free steak hasn't arrived yet. (Refer to previous "doop di doo" entry.) OK maybe she was lying. But after today, I won't be able to take the steak because my boss will be back from China and I'd have to let him have them. Oh well.

Went to first Chorus rehearsal last night. It was okay. I like the singing aspects of it, but don't like the social aspects. I wish people just went to rehearsal to sing. I don't know any of the students, and since they all know each other, it's not like I'm gonna butt in. And the non-students are all like 40 - 65 AND all know each other--probably go to the same gym or something. Which is why I just go to sing.

Congratulations, Lo Sai

Went to Steve's graduation from MBA (Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University) yesterday. Went inside Ryan Field auditorium for the first time, HA. Sweltering hot, you can ask Steve, he was the one in a tie and gown. We couldn't find a seat arrr... sat on the "mountain top," the speaker was CEO of American Express, a speech that I thought was really good... simple, stuck to the theme (ethics, morals, values of companies, as in corporations that try to be charitable), non-lame. And... I don't think I've seen such a high percentage of Indian people in a large venue before. Just everywhere you look, Indians. Proud mamas plus every other kind of family member. Can it be said that it's an unofficial cultural requirement for Indian kids to get an MBA?

Anyway, here's a pic of Steve, can you find him?:

A picture of the three of us, thought my dress was extremely graduationy:

Here's a pic I took, because I was obsessed with the red dress this girl was wearing, and her bag, and they went together so well. The dress was ruched on the top, halter ties, little white leafy petal print, I wanted her outfit. But I'd have no place to wear it to, as usual. The dress I am wearing is the first time after getting it 2 yrs ago. Anyway, I also happen to love the Kate Spade bag that other woman is carrying. I hope none of these people see this pic:

Time

In case you don't read Time Magazine, the last article is always an Op-Ed article, which I happen to always read and think "I KNOW, right? I'm so glad I'm not the only one who thinks that way!" Part of this week's article pasted below. Didn't want to paste the entire article... I just think in our society, people unanimously agree to lie about certain things, one of them being how perfectly great it is to have kids. I think it's really sad for some young people to believe the lie without question, only to get a harsh reality check after it's too late.

Except from "Does Fatherhood Make You Happy?" Time, June 19, 2006

Studies reveal that most married couples start out happy and then become progressively less satisfied over the course of their lives, becoming especially disconsolate when their children are in diapers and in adolescence, and returning to their initial levels of happiness only after their children have had the decency to grow up and go away. When the popular press invented a malady called "empty-nest syndrome," it failed to mention that its primary symptom is a marked increase in smiling.

Psychologists have measured how people feel as they go about their daily activities, and have found that people are less happy when they are interacting with their children than when they are eating, exercising, shopping or watching television. Indeed, an act of parenting makes most people about as happy as an act of housework. Economists have modeled the impact of many variables on people's overall happiness and have consistently found that children have only a small impact. A small negative impact.

Those findings are hard to swallow because they fly in the face of our most compelling intuitions. We love our children! We talk about them to anyone who will listen, show their photographs to anyone who will look and hide our refrigerators behind vast collages of their drawings, notes, pictures and report cards. We feel confident that we are happy with our kids, about our kids, for our kids and because of our kids--so why is our personal experience at odds with the scientific data?

See full (not long) article here: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1202940,00.html

what's the word?

I quit, my last day is June 23. Hmm, pretty on-schedule. I've been saying I was gonna quit around mid-June for months. "You poor unfortunate soul, it's sad, but true. If you want to cross the bridge my sweet you've got to pay the toll, take a gulp and take a breath and go ahead and sign the scroll."

Now, I will attempt a most daring feat! I will become a paid chorister! Somehow. (In addition to origamist, by the way.)

"I don't know when, I don't know how, but I know something's starting right now, watch and you'll see, someday I'll be, part of your world."

Why is it we always want more? Will I want more if I become a paid chorister? (Ariel was a princess, the most talented singer among her sisters, but all she wanted was to be human. I guess Ariel and I would love to trade places huh.) I'm living in Chicago, no time is better than the present, it IS possible to be paid to be in a chorus, you know. I have a plan muhahaha. First, I find a teacher. "My dear sweet child, it's what I do. It's what I liiive for. To help poor unfortunate merfolk, like yourself."

Somebody should write an opera for the Little Mermaid.

