Guy told me that we were all going to other day.

Walking away from class today, my attention was caught by a crowd; I walked towards them only to find one of those crazy Evangelist with signs. He mentioned something about Obama endorsing guys porking other guys (more or less his exact words) and had a banner that listed the type of people going to hell - aside from the typical Atheists and Non-believers, there were also Mouth Women and Girlie Men listed.

And he called us (the collective UCI students staring at this circus act) stupid and ignorant. Ironic, eh?

Least something's happening at UCI...

"You want to take your shirt off..."

God if only that work... But at least Fanboys is finally getting a release! It's a limited release, with 10 screenings of it in LA next friday. And dammit, I NEED to see this! As a geek, I am not only ENTITLED to watch this - I must gaze upon Kristen Bell in the Princess Leia slave costume.

I have to stop. The thought of it is making the blood rush to my head.

The other one.

I need a cold shower.

Subliminal Message

Look at this.


What does it look like?

I'll give you a minute.

... Yep. Whole new meaning to "forbidden fruit", huh?

Ah, how I miss Lion Dance...

Just came back from practice. Got two videos to share with the world:



This is me just showing what I've been doing for the past two months... I swear, I can play better - more articulated, much clearer, and such.

And then there's this:


How The Day Sounds from Miky Wolf on Vimeo.

Greg Laswell
How The Day Sounds
Directed by Autumn de Wilde
DP: Byron Shah
Producer: Chris Rossi
Production Company: [b-negative]
Editor: Miky Wolf
©2008 Vanguard Records, a Wellk Music Group Company

I've watched this music video over and over again. It's quite... well, you'll have to see.

I have a new found respect for my boss

Well, at least my supervisor, Carla. She's one of the peoplethat control my salary - or more like, controls the hours I can work. Anywho, we had an interesting conversation going on about comic books and science fictionl; she's read all the comic books I have read, and then some. Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore, Sandman, 30 Days of Night, Watchmen, Star Wars, Star Trek...

And then, I found out I'm working next weekend. Not jumping for joy over that, but at least I'm getting hours. Not to mention, there's a Super Bowl party that Sunday at work. Think I'll go to that - I'm feeling a bit more comfortable around my co-workers, so I think I'll let myself loosen up over there. Must find something to make to contribute to the potluck... (Note to self: Make sure there's still money for work study...)

Also, I NEED THESE:


THEY ARE TEH SECKS! (Link totally sfw, just linked to the blog I found these off of)

I am also submitting to an impulse buy of Ninja Tacks. They're thumbtacks, in Ninja Star form.
Okay, enough ignoring homework. I've really got to stop putting off homework pass midnight...

Let's go, radio-

activity!

I knew that Amazon sells everything but honestly!

I love the customer review/comments left. My favorite?

When I finally finished and successfully tested my first plutonium powered Dolorean time machine, I was a bit miffed by the fact that I had to accelerate all the way up to 88 mph before the flux capacitor would be able to kick in and send me into the great beyond. This is quite a pain when you live in the city and have to drive all the way to places like closed shopping malls, drive-in theatres, abandoned highways, and rail road tracks to get up to that kind of speed. Once I heard that Amazon was finally selling U-238 legally, I quickly purchased some and used the instruction booklet (included at no extra charge) to enrich it and build myself a uranium powered reactor which I then installed in my time machine. On the first test run, the flux capacitor jumped into full gear at only 37 mph! Now I can go time travelling on my own street and not worry about the commute.

Thank you, Amazon for selling this fantastic and incredibly useful product! I'm sure that with careful marketing, in five years no American home will be without it.

Thank you, Amazon for providing us such great products and great entertainment.

Another distraction from homework....

Well, this weekend has been very unproductive for me. And this week does not bode well for me... Nothing but work and attempts to study.

All I can really recall of my weekend is my time with some Gio Nam/Southern Wind/Lion Dance buddies - Hung Le and Nam Nguyen. Came as a bit of a surprise - Sunday they called me out for some Dim Sum and I came along. Afterwards, we went out to go fishing off the Balboa Pier in Newport Beach.

