Year of 2008 in Review (Abridged)

It has been a year of momentum for me.

I graduate high school.
I'm in college now.
I'm legal.
OJ is finally convicted.
Guns N Roses finally releases Chinese Democracy, after ten years. Albeit, without Slash.
Watchmen is finally in film production, after over ten years. Fox can suck a chode.
Dark Knight had me jizzing my pants.
SNL is actually funny.
Barack Obama.

But then again...
Gas has teetered from $4.50 to $1.50
The economy is rapidly on its way to hell
Keanu Reeves still has a career
Large Hadron Collider
The Big Three have self-destruct
Britney career is actually going somewhere good. At least that's what I hear.
David Duchovny is in sex rehab
And my girlfriend of a year and nine months broke up with me.

... that last part sucked in particular, but hey, it's added to my year of momentum. A lot has happened (or at least I'm more aware of what's happening) in the year of 2008. So let's crack open the champagne and hope 2009 does some good for us!

Till then,

Happy New Years, and Welcome 2009!

Dreaming about Paul Rudd

That's what I did last night. No, literally. Apparently, we were supposed to hang out and fly out to... God, I wish I remembered. I think it was London. Unfortunately, I had work - which is preposterous because I have the whole week off. Paul Rudd. Me. London. They say dreams are composites of your memories, remembered and forgotten; just recently I saw Forgetting Sarah Marshall which starred Paul Rudd. My friends, Carlos Gonzalez and John "The Almighty" Vaughn are supposed to go to London... It all makes sense now. What does not make sense to me, however, is how we ended up in the middle of Mexico, eating in a restaurant. Then again, most dreams don't have to make sense.

I Am Going Broke...

I took a trip to Frank and Sons today - it's a perfect place to get a gift for somebody who's well-oriented in comic books, Japanese culture, airsoft, sports, or pop culture overall. A great warehouse that sells collectibles - they've even got a place where you can get the BEST movie posters, and a booth not that far away where you can keep that poster in a poster protector :D Anywho, enough of my advertising...

I came in with the intent of spending my Christmas money (all $140) on something in Frank and Sons. However, as I thought about it, I also wanted to save my money for my trip to Solvang, California; I'm going camping with several friends from New Years Day to the fourth (the day I'm supposed to move back to Irvine - cutting it close, eh?) and we're camping out at Gaviota State Park. Solvang - a city made famous by Sideways, The Simpsons, and other television shows(American Dad, Pinky and the Brain, Kathy Griffin) - is not that far away from Gaviota, and we usually take a trip out there whenever we're around. Well, at least my friend, Spencer does.

Ah yes, Spencer Brown - he's usually the man who coordinates these trips out to Gaviota because he frequents out there often. I went with him once, and I had the time of my life. This was the summer of my freshmen year going into my sophomore year of high school - those were good memories. Since then, I've been desperate to go but unfortunately there's always bad timing. I was afraid that the same would happen, considering that my family is planning on heading down to San Diego for the New Years Countdown; my parents's friends are throwing a party and my parents planned on attending by dragging us along. Its a conglomeration of a whole bunch of families, really. That's a story for another time, however.

I'm digressing. Point is, I wanted to save money for this camping trip, so I walked into Frank and Sons determined to walk out with at least $100 in my pockets.

I walked out with $43 bucks left.

The reason for the sudden hole in my pocket?

The glory that is Watchmen. But I bought more than that.


I dropped $60 on this monolith of a beauty. I know the math doesn't add up, but I also bought other things as well. But this one was the biggest reason for the hole in my wallet. And it was completely by impulse, too. I walked out of Frank and Sons with this beauty in my hands, in shock for like an hour. Literally. Like, I knew I should be feeling guilt, but feeling it in my hands, the weight of it, the smell of it, the beauty of the page - I did not regret my buy.

Oversized hardcover collection. Digitally remastered line art. Brand New Coloring. 48 pages of extras, from samples of Alan Moore's original script to the promotional pieces.

I believe there's a song to the feeling I got while I held this beauty in my hand.

Then a thought came to mind as I embraced my treasure: I paid $60 on a comic book.

... I believe there's a six letter word for my kind: virgin*.