Maybe I'll get the DVD.

"I'm ready to know what the people know, ask 'em my questions and get some answers, what's a fire, and why does it, what's the word, burn? When's it my turn, wouldn't I love, love to explore that shore up above? Out of the sea, wish I could be, part of that world."

Goodbye, sweaty summer

Our apartment is not air conditioned. It is torturous. There is sweat everywhere in the summer.
Today we came back from tennis to find a very large air conditioner next to the dumpster with a note reading "a little old and worn but works like a champ!" We carried it upstairs. I can't believe I actually had to convince him of the greatness of the event ("you mean you'd rather not take this for free and have to buy one one day for a hundred something dollars?") ; it looked non-sketchy and I was positive it would work great. Decided which window it had to go in. Opened the window to find a freakin huge-ass bee dead between the window and the screen, approximately 1.5 inches long and half an inch fat, it was really gross. Fixed this one broken part on the AC, stuck it in the window, plugged it in, and voila...

doop di doo

Found out today that the Ocean's 13 prospect is over. The set decorator had contacted me previously, interested in using many (approx 200) large (1 ft) origami cherry blossoms to cover a set wall, and ordered a few samples, said she loved them and would get back to me. Hadn't heard from her after 7 weeks so emailed to check up, anyway she said they aren't using 'em anymore. Oh well. I wouldn't want to encourage people to see Ocean's 13 anyway (after what happened with "12"). That would be my version of the "bright side of things" :P

I've joined Northwestern's Summer Chorus. We are doing Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 (don't people get sick of this? EVER? At least I won't have to practice outside of rehearsal), and a piece called American Impressions. Hmm. Anyway, the whole program is only 1 month + 4 days long. Rehearsal starts on June 19.

If you want to be really depressed, watch Avril here. Again, it's totally worth it!

Just got a really weird phone call (at work). We get lots of telemarketers calling here. This woman called and said a guy who used to work here entered a sweepstakes at a trade show and won 4 Omaha steaks and since he doesn't work here anymore she's just gonna send them to me. Then she started pitching a monitor-cleaning product to me. I said no thanks to the product, and she was nice about it. So I guess we're getting free steak??

My glamorous life continues...

Had a get together with the Treblemakers on Saturday, and the weirdest funniest thing... well it's a long story... let's just say, the world is HKers is small if you seek them out. The rest of world is still big though. I can't wait to tell V.Li the whole story, I think she'll freak.

Jensen Wong was here this weekend so that's what we did all weekend. Watched X2 (4th time) at Steve's place with them and Florence. Pretended to play tennis. Ate Indian, ice cream, pancakes, dim sum, French, Pocky, etc. We also watched this HK movie "One Bamboo Shoot" (I think), supposed to be a comedy according to Steve (but really not haha), and I really liked it, until the last five minutes. Take out the last five minutes and I would really like it.

Tonight, watched Serenity (3rd time), man that movie is so sad, what the heck. Right now, the Fifth Element on TV, approx. 20th viewing, can't believe every time I watch it I notice or see something new. My favorite line is:
Fog: "We're sending somebody in to negotiate!"
Korben: [shoots bad leader in the head] "Anybody else want to negotiate?"
Fog: "W-w-where did he learn to negotiate like that?"
President: [looks at the General] "I wonder."
[General sheepishly looks away.]

Can't wait for the new Luc Besson-directed movie. Also can't wait for Lady in the Water. I loved 6th Sense, loved Signs, LOOVVED the Village.

arrr

I... don't feel like blogging about anything "important" such as how much I suck at working for other people, and how I am conflicted about the "group," and my biz, and I hate my wrist and I hate sucking at tennis...

On Monday, Memorial Day, Steve, my husband, and I had plans to see X-Men: the Last Stand. Anyway, I had invited Justin Wong to come with us and told him to call me if he wanted to go. Well 25 mins before the show he hadn't called and I accidentally left my phone at home, but whatever I was assuming he wasn't coming or he can just run into us in the theater. Then yesterday he messaged me and said he went and sat on the edge of our row, and how there was a seat next to Steve, and I was like "yeah right," and he said it's true. WHAT? Turns out he waited for us outside the theater after the show, but of COURSE, being the major geeks we are, the three of us stayed to watch the hidden scene after the credits. He wondered where we went. So I didn't even know he went at all! Ha.

