Diaryland is again on the fritz so I am going to add this entry on blogger again. My backup so to say since I am too lazy to move my entire journal over here. Maybe in the future if Diaryland is still on the fritz. Well release night last Friday went south. Turns out the new code wasn't being picked up by the main web server that night so it was fucking over some apps. I had to come in during the morning and test it out. It worked then of course, 9 hours after it should have. The main consequence of this was that I couldn't go to the Human Race, which I was training for. Pissed me off to no extent. I am not really enjoying my job (like I ever did). I have been doing some more testing but mostly I have been surfing the web for Asian American sites. Well I forgot to mention on release night, that I went out for a short while to McCarthy ranch to the borders there and bought the High Fidelity soundtrack. I really liked the movie and the soundtrack is just as good. I have been reading up about it and High Fidelity is originally a book by Nick Hornby set in London. Except for the movie, John Cusack (who was at a Giants/Cubs game I was at) and his friends adapted it so that is takes place in Chicago and put in a whole bunch of music that they liked or related to their lives. The actual movie soundtrack unfortunately does not have all the music in the movie (licensing fees would have been through the roof but it has most of the good songs.) You can see all the songs in the movie and on the soundtrack over at
Amazon . Anyway, I thought the whole idea of having a soundtrack to your life was pretty cool and I liked to listen to music so I came up with some songs that I remember listening to back in the day and sorta define periods in my life.
In semi-chronilogical order or as best as I can remember them:
1995 -1996 - Actually start listening to music besides the adult easy listening shit that my mom's listens to when driving me to swim practice
"Stars" by Hum
"I Gotta a Girl" by Trippin Daisy
"I Need You Around" by the Smoking Popes
"Lighting Crashes" by Live
"Story of My Life" by Social Distortion
"In the Waiting Room" by Fugazi
"Misery" by Soul Asylum
"JAR" by Green Day
1996 - early 98 - My shitty senior year in h.s and my even more shitty freshman year at UC Davis
"I Will Survive" by Cake
"Life in Mono" by Mono
"Ocean" by Sebadoh
"Novacaine for the Soul" by the Eels
"Jump Right In" by The Edge
"Got you (where I want you)" by the Flys
"Flat Tire" by Athenaeum
"Summertime" by the Sundays
"Radiation Vibe" by Fountains of Wayne
Summer 98 - 2000 - putting my shit together at De Anza
"Snow on the Sahara" by Anggun
"History of a Boring Town" by Less Than Jake
"Circles" by Soul Coughing
"Truly Truly" by Grant Lee Buffalo
"1000 Oceans" by Tori Amos
"All the Kids are Right" by Local H
"Life's a Bitch" by Shooter
"At the Stars" by Better Than Ezra
2000 - 2002 - Working my ass off at SCU
"Yellow" by Coldplay
"Walk On" by U2
"Friends and Family" by Trik Turner
"Sorry Now" by Sugar Ray
"By Your Side" by Sade
"Photograph" by Weezer
"Someday" by the Cure
2002 - now Post Graduation, my 20's, and wage slavery
"Honestly" by Zwan
"Freak Show" by Stretch Princess
"What Will It Take" by Alma
"Why Can't I" by Liz Phair
"Side" by Travis
"The Scientist" by Coldplay
Quite an extensive list by I know there is more that I just cannot think of right now. Like my soft easy listening days tthat I care not to remember. But hopefully I'll be back on diaryland next time. Until then.
Thursday, May 15, 2003
Thursday, March 20, 2003
Well I have finally had it with diaryland. That is where my online journal has been hosted for the past two almost three years but after not being to post an entry on it for the past week or so I have decided to switch to blogger. Yet even though I don't consider my journal a "blog." Anyway, this is going to be a mega mega update since I have two weeks worth of stuff to run down plus my thoughts on Iraq, which are long and ranting but like the two people who actually read my journal might care or not. But let me run down the news as of late:
Not this weekend but the weekend before that, Nick came back into town. Vishnu and I had already agreed to go running in Freemont OLDER but Nick decided to come along. I decided to take it easy and only run a mile to the top but Vishnu apparently was not in any shape to go running. Turns out he partied quite to hardly then night before (clubbing, smoking cigars the usual). We relaunched another attempt at the top at like 7 AM the next wednesday with Nick, myself, and Vishnu's coworker, Jeff. That went better. I have to tell you running uphill is a hella alot harder than running on a treadmill. After our run we went to country in and had a very heavy and expensive breakfast (three bucks for orange juice!). Driving back to Nick's place, we drove by my alma mater, Lynbrook High School, and noticed students getting to school at 9:30! What the hell! It was not even second period or anything. They actually started school that late. I had to haul my ass up at 6:30 or 6:45 in order to get to school by 7:30. What a crock. Damn kids these days are spoiled.