*I jest, of course. I just like poking at stereotypes. Ever since geek chic got popular, this stereotype seems to have died.

Apparently, I do have an audience!

I woke up sometime around three in the afternoon today, much to my horror. I never sleep past 1:30 PM, but three?! I've practically slept my whole day away! Probably wouldn't have done much with it, anyways...

I woke up to an empty house. Sure, for awhile my uncle, aunt, and baby cousin were meandering about, but after I brushed my teeth and took a shower, I walked out to find the house quiet. After my supper of Pho (because I've slept through breakfast and lunch), I grew quickly bored of what was happening around my house: nothing. I tried to remedy the situation with the internet, but it seems like every time I have the opportunity to use the internet all I want - I find no entertainment in it. And during times when I shouldn't be distracted by it e.g. finals studying, paper writing, homework, and so on - the internet is more interesting to me than whatever my studies can provide.

So, instead, I call my friend Miki Fukusumi for a chat over at Starbucks. I haven't seen her in ages - several years, actually - and decided to have a pleasant chat to see how she's doing. I don my trademark hat, and my large coat, gave myeslf a quick shave, and rushed on over there. On my way, surprisingly enough, my trusty friend Cody Speidel from high school found me in the parking lot. He's always been a kind, warm, brotherly type of fellow to me - we grew apart during the past year and I regret it. However, I did try to spend some time with him over my Christmas break, but to no avail - the number he gave me was not a working number. His girlfriend was with him, and the car was pungent with Little Caeser's pizza.

After the random chance encounter, I saw somebody that I recognized from high school outside. She was one of those faces that I see around campus a lot during my time over at Diamond Ranch High School but I never knew her name. It wasn't until I went inside Starbucks that I learned her name after all these years - Marcy.

I learned her name from another random encounter - three girls who were in my class throughout middle school and high school were there, talking it up with Miki. Tina Stutzman, Sam Zeeman, and Marika Hoeckman - odd how I'm still able to remember how to spell their last name. Then again, I have known them since middle school - I've had six years to remember.

Miki couldn't stick around long - apparently, she had a prior engagement she forgot about. Luckily, I had Tina, Sam, and Marika to keep me company. Completely random, but it was nice to see them again - most especially after high school. We played the usual game of Catch Up that every former classmates play with each other and learned some new things about other people in our lives. It was from them that I learned of Marcy's name, and at the same time it was from them that I learned that I had an audience - apparently, Tina reads my blog/notes on Facebook. Don't blame her - honestly, what's there better to do in college? Study? *pretentious scoff done in a sarcastic manner that conveys that I'm just jesting but quite possibly not*

Afterward, I spent my evening with Jessika Taylor-Nunez, another old friend from high school that graduated before I did. It was nice catching up - and once again, I randomly encountered other people from my high school: Airi Ando and Alex He. Jessika and Airi were both in band with me, and I believe Alex was in my Physics class my sophomore year. Jessika and I left Airi and Alex to their conversation after we said our hellos. Apparently, Jessika's a victim of revertigo - a condition where you start acting and dressing like you did in the past when you start spending time with people you used to hang out with. College students suffer from this most especially when they come back home.

And now, here I am. I'm writing because well - I promised Tina, Sam, and Marika that I would blog about it. They probably don't quite remember that I mentioned it, but I'm pretty sure Tina will read through this and remember an inkling of it, won't you, Tina?

Alright, I must finish up The Day the Earth Stood Still - I've had my web browser open to it all day on Youtube and I've hardly touched it. Mind you, I'm watching the original version, not the one with crappy Keanu Reeves; I haven't seen it yet, but with Keanu Reeves playing Klaatu, it has to be crap.

Hmm... considering that it is the day after Christmas, I should probably write about the loot I received for Jesus's birthday... A fabulous tie that I received from my cousin (which is actually spot on - I like dressing up in business attire and such) as well as $140 of cold hard cash. Always nice to have cash in the pockets :D

Christmas Time is Here!

Happy Chrismahanukwanzakah everybody!