A familiar, bittersweet sight lies at the end of this pier: The Ruby's Diner that I took my ex-girlfriend to on her 17th Birthday... Those were good times. But times I didn't let cloud my mind as I stood at the pier, attempting to catch some fish. It wasn't until Hung gave me some sage advice on fishing that the fish really started biting. And I have to say, I really did enjoy myself. Just standing there, taking in the scene, letting the loudspeakers of Ruby's Diner play some old music reminiscent of the Prohibition, old American chauvanism, the Great Depression - and best of all, jazz. I enjoyed the bonding time genuinely.

And the verdict? Three mackerels and two scorpion fish.

We brought home more or less 20 mackerels in a bucket. I came back to the dorm with a zip lock bag of five mackerels - now freezing in my fridge - as well as a pair of jeans stained with fish guts.

I'm not looking forward to school, though. I think I got a lot of studying and working to do. I'm going to try to endure some minimal sleep. See how that works out for me.

Notes to self

Just ideas that I need to put out there. Lists, and such. And who doesn't like lists?

Ways to Kill Boredom:
- With a hatchet
- Epic Nerf Gun battle with fortresses made out of couches
- Golfing on the beach
- Ice blocking
- Drawing on windows with dry erase markers
- Golfing on rooftops
- Shopping cart jousting
- Street hockey
- Flash Mob

Costume Ideas:
- Oddjob from James Bond
- Kiss
- Zombies w/ survivors of Left 4 Dead & cast of Resident Evil
- Boo from Super Mario
- Yip Yip from Sesame Street
- Muppets
- Barbershop Quartet

This will be updated throughout the year. Now I just need the will to go through with it.

You remember that "weight" thing I posted a couple months ago?

EPIC FAIL

Yeah, I've gotten lazy... And really let myself go during the holidays... BUT I plan on jumping back on the horse and riding it home!

Eventually...

Okay, tomorrow. I really need it.

... you know, it's partially your fault. I told you guys before that I needed motivation on your part, and I got zero feedback on it!

But then again, I doubt that I have that wide of a readership... There are a couple of you out there reading, this though. I'm sure of it. I just wish I knew who.

I shouldn't blame you guys for my laziness, I'm sorry.

And I think I may be getting my Scholastic Fingers back - you know, the ones I use to type papers and such. A Midsummer Night's Dream has plagued me recently; I'm supposed to analyze a passage out of it rhetorically via Ethos, Logos and Pathos - a quick flashback to my Junior Year in Mr. Jason Charles, for those of you who remember - and I had a terrible time coming up with a thesis.

But, voila! I've found a hunch, and I need to explore it!

On another random note, I need to work on my script-writing craft. I've got books on it I should really look into, and its the same text that the screenwriting class at UCI is using... How fortunate for me. :D

It's late, and I feel a bit tired. Note to self, however: window mural is blank. Must decorate with random pop culture. Over.

This made my night.

I was talking to a good friend of mine that I keep on liking more and more with each and every encounter - Tony La. The both of us were just standing on the stairs in front of the Humanities Hall of UCI, wasting time and talking. Somewhere within our conversation I absentmindedly pulled out Monica, my harmonica, out and blew a couple notes in it.

The both of us heard a man approach, saying something that was not quite audible to our ears because we thought he was directing his speech towards someone else. I thought he was talking on his cellphone with a blue-tooth headset - but at a glance I saw he was not. There was nobody else around him, so I immediately tuned in to what he was saying after I came to the realization that he was talking to us.

He pulls a harmonica out - and old Hohner pocket harmonica in the key of C. I asks if I can play a couple notes in it and my gosh what a tone. After I gave it back to him, without a beat, he just starts playing riffs. Compelled, I played along - playing long notes underneath the rapid fire bullets he bursts into the holes of that mouth harp. I didn't want to try anything fancy, I just wanted to hear him. My accompaniment - least from what I can hear - blended well with his fanciful notes of eighths and sixteenths - I wanted to just listen, but at the same time I wanted to be a part of the music so I just kept on playing. The small audience watching us from the bridge up above were highly entertained, but not as much as I was, oh no.

I almost forgot how great it feels to make beautiful music...

