Monday, December 27, 2010

"They're not big, just bigger"

Sweeney's response to me apparently getting too excited about the size of snowflakes.  It's pretty late but I just had a good conversation with one of my buddies from Mexico, Marko.  It was fun talking some spanish again, aside from the casual slang with the amigos at work.  I promised to give Marko a shoutout and write a little bit of Spanish today, even though I'm sure he'll see a bunch of mistakes...

Marie showed me this song:  Etienne de Crecy

Marko! Te prometi que te daria un "shoutout"!  Aunque no estoy tan bueno a espanol que tu estas con ingles, espero que puedes entender la idea general, jaja.  Hoy, maneje por casi un pie de nieve por una hora.  Hubo mucho nieve ayer para la navidad donde vive mi madre.  De hecho, tengo una amiga quien esta atrapado en un aeropuerto en Nueva York para mas o menos dos dias.  De todos modos, espero que charlemos mas en el futuro.  Tambien, abajo es un foto de mi amigo y yo jugando un juego de "cerveza pong" en la nieve, tradicionalmente jugamos a dentro.


Christmas was fun.  I went to midnight mass on Xmas Eve with my mom in Elmhurst. Xmas day I spent with Ron.  Then today we spent it with my mom.  I got some cool stuff: a new wallet, ties, Inception, money, gift cards, etc...My mom is housesitting for a house in Wilmette, nearby where I lived until I was 5.  I bet my life would have turned out completely different if we stayed there.  I forgot who talked to about this but I think that whatever I would end up doing, I would be happy.  Like, we all think "I'm so glad I went to Michigan, best decision ever!".  But, truth be told, I probably would've been happy if I went to U of I too, or Purdue.  I think thats a good testament to our attitudes, we can always make the best of things.

Also on fb chat tonight, aside from Marko, was Marie, the French intern.  She's stuck at La Guardia airport (headed back to the Chi) for 2 full days because of the blizzard going through there.  Think about the boredom.  I ended up staying up this late because we were exchanging good music we liked.  I was sad to find out that she's leaving back for France just after new year's.  I was surprised she initiated the conversation because we hadn't talked in awhile.  I went for broke and invited her to Anderson's pregame for NYE.  She said she's down, as long as I let her know the more exact plans.  I told her that we're probably going to get downtown around 5.  Problem is she's not 21, so after the pregame she'll have to find something else to do.  Either way, I'm excited to see her before she heads back to France.  Actually, I'm just excited for NYE, I've been saying New Year's Eve instead of Christmas eve all week.

Also on my mind, I'm going to ask Steph K to another wine tasting tomorrow.  This time though, the night will not end with me passed out on the couch in her basement.  Sweeney and I are going to try and meet up in the next few days.  I work a lot this week but Shane is trying this thing where he closes at 3, so I'll have evenings.

The pong table in action, photo courtesy of Sweeney, he throws like a girl, see for yourself...jkjk


Here's to making new friends but keeping the old, one is silver and the other is gold,

Chin

Friday, December 24, 2010

Just keep truckin'

It's been awhile since my last post, in fact, its been awhile since I have sat down for a good time with my laptop. Between Shane's, friends getting back into town, and random trips to Ann Arbor, I haven't had much time to get to One a Day.

A lot of my buddies are back in town.  I have started to realize how I am losing connection with some of my high school friends.  I don't know if it is because I have changed or because they have change, its probably both.  I realized this when I went over to my buddy John's with Fabian and Todd and we sat around as John and Fabian played video games.  I just got really bored and eventually left.  Since then, they have not made an effort to contact me, so I guess they don't want to hang out anymore.  However, we did hang out the other night after I texted Fabian to get some food.  I tried to persuade them to play some outdoor day pong but they all declined.  I mean, I understand that its not something normal to do, but it can be fun doing spontaneous things like that AND day drinking is fun.  So after eating with them, I went down to my basement for some COD.  When I found out that Stev couldn't play because his brother's buddy had left with the game, I found myself with a relatively early night (10 PM) with nothing to do. At around this same time, Sweeney texted me from Ann Arbor with this video of him playing with this cool pen



I figured "Welp, Sweeney's bored too at least".  So I texted him back offering to pick him up.  He agreed and I left.  I got into Ann Arbor around 3 AM his time.  We chatted, I went to sleep.  We had steak and eggs in the morning, I stopped by Uzi's to say hi, then Sweeney and I left for Wheaton.  We stopped by Binny's and got some nice beer and some Bud Light.  We immediately went to the outdoor table and started playing.  Steph, ex gf Steph, not sister Steph, texted me that night inviting us to Muldoon's.  We went, set up a BP tourney for the next day and chatted with a few of my other HS friends.  Eventually, it was just 4 of us talking and Jill gave Sweeney and I a ride home.

