I am in D.C. I start my internship tomorrow. The life here is more fast paced than I am accustomed to, don't know if it suits my layback style. Maybe Californians are more chill in general, but we fail to recognize it. It seems like people here have less patience, are always moving about. I really would like to just take my time and enjoy some scenery. But scenery is sparse, and everyone lacks time. I wonder if they can tell I'm from somewhere else just by looking at me. The general population here is also taller than in Irvine.

That is my room. I love it because I get a nice view of the city. My room is smaller than everyone else's, but I like the curved wall and window. The roomies seem nice, though I barely know them. Two are from Berkeley, one is from UCLA. The Berkeley people have a sense of humor I enjoy for brief amounts, then it gets somewhat tiresome. It's all wit, no love.

I landed in Baltimore yesterday morning, took the bus and metro instead of a taxi to get to the UCDC center. Took me an hour to get where I wanted while I lugged 70 pounds of luggage around the humid heat. The temperature here is in the mid 90's. I hear there will be a thunderstorm tonight.

telephone

I feel like with the invention of the cell phone, the traditional household phone could soon become something rare. My roommate today suggested we get a phone for the apartment, then soon retracted that statement because, in all honesty, the traditional household style of one phone per living unit does not suit well to the college lifestyle where people are constantly at different, unpredictable places, and no one stays in one place for too long.

Despite the obvious benefits of cell phones, I kind of miss the traditional household phone. I miss hearing someone shout from the other room, "telephone!" in hopes that someone else will pick it up. I miss fighting over phone time. And I miss handing the phone over to other people. Sure the cell phone provides privacy to whom one speaks with, but with most things that offer added privacy, it also reduces the sense of community. One no longer gets to hear the voices, or say hello to the people that live with whom you call.

mission accomplished

Oh, what a beauty. Look how he glows in the orange county sun. To the ocean we shall travel...

I learned how to ride a bicycle on Friday. I don't know why I never learned how to before then. Maybe I've become more courageous, although I've always thought that children are supposed to better at learning new skills such as riding a bike or learning how to swim, but I've learned both those things in adulthood.

I went to Target and marveled at their bike selection. I don't even know how to tell which bikes are good and which are bad, but they all looked real sleek and sturdy. They were all basically variations on the same two wheels plus a steel frame theme, yet each one had its own character, and I could feel myself becoming attached to a bike that suited me. I really wish they came in more colors though. They were all either metallic blue or bright red.

I love how all the mechanism of a bike are exposed. With each pedal one can see the physics at work. Unlike cars which are designed to keep their clunky parts hidden, there is such simplicity to a bike's engineering that leaving its gears uncovered actually makes it more beautiful. The gears keep the bike looking grounded and gritty enough, yet the whole thing is so simple and straightforward that it never distracts from the cleanness of the frames. There is something I find somewhat disappointing about how a car works. All you do is step of the pedal and off you go. So much is lost in the transfer of energy from human to machine.

I really wanted a blue sporty looking bike, but didn't want to drop the dough until I shopped around some more. The bike in the top right picture is a $70, $90 with shipping, and according to the Target website, it has all the qualities I'd want. It "fits most adults" and has "thumb shifter for quick and easy selection of gears." Really though, I'd be happy with anything that will last me a few years. I was trying to think of whether or not I wanted a "cruiser" bike. One with broad handles that wrap around the sides and generally look more sophisticated. However, I think if I'm gonna get a bike, I'd want to dirty it up some, go on an adventure or two, so a sportier design would be best for that. I think the first thing I'll do when I get a bike is ride it to the ocean. I've always wanted to jog to the ocean, but I get too tired after about 2 miles, and it usually doesn't occur to me until about that far out that I still need job back. But I can't imagine biking to the ocean would be an unachievable goal.