OK I'm gonna have to change subjects now. I am still mourning the X3 that could've been. I haven't read the comics, but just from what I know about it, it makes me sad that they just kinda let X3 go, let it be bad. There is basically one scene I love. The scene that starts where Jean Grey wakes up in the infirmary until when she leggily storms out of the room. Other than that, nothing is right. I have been reminiscing about X2 by reading Harry Knowles's review. I really feel like watching it right now actually. OMG I hate my job. If I didn't have to work there I could watch X2 right now.

Movies

Saw X-Men: the Last Stand and the Da Vinci Code yesterday. Don't really have much to say, I mean I agree with all the critics, they could have been done differently and much better, but not that they were bad... X-Men 3 makes me sad though, because once it's messed up, it's messed up. You can't really bring those ppl back to life for real, or give them back their powers for real (that would be a waste of everyone's time now, wouldn't it), so what's done is done... I guess we can enjoy the parts that were good or just watch X-2 obsessively and pretend 3 never happened.

Movie pass (cancelled yesterday):

1) Firefly disc 3 and 4: DA BOMB, the Firefly series is probably the best thing we've rented in the past 30 days.
2) Narnia: what, for kids. I don't even know if kids would find this enthralling.
3) Thumbsucker: entertaining, a neater version of "the Squid and the Whale" I guess, reminds me of other slick movies about a troubled teenage boy, such as Igby Goes Down. But I dislike Walter Kirn (author of the book it's based upon) enough to automatically find the story to be shallow-trying-to-be-deep.
4) Jarhead: haven't watched it yet

Tomorrow night, audition for a cappella group Treblemakers, which is an NU group that consists of all Taiwanese undergrads. I know, weird, see as how I am neither, but I have to sing, and I have a friend in it and she said I can audition. I actually had the thought of auditioning for all the on-campus a cappella groups this fall, and I won't tell them I'm not a student, and see if I get any callbacks hahahaha....

Anyway, being the big dork I am, it took me over a week to come up with an audition song. I was thinking of a j-pop song, but decided against it as it's really an alto song and too popish to show off any skill. Then was set on O Holy Night, but really prefer not to sing a Christmas song when it's not Christmas or a Christian group, and too safe. Thought about On My Own (Les Mis), but again, an alto song, not much range, too long. Cosette doesn't really have solos (don't worry, I like Eponine more). Somewhere Out There, the high part is so unelegant. Think of Me (Phantom), very good for soprano, but is choppy in the musical, not a complete solo, and that crazy ending is a killer, and if you don't do the crazy ending people will wonder if you can't do it. Thought about something classical, but no. The national anthem would work, but cheesey! Thought about America (My Country Tis of Thee), as that was the required audition song for Jax Symphony Chorus, so I already know the lyrics, but nah. Settled on Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again (Phantom), it's a soprano solo, high as heck, and I'm not gonna change my mind!

ALTHOUGH, my favorite songs from Phantom are Angel of Music, All I Ask of You, Point of No Return, Prima Donna. And Les Mis, I cannot sing or listen to the part where Val Jean dies without crying buckets, but it's my favorite part. And I like any part that has Eponine singing.

For the record, I thought Emmy Rossum was terrible as Christine in Phantom the movie. The singing, the acting, I know like 10 people who could've played her better. There were so many scenes where she had to be in the scene but not singing, and she'd just stand there with no expression, instead of being amazed or scared. Even when she was singing, she looked like a deer caught in headlights. I have nothing against Rossum as a regular actress, but just in that movie, ugh bad.

Don't you just hate it when...

-It's past your bedtime but you can't stop clicking the mouse and doing a search on anything that pops into your head or re-reading the God of Small Things?
-You cannot for the life of you drag yourself out of bed early enough to not be late for work even though you get 7 hours of sleep per night?

-You have to play the longest waiting game EVER with potentially huge customers?

-You do origami for a living but have a very painful wrist due to tennis playing?
-The only place in the whole country where you get bad cell phone reception is your home and your office, and you have to call all your customers while parked at a meter because you get reception there?
-There's always enough cat hair and girl hair in your apartment to stuff a cushion?
-Your vacuum filters are so expensive, you've been using the same one for 3 years?
-You and your husband's stuff doesn't fit in your closets? We are planning on getting a 2 bedroom + den someday for bedroom, office, and closet.