The next day, Sean and Steph came over and we played more pong.  At one point the little kid neighbors came out to sled, it was a situation shooting a pong ball while watching kids play around in the snow.  Anyways, eventually we went to dinner and it ended up being Sweeney and I in my basement watching TV.  Steph texted me inviting us over to Susie's but we really had no way of getting there.  Dre and Chuck came over, we played some games then they left.  We eventually walked to Muldoon's again to hang out with Anderson, Jackie and her friend, Steph (I think). So many Steph's.  Jackie and I had a talk about the whole Nicole situation.

Side story, Nicole and I met up for lunch before all these things happened and she told me she is going to be in Colorado for 2 weeks with this prospective boyfriend of hers.

Back to the Muldoon's night.  Jackie told me to just forget about Nicole.  I have now taken that advice and so I guess we will see what happens.  Nicole was the reason I was pretty conservative at Michigan, so with her out of the picture, life's gonna be different.

The next morning I drove Sweeney back to Oswego.  We hung out there for a little, played with Latte's poop and talked to his grandparents and mom.  I went to my grandma's for dinner then went to the Sports Center to play bball with Dre.

I worked all day today and got drinks with Dre tonight.  Steph, ex gf Steph (Steph K. from now on), had mentioned possibly meeting up at Muldoon's with a bunch of people but she never texted me if they went.  Also, I guess Nicole was going to be there for trivia night, so I think its best that Dre and I decided not to go.

So tomorrow is Christmas Eve.  I'm working until about 1 then I will probably meet up with my Mom and eventually go to a midnight catholic service for church.  Christmas day is going to be at my dad's, I asked for a new electric hair cutter/buzzer!  I'm pretty excited.

Here's the Indiana/Illinois border at around 1 AM, pretty empty...



Here's to new beginnings before the new year,

Chin

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Man, Oh man

Sophomore year was the foam pit party.
Junior year was all the tables for the pong tournament
Senior year was Shapes! for Halloween
This year is Outdoor pong table made of snow



Just tried it out tonight, works pretty good!  It also looks better now because it snowed and so it doesn't look as dirty.  This thing took about 6 hours to build, there wasn't a lot of snow to work with so I had to move some from the front yard to the backyard.  Sean helped out last night too.  I played a game tonight with my buddies Fulton, John Ryan and Goodman.  It went well, except it was a little cold.  I think that can be fixed with more drinking.  The good news is this table should last all winter, nice!

Tomorrow may or may not be a huge day, game face!

Here's to honesty,

Chin

Monday, December 13, 2010

Smoke and Mirrors

A blog about how things can be very different from what they appear.

But first, did you know that the exact science of how a plane flies has not yet been discovered?  There are many theories, but there is not a universally accepted law.  It's interesting how we have developed all these incredible machines without know exactly how we got there.  I guess what the Wright Brothers did is a true testament to trial and error, or the process of elimination.

My most notable days since my last blog include Thursday and Friday.  Actually, not really Thursday.  After work Anderson and I grabbed a twelver of this pale ale beer.  We went to my house and cemented our plans for New Year's Eve.  I think I am going to make a New Year's Eve resolution, not to be mistaken with a New Year's Resolution.  My NYE resolution is to witness a 10 second countdown to the new year.  2 years ago, I passed out at Fabian's house around 11:15 and last year we were all kicked out of the bar and roaming the streets of San Francisco while the ball dropped.  So this year, I plan to pregame lightly at Anderson's condo, your all invited!  Then head to RiNo, a pseudo-acronym for River North, the area to the immediate north of the river that runs through the city, for an open bar from 9-1.  After that, if we are having a good time, we will probably stick around and hopefully not spend too much money.  In the morning, I want to meet up with any Michigan grads who might be in town and catch the Gator Bowl at Duffy's.  After planning NYE, Anderson and I headed to his place to watch the new Office and the season finales of Always Sunny and the League.

