Ichinen Hockey

There's nothing I'm passionate about in my life. This makes me sad. I've come to realize recently that I don't really have any hobbies which I put my heart into. A bunch of buddies have come into something lately that they really really enjoy doing, be it art, music, running, hiking, martial arts, or whatever. I've been reading the daily yojijukugo (四字熟語), i.e. 4 character idioms which I've installed on the sidebar as well, on rikai recently, and I saw one about a week backthat I now forgot that basically translates to "able to do anything, expert at nothing."

Well, that's me in a nutshell. I've thrown my hand in to boxing, Krav Maga, writing, and I don't even know what else and failed to really get into it. Physics doesn't grasp my interest as it used to. If someone were to ask me my hobbies, I would be relegated to saying watching anime, movies, TV, and reading. That doesn't make me interesting at all! How many millions of Americans alone like watching movies? It doesn't set me apart. And in pursuing these interests, I don't people who might share similar interests.

It's not 100% true, however. I still love volleyball and squash, but I haven't been actively making it part of my recent life. I can get some squash going with minimal effort, perhaps that's a next step. And I don't want to give up on writing or Japanese, but I could really do with friends that enjoy it too, like a writing partner that has a similar sense of humor or whatnot. I fear that I've surrounded myself with friends who impedence mismatch slightly, and while I love them and all, staying in the "safe" friend zone with them is not realy helping me grow as a person.

Byenara

The saddest part with making new friends from Japan in Japanese Club is that they all are only here temporarily and have to move back eventually. One of my friends took off today, so we went to dinner last night. I hadn't seen him in a couple months because we both got rather busy, but I'm glad we got to hang out before his return to Japan.

The upside of all these new friends is that I'll have no shortage of people to visit and places to see next time I go to Nippon. If I could just afford it all....

GradStrife

GradLife here pisses me off. It used to be a wonderful thing called GradBar, where once a month they'd have a few kegs, some snacks, and facilitated socializing. Then some other people took over and now it's all speed dating or clubbing nights, which wouldn't be necessarily a bad thing if they would just email us about the events or otherwise let us know prior to them occuring. I actually have gotten emails regarding events on the day after they occur!

Now I just got one for their end-of-the-year party, which promises such fun attractions such as Jamba Juice, yoga, and a licensed dietician! Ooooh, that's how I like to get down! It's 21+, so maybe there's actually a bar, not that I drink anymore, but I hope there is simply so I can get a beer, approach the dietician, and ask "what am I doing that's unhealthy?"

I was planning to run for the position in charge of events this year, but did we ever hear anything about it? No. As such I apparently missed the application deadline by 2 weeks. Fuckers. They also have the second most boring blog ever (hint: you're reading the first), which amuses me.

Late Night With Robots

I'm too old for midnight showings. They're fun and all, but damn do I run out of steam before 2 AM. Clearly I just need to sleep in and go to lab later, then I'll be synced with the proper midnight movie rhythms of Circadia.

Terminator Salvation was everything I expected from a Terminator movie: explosions, robots, and just a splash of time paradox. Easily my favorite movie of the year to date, and although it suffers from some early movie shaky cam, it doesn't plague the action-packed cinematic treat. Oddly enough, I'd argue that John Connor is in fact not the protagonist of this movie. I'm interested to see where this franchise goes next (and I hope it does continue!).

I don't think I mentioned anything about Star Trek either, but that movie was quite fun. I would deem the plot "loose" in how it gets characters where they need to be, but it's not horrible to the point of plot holeyness. Not really worth the extra $7 to see it in IMAX though.

Oneechanbara might be the worst zombie movie I've seen since Stacy: Attack of the Schoolgirl Zombies. Both promised hot girls, both failed to deliver, in both fanservice and not being boring as hell. At least Stacy had a callout to Army of Darkness....

I Call It 'Fun-due'

Game 7 today! We're might get raped but I'm going to be cheering for my Rockets the whole way through! We can pull it out!

Wow, fondue party last night to be pretty intense. And very little fondue. But there was plenty of excitement to go around! Some undergrad friends bought a fondue set, which meant it was time for a classy party! And as it is classy, we were supposed to dress classy. As in: no jeans, button-down shirts, etc. So to class it up, my roommate donned a sportcoat atop a Larry Fitzgerald jersey, and I pulled out the legendary overused pirate shirt. And in my search for a monocle, I espied a purple ribbon... that's right, it's time to ponytail-up and call myself Gaston!

I won "best costume." I was also the only person in costume. But hot damn was I dapper!

Ok, so at first I wasn't so excited about this party. It promised to be one of the typical undergrad physics parties, with everyone people I already know and only 3 girls. But without anything better to do, why not go?

Well, to my surprise, in addition to the typical socially introvert physics undergrad fare, an above average number of girls did show up. Good looking ones too. One girl who was not from LA and with whom I was talking in particular was probably my best chance in a long time of a casual hook-up or even one night stand. Not saying she was easy, but it was interesting that having almost nothing in common we hit it off, and it was getting quite flirty. And of course in my typical way I managed to let that chance dwindle down to an soft, barely glowing ember by allowing myself to get cockblocked by her friend and a couple of guys who are somewhat less socially awkward than I. Also I had gotten distracted by the events that would unfold later. I'd say there's a 15% chance of seeing this girl again in the next couple weeks, and we'll see what I can do. But I really need to grow a fucking spine and learn to stand my ground against competing males.

Well, when said girl's friend stole her away for a little bit, I was hanging with some buddies, dancing a bit. One fellow grad student appears on the dance floor wasted off his ass, dancing obnoxiously and in everyone's way. In fact, I was waiting for him to walk away so I could joke about how I think he's going to attack someone later. Well, he's dancing next to me and raises his fists in a boxing stance. Thinking it's all in fun, I'm raise my fists too, drop them again, laugh a bit with him, and start to return to dancing. In a couple seconds, he lands a jab on my left cheek with all his might. What the fuck?!?! Totally unprovoked as far as I'm concerned, although maybe karma or irony had its hands in events that night.