Sorry to bore you

LOST FINALE:

OK, we sorta found out why the plane crashed! Ahh I thought this day would never come... but it almost makes me think "Why didn't I think of that?" It's so simple. We've always known the hatch on the island has some weird magnetic field, so it makes sense that it would screw up an airplane's route if strong enough. Well now Jack, Kate, and Sawyer got caught by the Others, and those Others are still a mystery that needs to be hashed out. The final scene opened up a whole new mystery to be pondered. It seems like some people (namely Demond's girlfriend) have been looking for the island (or something on the island) and seem to have found it (through the magnetism changes). How did she know about it? Why was she looking? What does Desmond crashing on the island have to do with his boat race? Why did Desmond crash? Ponderances...

Bugs

Movie Pass:

Junebug: arrr Amy Adams is so awesome in this movie! I love it because of her. During Oscar time, Ebert made all accurate predictions except he put down Amy Adams to win best supporting actress, even though he knew Rachel Wietz would win, because he just loved her too much in this movie. And she is beyond perfect. I find myself loving all the actresses who are in "Catch Me If You Can." Amy Adams... Jennifer Garner (well I used to like her)... Ellen Pompeo (of Meredith-Grey fame)... Elizabeth Banks (of 40 Year Old Virgin)... Anyway, you have to see Junebug for Amy Adams!!

Firefly, disc 1 and 2: the TV show that came before "Serenity." I can't get enough of those guys. They are so funny. The western theme is really prominent, much more than in the movie. The stories are kinda of Stargate-ish though.

OH OH, ALIAS SERIES FINALE TONIGHT!!!

Ar, I dunno why my blog has become a media blog. That's all I blog about now. But it's really because I don't want to think about my more serious issues.

Elliott Yamin --

Kiss me, fool!

Grey's Anatomy Finale

I loved the finale. For those of you who watched it... I liked:
1) the parts where the all the interns were working on Denny
2) "where are my suck-ups?"
3) all the parts with Meredith and Derick
4) the last scene with Meredith, Derick, and Finn looking at each other
5) when all the interns talked to the chief individually

I was pretty affected by the episode, I couldn't really sleep.

I've noticed (from blogs) an overwhelming number of viewers dislike Meredith. Why? WHY? She's the saddest character ever to grace the television screen! Aren't you sad for her? Is she really that bad of a person? Actually, she's not bad at all. The whole mess is Derick's fault, how can you blame her? And what happened with George, it's not like she had malicious intent. And with Finn, it's not really her FAULT she likes both. Some people are just more messed up than others and they can't do much about it. And she's a good doctor. On the other hand, don't you find her lovable? How she speaks the truth?

He can't die because...

GREY'S ANATOMY: *SPOLER ALERT* Burke! He can't die, he's my favorite character. Well, maybe tie with Meredith. Anyway, major drama, setting up for the 2-hour finale. They're all idiots. Izzy, Burke, Bailey (for letting Izzy oversee Denny), Cally, they all act stupidly and humanly. And Meredith... arr... SO SAD...

SURVIVOR: my favorite event of the TV season... 3-hour Survivor finale. It was a really nice reunion show because everyone was so positive for once. Not the usual hostility. I love Cerie and actually grew to like Aras and most other contestants, except for one--I don't want to be mean, but I just thought Tina was such a sore loser and trying to attack Cerie?? Jeff completely downplayed it too. And you know how people always look worse at the reunion show because they're all fat and wearing too much makeup? This season people looked pretty "normal" for a change. And what was up with Sally at the last tribal council? Her makeup was so bad, UGH... but it kind of looked like she was really sunburned on her face. But she was back to her cute self at reunion. Good save, Sally.

Movie pass:

March of the Penguins: gives you a whole new perspective on nature and life. Humans are so different from other animals in that they don't need to be taught a single thing, while we have to be shown everything.

Howl's Moving Castle: great and everything, but nothing tops Princess Mononoke in my book. (Although I'm gonna watch Spirited Away again soon to make sure.) The characters weren't particularly poignant. The first scene was totally channeling V for Vendetta??!! An identical scene... makes me suspect it was stolen from the comic book, it was so similar. But then again both films are based on books. Care to comment? Oh and I didn't fully understand the story. I should look it up.