On Friday, I did a lot of shopping for 2 things: Xmas gifts and my NYE outfit.  I found a good gift for my sister's husband.  My outfit should look decent, I got Stev's advice and hopefully I followed it well.  That night, Anderson and I went out to get some Chi style pizza with my mom.  Delicious.  Afterwards, we stopped at the liquor store so I could get a very special beer called "Dog Fish Head: Midas' Touch"  I only bought one bottle.  Anderson had one at his house that he vowed to drink when he got a good job.  He found out that he got that job earlier on Friday.  We went back to my house to enjoy our celebratory beers.  I invited Sean over, one of my old friend from high school.  We started hanging out again when Steph came back into town.  The 3 of us watched the Bulls beat the Lakers then walked to Front Street Cocina in downtown Wheaton.  During the walk, I asked Sean if he remembered any more than I did about the night we went to Steph's and drank Joose.  I guess he left pretty early, but he remembers me playing the piano, thinking of going home with him, deciding to stay and watch a movie, and just being pretty stupid.  He also mentioned that Steph and I were being pretty flirty, which caught my attention.  I think a lot of the night will go unremembered, unless Steph's brother witnessed anything....Oh dear...Back to Friday night, we had a few beers at front Street then made our way over to Muldoon's.  Squires met up with us there and Sean invited 2 gal friends from U of I, and I cannot for the life of me remember both of their names.  Anyways, we had some drink at Muldoon's then Squires drove Sean, Anderson and I around.  We dropped Anderson off and headed to one of Sean's friend's houses.  It was sweet, she has this guest house above her separate garage and her moms an artist.  So the whole thing is just painted, floor to ceiling.  We played some games, told some stories and had some drinks.  We left around 2:30 I think.

I was thinking about something to write about today and I decided to talk about the manipulative nature of people our age.  I think girls are way better at playing guys.  I think its because guys are just easier to read than girls, therefore easier to predict.  I don't know if I've ever been played by a girl. I guess my ex may have, but she admitted that she cheated on me right away, so I don't think her intentions were to "play" me.  I do think that I am prone to being played though.  Even though I'm not as emotionally driven as I was in high school and early college, I could still imagine becoming infatuated with a girl despite some sort of obvious evidence that she is playing me.  I wonder how often girls do this to guys and what their motives are.  Is it an ego boost or are they really just confused?  I need some insight from maybe a psych major, or maybe a woman's studies major...Is there any solid studies conducted on things like this that I could reference?

Last thing, on the job front.  The idea of going into business with Drabik gets more appetizing everyday but I would still take a good engineering job if offered one at this point.



Here's to Ron Santo,

Chin

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

The Mermaid Theory

Despite being unemployed, my life has developed a schedule.  Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays are filled with running errands and working out.  Tuesdays and Thursdays I work the afternoon shift at Shane's.  The only thing is that I don't wake up until noon-ish usually.  I could be lazy, but usually I will wake up around 9 or 10, realize I have no pressing issues and then go back to sleep.  One project I am considering taking on is painting a wall in my bedroom, or all the walls.  I was thinking of doing a giant block M on one side, suggestions?

With waking up this late, I am usually awake until around 2 or 3 in the morning.  The nighttime is filled with COD, maybe grabbing a drink with a friend or two, movies and watching TV.  One of the shows I have really started following is How I met Your Mother.  The new episodes are on CBS, but there are repeats on CW, Lifetime and maybe another network.  Point being, the show has some great ideas, such as the Mermaid Theory.

The Mermaid Theory is very similar to my Platonic Theory.  The theory, according to the show, was inspired by the idea that sailors from ages ago would grow extremely desperate for female contact, so eventually, sea manatees would start looking like beautiful woman with fins or mermaids.  This theory states that the girls that guys hang out with all have a mermaid clock.  They can start as girls who we think are cool friends (manatees), but eventually the clock expires and the girls become mermaids.  I think this idea makes a lot of sense.  When you couple it with my theory that completely platonic feelings cannot exist between a guy and a girl, at least on the guys side, there are some discrepancies.  The main discrepancy being that the Mermaid Theory claims that guys can be strictly friends with girls, but over time they will eventually see them differently.  I have to think more about this theory, but I like it regardless.

Another hilarious idea they had was "The Blitz".  The idea is there is always "that guy" who, when they leave a party or something, something awesome happens.  Moral of the story, How I Met Your Mother is a hilarious show and I think I'm going to make an effort to watch the new episodes on Mondays.

Here's a link to B.o.B's new mixtape: B.o.B. - No Genre.  I still don't know what I think about B.o.B. but this mixtape is definitely helping his cause.

Here's to the Gator Bowl,

Chin

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Where can you see yourself in 10 years?

Um, in a mirror, just like how I can see myself today.

Jokes!

Today, I got that call from the Schaumburg company.  Interesting it should come on a Saturday. Anyway, it was the CEO, Boon.  I think he's really trying to get me an honest chance because he said that he wants to give me until about mid January to brush up on my programming and then talk to them again.  Those that know me, however, know that the extent of my software knowledge, even at its peak, was insufficient, to say the least.  I do feel inclined to (re)learn as much as I can about programming languages, but...I got an email from a staffing company that works for John Deere.  The job sounds really interesting, I would be working on the wiring and stuff of John Deere products and such.  The two drawbacks are the location and pay.  It is in Dubuque, Iowa, near the Illinois/Iowa border, about 3 hours out of Wheaton.  Then the pay is a little lower than I would like, but if the various benefits are included and cost of living low enough in Dubuque, then it could be a great first job.  I am going to call the number I received in the email on Monday.