So why I have got this sudden urge to run like the wind? I am training for a charity race, the Human Race, in May where I will raising money for the FCE, the place I volunteer at. It is a 5K/10K run/walk at Coyote Point Park so I thought training outdoors would be good for me. And at the time, the weather was kickass. Not like now where the weather is complete shit. So I want to run the entire thing so that is my goal for May.
Nick was back in town for spring break so we hung out a couple nights. Saw some movies that I did not get around to watching when they came out (Barbershop, Austin Powers 3). Nick was interviewing with some federal judge for a clerks position but didn't get it (Sorry man). But he has a summer position in the DA's office in some county in North Carolina that I have never heard of. But I am sure it is pretty prestigious.
I found out where I lost my driver's license earlier. It fell out of my wallet when I was paying for my haircut last month at the barbershop. So when I went to get my haircut again this month, my barber returned it to me. It has my old address on it so that was no help nor does the fact that my name is misspelled in the phone book (Choy). So I have another copy coming in the mail since I went to the DMW and got another one (only took me 15 minutes!). Another minor incident that took place last weekend was that I was walking back from Barnes and Nobles in Campbell, when two college aged guys screamed at me (I think it was motherfucker but I couldn't be sure) while I was walking on the sidewalk. I sometimes walk to the Pruneyard or downtown Campbell to get some air and to stretch out my legs since I drive now. Anyway, these genuises didn't realize that stop light in front of them turned red. So they were stuck at it in the right turn lane. So I ran up the street to their car, and then flipped both of them off while they were waiting for the light to change. I then crossed to street and ran into downtown Campbell. There was nothing they could do either because they were stuck in the right turn lane. Score one for me!
I saw two good movies this past weekend. The first was Charotte Sometime, an independent movie that was playing at the San Francisco Asian American Film Festival (but ironically was playing at the Camera 3 in San Jose). It was love story but more about the false identities and characters we play in life. My only criticism was that the leading man was really wooden. I think it was intentional but still, he could have used a little more emotional. The director was there and so where some of the co-stars. That was pretty cool. They did a little Q and A at the end. The screening made me a bit self-concious since it attracted a whole slew of college kids who were really into the whole Asian American thing, which I like to like I am too but when in reality, they totally outdo me in. The other good move I saw was the Quiet American with Michael Caine. It is about America's early involvement in Vietnam. Extremely well acted by Michael Caine and Brenden Fraser. Has many parallels to what is going on in Iraq even as we speak. Which is why I cleverly segwayed into my thoughts on Iraq....I am a master debater! (from Austin Powers 3 if you want to know).
In the movie, Brenden Fraser is the Quiet American who becomes friends with Michael Caine under the guise of being on a humanitarian mission. When in fact (I hope I am not spoiling this for anyone who wanted to watch the movie) is a really a CIA operative. The French are on the brink of losing Vietnam to the communist forces so the CIA and a vietnamese general form a third wave to prevent the communists from taking over. This third wave massarces villages and stages bombings to convince the world, mainly the US, that we needed to get involved in Vietnam. Fraser justifies this by saying, the French can't stop the communists, so the US backed third wave (soon to become the South vietnamese foce) must do it. I found eerily parallels to Bush's war on Iraq.