Zathura: I found this nerve-wracking. If you don't like your nerves wracked, don't watch it. But otherwise... Dax (from Punk'd) as the hero? Didn't work for me. *SPOILER* And he's supposed to play Walter grown up? Couldn't they find someone with a tiny bit of resemblance? Actually, the story totally didn't make sense to me. It was so forced. So Walter grows up and goes back in time to change the past, yet the new young Walter doesn't make the same decisions as the old young Walter (without being influenced)? That doesn't make any sense.

And books...

Finally finished The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. I think it took me about 4 months. HAHAHA. Well, I think it's my all-time favorite book.

Conan O'Brien in Chicago

Went to see Conan today. He is in town for 4 shows at the Chicago Theatre. Today turned out to be pretty much the worst day possible for this. Here's the deal: even if you have tickets, you still have to go stand in a line (of over 3000 people) to guarantee seats or get in line real early to get good seats. I'd already been dreading standing in line for 3 - 4 hours, which is what many people do, so we'd decided to get there around 1:30 pm (you are supposed to be there before 3:15), so we'll definitely get seats and not too bad ones. 2 hours of waiting still seemed excruciatingly long to me but thought if all these bums can do it so can I. WELL, turns out today was supposed to rain non-stop, and I even asked my husband if he wanted to not go at all. But he insisted, so we went, and yes, it rained non-stop, and the wind was about as bad as it gets. Everyone was soaked and freezing, for hours in line, literally, just a mass of umbrellas spanning several blocks. Got in there finally, FREEZING, because my jeans were wet up to my knees, and I was a little underdressed for the weather (it was about 50 degrees F, and I was in a long-sleeve t-shirt and wool sweater). The whole time I was cold and uncomfortable, but it was worth it.

After sitting for a looong time, "PreparationH Raymond" came out (not as a character) and very graciously thanked us for waiting in the rain, and how in NYC that would've never happened (kissing up), and funnily asked us not to yell out our town names in the middle of the show ("Schaumburg!"), and told us to spend ten seconds to support Cubs or White Sox to get it out of our system so we won't disrupt the show with it. I liked this part of the show.

Then Max Weinberg and the 7 played a few songs, and it was so cool, they were amazing. The bald guy sang craaaazy good, and did some circular breathing with his trumpet, that went on way too long (literally like 3 minutes on one note), but they were so good man...

Then Joel introduces Conan and he comes out. I was really excited. Jokes were funny. He said "shitty of Chicago" by accident once (instead of "city) and everyone "oooh"ed and cheered, and he said "we're on Cinemax" or something, and said if this were PBS, they wouldn't even edit it.

Then there was this pre-taped part that was hilarious, and then John C. Reilly was the guest and then he and Conan suddenly burst into song (pre-planned), really really good... and then John Mayer, dude that guy was GOOD... one woman a few rows ahead was really excited and stood up and starting shaking her butt with the songs, and she was the ONLY one in the whole place, which blocked some people's view, and was totally embarrassing. When they were setting up the stage for John Mayer, it took so long, like 20 minutes maybe, and the audience was so patient and quiet, it was weird. I'd never seen 3,500 people just sitting there with nothing to do.

OH these 3 girls right in front of us, every time they stood up (like to clap and cheer), their pants came off!!! One girl was in sweat pants, and her whole thong would show. 2nd girl was in jeans that were too big or something, but nothing showed. 3rd girl was in jeans and they were too low-rise or something, major "coin slot," as SNL put it. Disturbing.

I love Logan (again)

No, not THAT Logan. I still can't stand Gilmore Girls' Logan. I love Veronica Mars' Logan.

SO TONIGHT (well, last night technically), two season finales!!

Gilmore Girls: totally predictable! They showed it all in the preview! Not a single interesting thing! **SPOILER ALERT** Okay, the very last 30 seconds was kinda an OMG moment, but I mean, we saw it coming! And I'm kinda GLAD Lorelai slept with Christopher. Dude, Luke has been so annoying and arrr WRONG... how can the writers so thoroughly kill a character, my dream 40-year-old disgruntled stubbled backwards-cap flannel-shirt man. So there you have it. Lorelai and Christopher. Christopher has been a totally stand-up guy this season, so there's really nothing to be unhappy about here. Luke needs to work through his lame crap before he should be allowed to marry Lorelai anyway! Geez... And Rory and Logan, their whole storyline was not worth a mention. Bring back Jess!