Until then I work at Shane's all day tomorrow.  I worked there all day today, but its just more money in the pocket.  Ron's mentioned that he might start charging me rent at the beginning of the year, bummer.

I finally got Skype working on my laptop and got to catch up with the likes of Lizzie, Wheeler and Dane.  I like Skype, the only thing is, I can't figure a good way to "end" a conversation.  To me, it's like a non-verbal version of "you hang up!"..."No, you hang up!"  Do any of you struggle with this/have tips to make it not like this?

Last night I went to a Chinese American fundraising banquet thing to appease my Grandma.  While driving downtown with PoPo, we discussed the Asian attitudes in America.  1502 knows my frustration/borderline racism with these attitudes, but PoPo offered a reason for these attitudes.  All along, I thought they were super clicky and generally impolite because they don't use formalities like "How are you today?" or "excuse me".  Apparently, according to PoPo, they don't do say these things because they are shy and they are shy because they are polite.  I guess in Chinese culture, it is respectful to stay quieter around people who are older than you.  Granted, I was the same age as a lot of my classmates, I guess this custom just leaked to people that you don't know too well.  The more I write this, the less sense it makes.  I mean, I'm not the most outgoing with people I just met, but at least I met them.  So many of the Asians on North Campus were just clicky and never tried to meet people.  They just stayed in their little groups and talked about academia or things in another language (like Stev's cartoons).  On the few occasions I did talk with them, be it group projects or similar classes, they just wanted information from me it seemed.  Here's an example, at the banquet last night...tons of Asians.  There were some white people too, and black people.  Anyways, there was a Caucasian girl there, about my age and really cute, like my kind of style cute.  I think she helped plan the event or at least volunteered to help or something, because she didn't have a seat and was standing the whole time.  So it was this dinner thing, the whole time though, they had light entertainment going on at a front stage to try to raise money for this organization, CASL.  Most people weren't paying attention.  So I was facing towards the back of the room, where this girl was standing.  I swear we kept exchanging glances.  Eventually, she walked to our table and was standing directly across from our round table, facing the stage.  So we were pretty close...Then, this older Asian woman sitting behind this girl yells, "Excuse me, some of us are trying to watch this!" and promptly shoos this cute girl to the back of the room again.  Of course I was watching the whole time, and that Asian woman was mean mugging her with this look of "Stupid girl, what's wrong with you"...Ok, at this point, I should have done my part, maybe gone back and talked with her, but I just never got the courage.  I was out of my element ok?  It wasn't South U, its harder out here, without liquid courage, might I add. So that's my example of Asians being rude.  Note, I am aware that there are a lot of cool Asians out there, but I think those are the ones that understand the different cultural nuances that our societies have and can be more socially aware when in American society.  I don't want to say that everyone should adapt to the American lifestyle, but thats the style I am most comfortable with, I'm not racist.

This is Rahm Emanuel, running for Chicago mayor, and my sister, he showed up at the beginning of the banquet.  I will be voting for Carol Moseley Braun, if I live in the city because she came by and said hi to my table, I shook her hand!  Rahm was impatient...



Anderson and I are trying to make plans for New Year's downtown, should be a blast.  Feel free to come to Chicago!

Here's to that cute girl I should have talked to (it was even new friend Friday!),

Chin

Friday, December 3, 2010

Shouldve eaten a pork chop

So I'm sitting in the lobby of a tire shop. Turns out there was a nail in my passenger side front tire and I am going downtown tonight to a Chinese banquet with my Grandma. I figured that it would be a good time to update right now.

Zinc my little mishap at stephs house I have been relatively productive. I applied to a job at Chrysler and just received an email for a position with John deere in Dubuque, Iowa. The position sounds pretty good, its 2+ years a contracted electrical engineer. The pay is a little lower than I would like but it's still pretty good. I talked to shane about it and he said his uncle or dad works for John deere and they are very good to their employees.

My grandma kind of guilted me into going to this banquet but I figure its a good thing to do because, well, shes my grandma. I hope I don't get stuck in a snowstorm on the way back. My sister an Trent will be there too, so it should be fun.

I am still feeling pretty embarrassed about the whole incident at stephs, mostly because I really don't remember a lot of it. I could have and probably did make a complete fool of myself. I am going to hang out with Sean this weekend to hopefully get some information on what happened.

After this tire fix, I think I'll get an oil change if I have time.

No media this time since I'm on my phone.

Here's to Dubuque, IA,

Chin