I did not reciprocate because he was well past blackout drunk and didn't seem aware of what he was doing, but I really had to fight the urge to clock him back. Nor did I offer the other cheek though. My good friends intervened and got him to apologize, although they spent the next hour and a half trying to get him to a car for immediate removal to his apartment.

Turns out I was not the first person he had punched (although I think I got punched the hardest). He had hit the one of the party's hosts and one of the hostesses, whose brother "remedied" the situation by giving him 3 more shots. The pass out strategy backfired. Also the majority of the hour and a half trek to the car consisted of his trying to wrestle anyone helping. I don't think he'll be invited back. Here's to hoping he's having a fun morning after. And luckily he mostly got cheekbone, so my shiner isn't very bad--probably only noticeable if you're looking for it. My first time getting punched! Good thing to know I can take a punch!

Merlonliness

Sorry, Karina, looks like our friendship is on hold for another 2 days; we can talk after game 7 (although chances are one of us won't want to :P ).

I have a couple of friends, and I mean couple as both a number and a unit here, that keeps inviting me to what essentially boils down to couples' wine party. I appreciate the invite and all, and I know they just want to hang out, but if everyone on the invite list, I'd be only one of two single people at this event. Maybe that's the plan, you might ask? No, see, this is that girl from however many months ago. So that's a dead end. Anyway, I just don't feel like going to be the 11th wheel. It's only a meal away from a dinner party, which I consider the ultimate we're-married-and-only-have-friends-who-are-also-married-couples get-together.

I'm glad to finally be back from Chicago! Seeing my sister was fun, but we ended up spending most of our time in the city helping her move out of her dorm room and taking care of some school errands for her. Of course she hadn't prepared anything prior to our arrival, and we had to pack up the room and move things out to my cousin's house. One day I will visit Chicago for tourism and do it "right".

It seems like a cool city with a lot happening and good nightlife, but driving there would drive me insane. Ok, ok, driving anywhere does that to me. But why can't the locals tell us how to get from Wrigley Field to the freeway? We ended up driving quite a bit all over because of that, which allowed us to see some cool areas outside of downtown. I'm sad I didn't get a chance to sample real Chicago deep dish pizza or hot dogs, but I did have lunch at Lucky's Sandwiches, as seen on Man vs. Food! It was delicious, and I have no clue how he ate 3 sandwiches seeing as how I was rather famished and barely made it through 1! Now I've been to 3 places featured on that show; I really must do a Man vs. Food themed pilgrimage at some point! And come back glistening with grease and weighing 500 lbs.

Red Rampage

FUCK YEAH

Game 4 was AMAZING

Sorry, Lakers, we can beat you down even without Yao

How To Outsmart A Date Rapist

That was the headline on an issue of Cosmo I found in my house. I've yet to read it, but my imagination's ablaze with ideas on what it could mean. Perhaps if you beat a date rapist at chess, he'll let you go? Or they as a rule really hate riddles. The Sphinx might've been designed by the gods as an ancient Grecian date rape deterrent; we all know what happened when Oedipus defeated it. Or better yet, maybe there exists a set of questions that will cause a date rapist's head to explode. "Is the answer to this question no?" "Could God create a burrito so be even he couldn't eat it all?" etc.

Star Trek is a fun romp. The plot has a couple holes and the story seems a little... lax about how it moves characters to where they need to be; but it's forgivable and the movie remains exciting. There's no lack of action scenes, the acting is excellent all around, and it breathes a nice new life into the franchise. As a "reboot" of sorts of the series, it's accessible to Trekkies and non-Trekkies alike. Not sure if it can beat Wrath of Khan or First Contact in my mind, though.

Yao's injured, fuck! There go our hopes of defeating the detestable Lakers. And I'm going to game 4 in just 3 hours; hopefully Ron-Ron and the rest of the crew will stop this from being a blowout, and maybe just maybe we can pull it off!

Hey I Have A Great Idea!

How's about everyone get married?! Wouldn't that be grand!?! How many more engagements am I going to have to suffer this year? I know I should probably "be happy" for the "lucky" couples, but then my bitter core gets unleashed. When is my turn?

At least I still own at beer pong. I've won 8 of my last 9 games. The problem is now that I have to play with a designated drinker it's hard to keep a partner when I keep winning. Also, vodka is now added to the list of things that give me a rash. That leaves whiskey, rum, gin, wine, and sake left to test; I think those can wait a while, even if it's for science. It's getting more frustrating explaining this sudden allergic onset to people, even more so because I've built up such a pathological liar persona that it's believed to be simply a new lie. I'm quite proud of that when I'm not busy being frustrated.

Reese's Puffs cereal is amazing, but it reminds me of dog food. It's very dense and spherical, making it impossible for milk to ensoggify it. It's the best part, the long-lasting crunch, that porous cereals with a worse surface area:volume ratio such as Frosted Mini Wheats or Fruity Pebbles just can't deliver. Anyone out there looking for a science fair project? There you go, that one's on me.

I think one of the cool things about asian girls versus white girls (at least amongst ones I know, therefore I can make wide generalizations) is that the asian girls all seem into food a lot more than white girls. This meshes well with Jewish mentalities (minus the kosher thing; asians will eat any part of anything).

Respirator training: lamest training I've had to attend yet. Wear a mask and stick your head in a bag while we spray bitters in the air you're breathing to see if you can taste it? Pretend to be a mouth breather for a while, please. Oh, now shake your head and touch your toes while we do it. And don't forget to come back next year!