Bush went on TV and said we needed to attack Iraq because even though they haven't attacked us directly, there is some flimsy very uncompelling arguments that they support terrorists and that they are trying to possess or have in their posssesion weapons of mass destruction (if that is the only case for going to war then we should have waged war first on Pakistan but since they are our convenient ally that is out of the question). But what really struck me was that he says the United Nations can't stop Saddam, so the US coalition (with Britain and others) must be do it. Almost exactly parallel to what happened in the Quiet American. The third wave in the movie is the US coalition in Iraq. Now the key difference in my mind is that the vietnam war is what killed the US but for Iraq, everyone agreed we will clean Saddam's clock in like 3 weeks. What is going to kill us I fear in Iraq is the occupation of Iraq. After we get done destroying Saddam and his army, we are going to have to occupy Iraq, mostly done with US military since the UN will not be that inclined to send peacekeepers especially since we blew off the UN Security council. Now in order to make Iraq a democracy, we are going to pour BILLIONS of dollars in aid to order to build the infrastructure and insitutions for democracy. Now, in my mind how can you justify giving biliions of dollars of aid to country we just blew up when a great deal of the world and citizens of our nation were opposed to blowinig it up in the first place! Those billions could have gone to Medicare, social security, or maybe preventing some teachers and schools from ending up in the shitter. Anyway, the new Iraq will have a disgruntled population who hates the US plus be a region that generally despises the US to begin with. Definitely a draw back. What I fear will happen is that we just be pouring more and more money and time into Iraq to try and turn it into a democracy in a region that has not had any real experience with democracy and will resist with all its might. Once Bush leaves office, most likely Iraq will be bain on the US and many presidents to come.
Which pisses me off the most about this situation. Bush did not think ahead about the damange to foreign relations and the world when he embarked on this war. If the thing goes south, well Bush will be out of office after a few years and other presidents will have to pick up the pieces. All that money and all the time will have been wasted fixing his mistake when it could have gone to making our country a better place. And will Bush ever get hold responsible. NO. History will judge him ultimately but in the end, he will never feel the pain or suffering his decision caused. But maybe I am wrong and things will turn out for the better. I have been wrong before haven't I? I know one thing for sure, I wasn't wrong when I voted for Gore in 2000.
Finally, (yes this entry will end) I am flying out to Michigan this weekend. Ironically, almost to the day I took my last final at SCU and finished my undergrad degree. Sorta kooky. It has been a fun year since I graduated. A lot more interesting that I thought it would be. I did not get that full time position I was hoping for but I got accepted to two graduate schools in case I can't get another job so I feel secure. So hopefully I will be posting my next entry next week with a University of Michigan Ann Arbor wrap up . Until then.... peace out!
Not this weekend but the weekend before that, Nick came back into town. Vishnu and I had already agreed to go running in Freemont OLDER but Nick decided to come along. I decided to take it easy and only run a mile to the top but Vishnu apparently was not in any shape to go running. Turns out he partied quite to hardly then night before (clubbing, smoking cigars the usual). We relaunched another attempt at the top at like 7 AM the next wednesday with Nick, myself, and Vishnu's coworker, Jeff. That went better. I have to tell you running uphill is a hella alot harder than running on a treadmill. After our run we went to country in and had a very heavy and expensive breakfast (three bucks for orange juice!). Driving back to Nick's place, we drove by my alma mater, Lynbrook High School, and noticed students getting to school at 9:30! What the hell! It was not even second period or anything. They actually started school that late. I had to haul my ass up at 6:30 or 6:45 in order to get to school by 7:30. What a crock. Damn kids these days are spoiled.
So why I have got this sudden urge to run like the wind? I am training for a charity race, the Human Race, in May where I will raising money for the FCE, the place I volunteer at. It is a 5K/10K run/walk at Coyote Point Park so I thought training outdoors would be good for me. And at the time, the weather was kickass. Not like now where the weather is complete shit. So I want to run the entire thing so that is my goal for May.
Nick was back in town for spring break so we hung out a couple nights. Saw some movies that I did not get around to watching when they came out (Barbershop, Austin Powers 3). Nick was interviewing with some federal judge for a clerks position but didn't get it (Sorry man). But he has a summer position in the DA's office in some county in North Carolina that I have never heard of. But I am sure it is pretty prestigious.
I found out where I lost my driver's license earlier. It fell out of my wallet when I was paying for my haircut last month at the barbershop. So when I went to get my haircut again this month, my barber returned it to me. It has my old address on it so that was no help nor does the fact that my name is misspelled in the phone book (Choy). So I have another copy coming in the mail since I went to the DMW and got another one (only took me 15 minutes!). Another minor incident that took place last weekend was that I was walking back from Barnes and Nobles in Campbell, when two college aged guys screamed at me (I think it was motherfucker but I couldn't be sure) while I was walking on the sidewalk. I sometimes walk to the Pruneyard or downtown Campbell to get some air and to stretch out my legs since I drive now. Anyway, these genuises didn't realize that stop light in front of them turned red. So they were stuck at it in the right turn lane. So I ran up the street to their car, and then flipped both of them off while they were waiting for the light to change. I then crossed to street and ran into downtown Campbell. There was nothing they could do either because they were stuck in the right turn lane. Score one for me!