And a little Christmas to all the geeks out there: 8-Bit Jesus: Classic Christmas Songs in the Style of Classic NES Games! With titles such as:

We Three Konami
8 Days of Master Robots
Ryu, The Red Nosed Ninja
Super Jingle Bros.
Contraland
Kraid, Rest Ye Merry Mother Brain
Have Yourself a Final Little Fantasy

and even more! Doctor Octoroc has provided this album, free for download on his website! And with a $15 donation, you can receive a physical album!

Wow, I'm turning into a infomercial. I should probably stop.

For those movie junkies out there, here's an abridged version of Santa Clause Conquers the Martians brought to you by Mystery Science Theatre 3000:



And for everybody else, Arnold Schwarzenegger's Jingle All The Way, featuring Sinbad!

Can you believe I spelled Arnold's last name correctly on the first try?

And to all of those celebrating it tomorrow, have a Happy Kwanzaa!

Been meaning to write in here

For a long while, actually - but everytime I have my browser open to the page where I write my blog, I always get distracted. I find it amusing how during a time when I have nothing better to do, I don't blog as much. Yet, whenever there's work to be done, I opt for writing in my blog instead. Well, anything to avoid work, right?

But I'm blogging now. For the sake of blogging and for the sake of keeping it habit. And now, for some entertainment:

A Group of Ninjas Protesting at a Pirate Festival



And for something more festive:

The Twisted Sisters do "O Come All Ye Faithful" to the tune of "We're Not Gonna Take It"

I'd Rather Fight Apollo Creed

... then have to fight this cold! Thankfully, I'd filled up on my Vitamin C via fresh orange and pineapple so my sinuses aren't that stuffed right now. Additionally, I'm listening to A Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack and it gets me into a festive mood - most especially this time of year! I found it odd, though, that Wes Anderson always uses this album in his movies, no matter what the season... I don't blame him though, it's always a great thing to listen to. Kudos to the Vince Guaraldi Trio!

And hey even Arrested Development has used A Charlie Brown Christmas, too!




Oh, how I miss this show... Thank God they're making a movie for it, though!

There was a point to this post aside from connecting Charlie Brown to Wes Anderson and Arrested Development...

Oh yeah! A time for reflection, considering that finals are over - as well as my first quarter of college!

I'm still having a hard time wrapping my mind around the idea that I am a college student. But since the break-up - and you guys know what break-up I'm talking about - I feel myself assimilating to college life. Since I've been at UCI, I find myself more politically active and more in tune with what's going on in the world; I find this undying thirst for more movies to watch, books to read, theater to enjoy insatiable. Then again, I think I've always had the latter. I find myself more and more on digg.com and reddit.com finding whatever I find interesting to catch my eye. I don't know why, but as of late, I find myself more and more comfortable in college - and then Winter Break comes by.

Quite honestly, I didn't want to leave the dorms quite yet - I mean, I was just getting used to college! There's something about waking up in the dorms with no obligation to do anything that feels absolutely great. I mean, I had this image that I'd be studying hardcore all the time, an hour to two for every hour in class.

Not the case at all.

Instead, I found myself back to my old habits, procrastinating. I was working on my paper for Jane Austen's Persuasion and I didn't really finish it until the day of. I was working on it with my new friend, Marie Pham - of no relation, the both of us happen to share the same last name - and the both of us decided to come into class late so we can work on our paper a bit longer and finish it. We didn't show up until the last five minutes of class. We turned our paper in, happy with the fact that we were able to finish our last paper of the quarter. From what they tell us, next quarter we're going to be doing research papers. I don't mind, I quite like doing research. Actually, I quite like doing papers. I don't know whether it's the writer or masochist in me that has a liking towards writing papers, but I am kind of looking forward to next quarter because of this.

Oh, and I've signed up for an Introduction to Criminology class. It should be fun - I've always taken an interest in law, and who knows - this class might be the push I need to decide upon a career. Not to mention, I hear there's a lot of writing in my class, and considering that writing is my forte, I'm down for whatever is thrown at me.

Hmmm... I seem to be losing my attention span on this post. I think I'm going meander around on the internet before I get some well-needed rest.

"Christmastime is here/Happiness and cheer"

It's Nice...