AND... OK, Gilmore Girls is only gonna have one more season. The bad news is the writers/creators are leaving. This is so not good, because the whole show is based on the dialog. I don't want to be too pessimistic beforehand, so I'm just hoping they're able to maintain the same Gilmore Girls.

Veronica Mars: OMG. Never disappointing, always riveting, Veronica Mars outdoes itself. I LOVE THIS SHOW, and everyone NOT watching it is sooo missing out on this smart entertaining funny realistic-high-school suspenseful thrilling show!! (Steve: it's more riveting than 24.) WELL, the season finale of course reveals the mystery starting from the first episode. This season's first episode was DA BOMB (school bus goes down a cliff and everyone dies--except the rich kids who were riding a limo). And every episode after basically examines people as suspects for the murder(s), and in the finale (tonight), Veronica figures out who the killer is, while escaping the killer's murderous rampage. I didn't guess the killer would be Beaver, but then again I didn't really line up every character and analyze. Then the plane exploding right above them, that was really cool/unexpected, but I was 100% sure Keith wasn't on the plane, was anyone actually fooled? If that was gonna be Keith's death, they would've made it much more dramatic, like showing him on the plane having a conversation with Veronica. But Veronica's reaction was Emmy-winning! And Logan saves the Veronica again... and with his little drunken speech from last week's episode... he rocks.

The absolute best thing about this show is Kristen Bell, who plays Veronica. Her acting, amazing, out of this world. And Logan, he, again, was great tonight, and I love him again. And this is exactly why he's a good actor! One moment I hate him, the next moment I love him again. For example, I never liked or disliked Duncan, who was also one of Veronica's fidgety boyfriends. And Leo, I couldn't even recognize him out of all the guys in cop uniforms (not to mention how sketchy it was that Veronica as a junior in high school was dating a cop). But with Logan, he does that thing where you make small movements with your facial muscles to show emotions--oh right, ACTING. This isn't a character issue, it's the actors, Logan is just better. I'm happy they are back together.

It's a Mystery! Search engine rankings...

Search engine rankings for my online origami store, using fairly general keywords such as "origami cranes":

Yahoo!: 3 - 30
MSN: 3 - 11
Google: 500 < UNKNOWN

The ever-elusive Google rankings...

How can one improve their site's Google ranking? Of course this would be directly related to how Google decides. And how Google decides is a secret. There is speculation, but no one knows for sure. Look at this site, and you'll get an idea of the nuances that go into Google rankings. Google even has ways of determining if you are doing something to cheat the system, in which case they would kick you down to the bottom.

Google hates me. I'm pretty sure my site is grossly violating their rules and they're penalizing, because there's no other way the search term "buy origami" wouldn't show my site in the first 350 results (2nd in both Yahoo and MSN). I know various things I am doing that make my ranking good in Yahoo and MSN are making my ranking bad in Google. Which is why I use ads in Google only (visible only in USA). Arrr. I'd rather keep things the way they are, instead of lose my Yahoo and MSN rankings while I get to be on the tenth page in Google.

I never use Google to search anymore, only Yahoo, which has worked out really well for me :P

JJ Abrams, MI3

Saw "Mission: Impossible 3" this weekend. It was good. Not my type of movie, but I am a fan of JJ Abrams (creator of Lost and Alias), and this movie was SO Alias. The first scene is straight out of the first scene of the first ever Alias episode. OK, in Alias the hostage was a molar, but still.... Then the tech guy, better than Marshall, a little like a comedic version of 24's Chloe. Keri Russell (of Abrams's "Felicity") makes a really cool agent, and she looks so much better with straight blond hair. I think everyone wanted more of her. And Maggie Q has a much bigger part than I imagined. Ai... but the plot twists were pretty easy to predict... much easier than Alias and Lost HAHAHA. BTW, Abrams's "What About Brian" got cancelled and will show its "finale" this week. Hope he doesn't turn into David E. Kelly.

The best part about M:I3 is coming home and reading Harry Knowles's review. I love that he loves movies so much.

Movie pass movies...

Shopgirl: funny, depressing, great clothes, Jason Schwartzman, many aspects just like "Amelie"--the colors, Claire Danes's character, the narration, some cinematography. I recommend this movie to V.Li.

Being John Malkovich: hadn't seen this so had to. Wacky. Can't help comparing it to Kaufman's other movies and liking the other ones better.