I saw two good movies this past weekend. The first was Charotte Sometime, an independent movie that was playing at the San Francisco Asian American Film Festival (but ironically was playing at the Camera 3 in San Jose). It was love story but more about the false identities and characters we play in life. My only criticism was that the leading man was really wooden. I think it was intentional but still, he could have used a little more emotional. The director was there and so where some of the co-stars. That was pretty cool. They did a little Q and A at the end. The screening made me a bit self-concious since it attracted a whole slew of college kids who were really into the whole Asian American thing, which I like to like I am too but when in reality, they totally outdo me in. The other good move I saw was the Quiet American with Michael Caine. It is about America's early involvement in Vietnam. Extremely well acted by Michael Caine and Brenden Fraser. Has many parallels to what is going on in Iraq even as we speak. Which is why I cleverly segwayed into my thoughts on Iraq....I am a master debater! (from Austin Powers 3 if you want to know).
In the movie, Brenden Fraser is the Quiet American who becomes friends with Michael Caine under the guise of being on a humanitarian mission. When in fact (I hope I am not spoiling this for anyone who wanted to watch the movie) is a really a CIA operative. The French are on the brink of losing Vietnam to the communist forces so the CIA and a vietnamese general form a third wave to prevent the communists from taking over. This third wave massarces villages and stages bombings to convince the world, mainly the US, that we needed to get involved in Vietnam. Fraser justifies this by saying, the French can't stop the communists, so the US backed third wave (soon to become the South vietnamese foce) must do it. I found eerily parallels to Bush's war on Iraq.
Bush went on TV and said we needed to attack Iraq because even though they haven't attacked us directly, there is some flimsy very uncompelling arguments that they support terrorists and that they are trying to possess or have in their posssesion weapons of mass destruction (if that is the only case for going to war then we should have waged war first on Pakistan but since they are our convenient ally that is out of the question). But what really struck me was that he says the United Nations can't stop Saddam, so the US coalition (with Britain and others) must be do it. Almost exactly parallel to what happened in the Quiet American. The third wave in the movie is the US coalition in Iraq. Now the key difference in my mind is that the vietnam war is what killed the US but for Iraq, everyone agreed we will clean Saddam's clock in like 3 weeks. What is going to kill us I fear in Iraq is the occupation of Iraq. After we get done destroying Saddam and his army, we are going to have to occupy Iraq, mostly done with US military since the UN will not be that inclined to send peacekeepers especially since we blew off the UN Security council. Now in order to make Iraq a democracy, we are going to pour BILLIONS of dollars in aid to order to build the infrastructure and insitutions for democracy. Now, in my mind how can you justify giving biliions of dollars of aid to country we just blew up when a great deal of the world and citizens of our nation were opposed to blowinig it up in the first place! Those billions could have gone to Medicare, social security, or maybe preventing some teachers and schools from ending up in the shitter. Anyway, the new Iraq will have a disgruntled population who hates the US plus be a region that generally despises the US to begin with. Definitely a draw back. What I fear will happen is that we just be pouring more and more money and time into Iraq to try and turn it into a democracy in a region that has not had any real experience with democracy and will resist with all its might. Once Bush leaves office, most likely Iraq will be bain on the US and many presidents to come.
Which pisses me off the most about this situation. Bush did not think ahead about the damange to foreign relations and the world when he embarked on this war. If the thing goes south, well Bush will be out of office after a few years and other presidents will have to pick up the pieces. All that money and all the time will have been wasted fixing his mistake when it could have gone to making our country a better place. And will Bush ever get hold responsible. NO. History will judge him ultimately but in the end, he will never feel the pain or suffering his decision caused. But maybe I am wrong and things will turn out for the better. I have been wrong before haven't I? I know one thing for sure, I wasn't wrong when I voted for Gore in 2000.
Finally, (yes this entry will end) I am flying out to Michigan this weekend. Ironically, almost to the day I took my last final at SCU and finished my undergrad degree. Sorta kooky. It has been a fun year since I graduated. A lot more interesting that I thought it would be. I did not get that full time position I was hoping for but I got accepted to two graduate schools in case I can't get another job so I feel secure. So hopefully I will be posting my next entry next week with a University of Michigan Ann Arbor wrap up . Until then.... peace out!
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