... to finally be able to wake up without obligations. Most especially in your own dorm. There's something more liberating waking up in a dorm with no obligations than your own room at home. Maybe it's the fact that I don't have my parents looming over me? Yeah, that's it.

Woke up with an ear-infection, stuffy nose, and something going on with my throat. I had an inkling that I was going to wake up with this last night - my sinuses were more clogged than a run-down, out-of-order public toilet, and I thought to myself, "Maybe I should take that dosage of 500 mg of ampicillin I have lying around here somewhere... My throat is feeling a bit raw..."

But than again, my whole mouth was raw last night after eating some cold-and-spicy flour noodles that my dorm-buddy Elliot, made for this little feast I decided to make last night. I wanted to do a bit of a feast to get rid of the stuff in my fridge - because we're being kicked out of our dorms this Saturday and we need to clear our room of all valuables and food from our fridges. But instead, I threw out the meat, went over to Trader Joes and bought some ingredients to make some of my Red Fried Rice. Twas delicious :]

Ah... it's so nice to be able to live in a dorm without any obligations. I know I've already said this but with no classes, it feels so good! And now I can read literature I actually want to read! Alright, here's a list of books I want to read over break: Persepolis, The Yiddish Policeman's Union, and The Simpsons and Philosophy.


Persepolis, from the looks of it, is a comic about a young girl growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. It's teaching me history in a format I fancy - and speaking of which, Tristan's also presented to me Action Philosophers - also a comic book, but it details the lives and details of philosophers - from Lao Tzu to Joseph Campbell. I shall look into that as well. Oh yeah, and Persepolis was also made into a movie. I plan on seeing it sometime.

The Simpsons and Philosophy I picked up because it was cheap on Amazon ($7) and not to mention, there was an excerpt on examining Homer Simpson in Aristotelian terms. Considering that Aristotle and Socrates were my strongest subjects for the past several weeks, I wanted to see there is to him. That and there's a comparison of Bart to Nietzsche, and I would like to learn more about Nietzsche. The Simpsons seem like a good place to start.

And then there's The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon - a UCI alumni. I initially picked this up because well... I judged the book by its cover and thought it look pretty awesome. I mean, look at the picture above - how can you NOT buy a book with something like that on its cover? That and the idea of Alaska being a Jewish State during post-WWII seemed like an interesting idea to me. They're making a movie out of this, too!

Crap, and then there's also a Clockwork Orange that I need to read through. I borrowed it from a girl I met a couple weeks ago, Stephanie, and promised to return it to her as soon as I'm done. Considering that I've had school for awhile, I never got around to it - well, here's my chance! I've already seen the movie which I must admit I did quite enjoy. Minus the rape scene.



Alright, so I gotta read Yiddish Policeman's Union, Clockwork Orange, Persepolis, and The Simpsons and Philosophy. Oh, and Action Philosphers. A lot of reading to do, but I like to look at it as a way of better culturing myself. I need it, anyways.

Now, movies to watch over break. The Spirit, Frost/Nixon, The Wrestler, and the Curious Case of Benjamin Button... And that's just in theaters. There's stuff that I need to watch over break so I can get into the loop of. Like Firefly - there are only thirteen episodes, right? Sorry, fourteen - I just checked. And all of them are on Hulu! Just my luck! Now, what else should I check out? Any movies? Shows? Any suggestions anybody?

... any?

GOOD LUCK ON YOUR FINALS

Hope you all do well! For those of you who need it, good luck! And as to quite what a wise man has once sad to me: "Pray to your God, and if you don't have one, get one!"

I Hate Jane Austen

Because of this abhorrence of a paper I have to write!

Maybe I'm over-thinking this. Maybe I'm just blowing this out of proportion. But goddammit, I don't know what to write! Either I've got a bad case of writer's block, or I'm just plain stupid...

Actually, this isn't a first time. I've always been terrible at writing papers on novels. Short stories, like Heart of Darkness, I can do. Papers on Aristotelian Courage or Platonic theory of forms and Love I can proudly say I've done with flying colors. But that's because the latter has forced me to apply something I've learned to situations and the former is a short story - there isn't as much to consider when it comes to literary analysis. But goddammit, I cannot do novels. There are too many themes, factors, and events to consider - and where the hell do I start?