Just to prove to myself that I'm serious about this whole bicycle thing, I bought myself a helmet today. It's difficult to tell just by looking at me, but I have a pretty large head. And I was expecting all the helmets to be too small. They were for the most part, until I found this blue one that was neither too loose nor too tight. It even has an adjustable strap in the back for all the odd-shaped heads of the world. After I found that out, I knew the helmet and I were meant for each other.

Adventure Time

Holy baloney, I love love love this:

New Forum

I just compiled my last issue of New Forum on Thursday. We got over 100 submissions, so having to read all of them was difficult. I'm very proud of the issue and enjoyed the company of the staff very much. If you are free Thursday night, March 1, please come to New Forum's Roundtable: UC Irvine, HIB 135 at 8pm. We're going to try to make it a fun, so please bring a friend if you attend.

Bald Britney

I don't find this repulsive or ugly. I think it's kind of cool she had a freak-out moment and decided to do it. I relate. In fact, it's giving me thoughts of my own about shaving my head. Not that my head-shaving would be similar since I'm a guy and not world famous for having a head of wondrous blond hair.

Before I forget

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEARS

Year of the Pig

Red Envelopes (from wikipedia):

Traditionally, red envelopes are passed out during the Chinese New Year's celebrations, from married couples or the elderly to unmarried juniors. It is common for adults to give red packets to children.

The red envelopes always contain money, usually varying from a couple of dollars to several hundred. The amount of money in the red packets should be of even numbers, as odd numbers are associated with cash given during funerals. Since the number 4 is considered bad luck, money in the red envelopes never adds up to $4. However, the number 6 is considered lucky, and $6 is commonly found in the red envelopes.

Anyone want to try these with me?

I read about these things a while ago, and really wanted to try them out. But I'm not ballsy enough to do it on my own. Here is what the article said about this "miracle fruit":

"Limes tasted like lime candy, lemons like lemonade, and meyer lemons and red grapefruit were some of the most tasty things I've ever eaten in my life. On the other hand, pineapples and kiwi were cloying, coffee was mostly unchanged, and wine was just plain disgusting."


Cool huh? Link to the article.

via boing boing

Mad Film Dash

Last week, I made a movie for UCI's 24-hour Mad Film Dash. I had a cold, but I persevered and stayed up for about 22 of the 24 hours we had to make the film. We were randomly assigned a genre (gangster) and an artifact we had to include (children's book). I asked some people whether they'd want to do it with me, and I was pleased with the group I assembled. Emily is a genius writer, Eric is a technical wizard, Chris is like some sort of faciful McGuyver, and Smashley and Kriszanne are fine actresses. Everyone worked well together, and we made a sweet movie. Actually, I'm not sure the movie makes any sense. But it is very dear to me because of the amount of effort I put in and the memories I have of it.

Here is the movie: THE CONFESSION

Let's see how long this blog will last

So I've decided to create a blog to post things that fascinate me. This way, I will have a space to store all the things that make me happy. Most of the things will be stolen from other blogs and sources, I'm sure. I doubt this blog will be heavy on auto-biography since I've always felt uncomfortable sharing myself with potential strangers and stalkers (not that I'm in any way stalkworthy), but just in case.

I think I'll start my first blog by saying that I think everyone should have an amazon wish list even if you're not an avid reader, or think books are dull (in which case, shame on you) because you can add things like DVDs, boardgames, showerheads, and fedora hats. Recently, I've gone on a amazon wish list stalking rampage, looking up random friends and purveying the various items they've chosen to include. I have to say, I think I get a greater sense of who a person is after I've seen their list. Also, I've realized that's I'm actually pretty predictable as far as my interests go. For some reason, I've always thought of myself as someone who is hard to shop for. But after evaluating my own list, there seems to be a pretty consistent theme. I tend to like funny, thought-provoking, and slightly outrageous stuff. And I find it interesting that the majority of my items are in the colors yellow and red. I don't even like red. But I guess while aesthetically I go for blues and browns, intellectually I prefer bold yellows and red, and the hues in-between. I like wacky things and think wacky thoughts, but I guess I don't show it much on the outside.

Here is my list, please make one of your own.