Capote: good and didn't seem long at all. No way Hoffman could've lost the Oscar.

Lost and Alias (spoilers) and my fave girls

Huge shockers tonight. If you haven't been following, you'll have no idea what I'm talking about. So in the end of the last episode of Lost, Jack and Kate (love her) find Michael in the jungle. In the end of tonight's episode, Michael shoots and kills Anna-Lucia! He shoots Libby who surprises him, though I'm guessing she didn't die. Then he opens the door to Henry's holding cell, and Michael shoots himself in the heart area. The end. Well, we know Michael doesn't die because he's in the preview for the next episode. That means he shot himself in the shoulder. So what's this all about??? Prediction: Michael wants to motivate everyone to go get those bad "others" and save his son, so he makes it look like Henry shot the three of them. Of course Libby knows the truth, so that might be a problem for him if she didn't die. OR, the "others" told him he would get his son back if he freed Henry, and he thought this was the only way he could do it, to make it look like Henry shot them and got away.

Alias shockers. I really loved this show during the first 3 seasons or so, and now they are in the final episodes of the series as the storylines have gotten too outlandish and people think the show is too complicated and confusing. One thing is the characters keep switching back and forth between good and evil, dead and alive, which is frustrating, because you're never sure about them. And apparently, the writers' solution to explaining what happens to all the characters before the series ends is to kill them off! Tonight they killed Nadia (AFTER curing her of her season-long zombie disease) and Renee, the super cool French woman, by far my favorite Alias character. Renee MUST have been based on La Femme Nikita.

Movies and someone I used to work with

Got one of those Blockbuster passes yesterday to see an unlimited number of movies in a month. You can only rent one at a time, which is why it's only $14.99. There are so many we want to see! We've watched these three so far:

1) Constant Gardener:
Interesting, complex, sometimes exciting, overall good, but the spurts of action in this serious drama just stuck out to me. The conspiracy/detective/adventure aspects were okay, but I liked the characters' relationship development stuff.

2) The Squid and the Whale:
A little disturbing, about a super dysfunctional family. The older son's character is SO UNLIKEABLE. He's this wannabe intellectual who reminds me of someone I used to work with who was an English major and he kept asking other literarily-inclined ppl the STUPIDEST questions like "Have you read [insert famous book here]? That was good" over and over again. Such as, "Have you read the Great Gatsby? That was good. How about Catch-22? How about Hemingway? Old Man and the Sea? A Farewell to Arms? Catcher in the Rye? Lord of the Flies? Tom Sawyer? Melville? King Lear? Invisible Man? Pride and Prejudice?" ETC, ETC. OMG, I get it, you've read every high-school required reading, shut up, please, I wanted to kick his butt. OK, off track now.

3) King Kong:
Not my type of movie at all, but would've been better in the theater.


My most-watched movie ever is The Little Mermaid. A quote:
"I'm ready to know what the people know
Asking my questions and get some answers
What's a fire and why does it, what's the word, BURN?"

The coolest thing I've ever seen

Got back from south Florida yesterday. Our 3rd wedding anniversary!! We stayed in Kay Largo one night, Key West one night, and Miami two nights. The coolest thing I have ever seen in my whole entire life, seriously, was the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden featuring the art of Dale Chihuly ("Where Art Meets Nature Meets Breathtaking"). It is the AWESOMEST, hugest garden (tropical rain forest included), PLUS glass art pieces imbedded everywhere into the plants. If you are in the area, you HAVE TO SEE IT, unless you don't like to be in the hot outdoors... but still, you don't know what you're missing.

First photo is of glass "onions" floating on the lake, with iguana in the foreground. I am obsessed with these onions, they are so gorgeous and whimsical.

And here is a picture of us in front of a large glass sculpture. There's a rail in this pic, but it's uncharacteristic of every other area in the garden where there's nothing between you and endangered plant species and the glass pieces.
I mainly think this is a cool picture, water lilies in a pond with glass balls: Orchids just growing out of the crazy roots of this huge tree:And us at the beach of course:

Brownie badges

Ever since my previous blog entry on Brownies, I've been slightly obsessed. I looked into the current Brownie badges, and they are so different now, they are really new school! I have to say I like the old-school ones a lot more. I think you'll agree wtih me. The top picture (I know, out of focus) off an Ebay listing is what my badges looked like 20 years ago. The center one should be the Pixie badge (my fomer group within the troop). The bottom picture is of some the new group badges. I'm guessing I know which one is the Pixie. UNCOOL.