I've brainstormed, I've slept on it, and I still haven't been able to come up with on outline about it. I mean, this paper that I'm supposed to write to so...

Alright, enough of me bitching. I just need to get into the gist of writing. Maybe I should have another practice in stream of consciousness.

Stream of consciousness. Interesting concept. Talking off the top of your head. Or in this case writing. Okay, not much of a concept. But interesting in the sense that you see a persons id - or ego? or super ego? How would Freud put it... Or was it Jung? Welcome to the Jungle! We got fun and games! Speaking of games, I wonder when my Guitar Hero should be coming in the mail... I snagged myself a copy on Amazon during the Black Friday rush. Well, it really much of a rush for me - I just bought it at home.

Ugh, I have that essay still pressing on my mind... Dammit, wireless internet access out here is pretty shitty. It's like - oh, what's a good analogy... Well, it's a hit and miss. Maybe I need to clear my mind. Blank sheet. John Locke - everybody is born with a blank slate for a mind - only the impressions of external influences can affect what is on this slate.

Descartes tried something to this affect - he tried to rationalize that human knowledge comes from the mind. He does this through denying everything - from his sense, to his own existence. He reduces himself to nothing but a thinking thought. It's the fact that he's thinking that he proves that he exists - thence, the term - "I think, therefore I am."

Then he tries to prove God's existence along this very same train of thought - pretty much, to paraphrase, I have the idea of an powerful, omniscient force. But where did this idea come from? Obviously, this omniscient force - it gave me this idea as an imprint of its existence and my being a product of its creation." Or something to that extent. A nagging feeling in the back of my mind says that I might be wrong, but after this quarter of thinking, I've kind of doubted the human mind. In fact, this quarter has taught me to hate philosophers. It's one ambiguous question after the other, and ends up in circular logic.

Hmm... Descargo, Escargo. Snails. Naked snails are slugs, right? Then what's a naked hermit crab - or a naked turtle. You know, it seems like all of these are edible in some way. Funny - Americans believe that bugs and reptiles should not be eaten, but mammals and sea life are alright for the consumption. I wonder where we got this idea. I mean, traveling to other countries, they've adopted reptiles and bugs into their diets - I've had escargot, crocodile, snake, and... well, that's about it. I mean, what's wrong with eating bugs and reptiles? They look disgusting to some, sure - but compare that to a pig. Pig's roll around in their own filth. After all, it is banned in some religions to eat pork.

Reminds me of Pulp Fiction, the diner scene where Jules Winnfield is talking to Vincent Vega about how he doesn't eat pork because he believes they're disgusting creatures. In the same vein, sewer rat can taste like the greatest thing on earth until you realize that you've eaten sewer rat. Isn't there a place in China where they serve Mountain Rats for food? They at fruits as opposed to... well, sewage, so I guess that makes'em healthy to eat... Not so sure I'd want to try it though. Not unless it's deep fried. I mean, the crocodile meat I had was deep fried, and it actually kind of tasted like chicken.

Fried chicken. Now that's something I haven't had in months. Huh. You know what, now I'm actually in the mood to write. I wonder if anybody really does read through these blogs... Well, obviously you are. You must be thinking this blog quite preposterous - or at least a bit interesting - in comparison to others. Don't exactly know where I'm going with this. I usually don't nowadays.

But it seems like Tristan - the Caucasian - is right - I should just write some shit down, just to get into the gist of writing. The Caucasian - maybe that should be his nickname... Kind of reminds me of the Big Lebowski; the Dude always orders a White Russian, or as he sometimes calls it, a Caucasian. So quite honeslty, not exactly naming him after his ethnicity, but rather a cocktail. That happens to be his ethnicity. I could call him the White Russian, but he really isn't Russian, he's German. And a lumberjack. Maybe I should start calling him Jack. Cause of his lumberjack backgrounds. I've seen that guy without his shirt off, it shows that he's done some work with lumber (No homo).

Alright... Maybe I can finally get to writing my paper. Hopefully I can get that shit done. I still don't know what I'm going to do, but hey, at least I got my typing fingers back.

Let's get to work.