Avril Lavigne rocks

I know what you're thinking, I must be a teeny bopper to love Avril Lavigne. But she can sing her butt off, which is what singers are supposed to be able to do. I've never gone to a concert, but when she sings live on TV or when I've heard her live performances, she is even better, so much effortless talent, those pipes are perfect, and she even looks great doing it. (Unlike, for example, Jessica Simpson, whom I find has a terrible voice and is a hideous performer.) And her songs are easy and fun to listen to. My favorite is "Fall to Pieces."

See her perform here. Please please please, watch it. It's so worth it.
(VLi, what would I ever do without your videos, pics, funny emails, etc.?)

That 80s Lady

"Is that Rosanna Arquette??" is what I kept saying during the first episode of "What About Brian," about seven friends who are all in their twenty-somethings... except "Is that Rosanna Arquette?? She's like forty-something!"

She's the "80's lady" (coined by Tak Stewart) in Luc Besson's Le Grand Bleu! She's 47!

There better be some future episode where they explain how she's oddly one of the seven friends.

Today also saw L'Enfant and Thank You for Smoking. During which I was stewing in anger and hatred toward almost every human being alive for not caring about global warming, due to a preview about a documentary on the subject. I guess I'll just have to say it again, it's not about the environment, it's about PEOPLE. Why don't people care that PEOPLE are gonna DIE prematurely because of this? Why don't people care that Hong Kong will cease to exist because of this? Don't you HKers care about your homeland? Or almost every important city--because important cities became important because they are port cities, which means they will be under water or rendered unlivable due to constant hurricanes and tornadoes. The only hope I have, seeing how no one cares, is that we'll adapt. I just think it's really sad that someday we'll look back on today and think we coulda shoulda.

I just HAVE to blog about this

My boss drive me freakin nuts due to the fact that HE HAS NO BRAIN. Moreover, for someone who went to Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern, he SUCKS at doing math on the spot. When even I'm 5 times better, you know there's a problem.

1. This is an example of a scenario that happens ALL THE TIME:

My boss is in China. A client asks for the cost to ship something from China to US. The problem is I have no idea how much the thing weighs, which is the entire basis for how much it will cost to ship. I proceed to figure out how much it's gonna weigh, based on how much the item costs, compare it to old projects, calculations, etc.

Me: I made an estimate on the cost to expedite shipping on that project. I figured that weight should be around 7000 kg max.
Boss: NOOOooooo, it's not that heavy. It would be much more expensive if it's 7000 kg. I'm guessing 4... no, 5000 kg. Well, hmm, 5000 - 6000 kg.
Me: OK. I was just thinking maximum.
Boss: I'll call you in about an hour to give you an estimate.

[One hour later.]

Boss: I figured the thing is 7000 kg. Use that to do the calculations.


WTF?????


2. How about this scenario:

Last year was year of the Rooster.

Boss: What's your Chinese zodiac sign?
Me: Rooster.
Boss: So how old are you?
Me: 24.
Boss: My dad's year of the rooster. Hmm, so how old is he?
Me: 72.
Boss: Nooo. 78.
Me: 72.
Boss: No wait. 76.
Me: 72.
Boss: Hmm... yeah yeah 75.
Me: 72.
Boss: Oh I got it. He's 74.
Me: 72.
Boss: Oh right right. 73.
Me: Well, since it's January, I figure there's 11 out of 12 chance that he's still 72.
Boss: OK.


3. Or how about this one:

Boss is in China, I get a call from a client who says we totally screwed up his order. I tell him I will let Boss know and have him call him.

Due to the fact that Boss had previously said he was going to call me soon, I wait for him to call to tell him the bad news. He doesn't call, so I finally call him after waiting a while.

Me: Client said we totally screwed up his order, I told him you would call him ASAP.
Boss: Why didn't you call me right away?
Me: Because you were supposed to call us, so we were waiting for your call.
Boss: Next time, don't tell the the client I'm going to call you and you're waiting for my call. That is like internal information.
Me: I didn't tell him that. [Thinking: WTF?]


Seriously, if you think ur boss is annoying because he taps his pen or gives you work, try mine, a royal self-riteous idiot. He does this type of thing to me and my co-worker here all the time!