It only lasted for a moment, this ad hoc jam session, but my God it was awesome. Finally, I was able to improve with somebody something that actually sounded like good music. And I was actually (kinda) able to keep up!

We exchanged names: he introduced himself as Richard Nester, the writing instructor over at UCI's LARC (Learning and Academic Resource Center) program. I introduced myself as Henry, a first year at UCI that he's bound to see around more often. I was compelled to give him my card, but decided against it - I found it wiser not to.

After that brief - but amazing - encounter, Tony and I were absolutely flabbergasted. It was badass - to say the least. Next time I see him - and hopefully I recognize his face - I hope we can have a repeat of our experience.

My God, I expected today to be pretty shitty with my busy schedule, but that moment absolutely made my night.

Haikus

Expecting no sleep
Long nights procrastinating
Masochistic joy

Dave Brubeck Quartet
Helps me bear these long, long nights
Three to Get Ready

I find amazing
Blazing heat during the day
Bloody cold late nights

Must take my leave now
Have long day ahead of me
Absolute dreading

I leave you all now
With an amazing picture
Me with no pants on

I have found

the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything.

Now to find the question...

"Actually, here take a card."

I've been passing these out like candy. Everywhere I go, every person I meet.

"Hey, nice to meet you, I'm Henry. In fact, take a card."

I hand these out like candy and I keep on forgetting I'm leaving the URL to my blog on these. I'm already through half of my cards - and mind you, I call them "My Card" as opposed to "My Business Card" - and I'm guessing there's at least a handful who's visited this website out of curiosity. Or at least one person. To those of you who are visiting... well... welcome!

Now for a random thought:

I play the harmonica. I have a smoking pipe. A gray fedora. Blazers. And to top it all off, "business" cards.

Gimmicky or awesome?

I don't know, but I'm pretty sure this qualifies me as one of those "unique characters." This makes me sound pretentious, doesn't it? You know, I've always thought people who used the word "pretentious" are pretentious themselves - but what does that say about me?

Uh-oh. I'm on a random stream of consciousness again. This is fun, I wonder where my thoughts are going to take me.

You know, I found something great that you can do. Get a ping pong ball. Cut'em in half. Tape those halves to your eyes. Lie down on a couch. Turn on a radio to static. Then, you'll start hallucinating. You see, the brain is addicted to sensations that appeal to... well, the senses. Thence the ping pong ball and the static - they're "whitenoises" that tune out the senses. The brain then starts developing its own. To entertain itself, I suppose.

Entertain. I had a dream last night. I don't remember what it's about. I remember it was entertaining. I know there's somebody that I recognize in my dream. I seem to be having some pretty vivid dreams lately. Last one I remembered? Barack Obama.

I'd really like to meet the guy. He seems like a nice guy to talk to - and he collects Spider-man comic books! Marvel is actually making an issue where Spidey talks to Obama. Now THAT'S gimmicky.

Still, Spidey needs it. Don't know if a lot of you know, but Peter Parker and Mary Jane? NO MORE! Peter traded his marriage for Aunt May's life - she got shot in an assassination attempt against Parker and was about to die. Mephisto shows up, offers MJ and Parker a chance to trade in their marriage and all memories of it for Aunt May's life. And despite the fact that Aunt May's already reaching the age where death is expected...

The writers decided to end the Parker/Jane marriage.

I was pretty pissed off about this - it's like ending the Superman/Lois Lane marriage - it's blasphemy! I thought it was one of those unwritten rules of comic books, you know? Where everything's possible except for the resurrection of Ben Parker (in canon); Clark Kent & Lois Lane will always be together; Catwoman and Batman will still have many flirtations but will not really amount to much considering they're both on different sides of the law; The Flash will always be the fastest thing alive; and Spidey and Mary Jane will be together forever!

But nooooooooooooooooooooooooo! Let's end it! Let's ruin the Spidey franchise, as if it hasn't been molested enough by the third Spiderman movie!

ARGH! As if it wasn't bad enough insinuating that Gwen Stacy and the Green Goblin were having an affair and had twin children (I wish I could, but I shit you not. Wiki it). NO! They have to do retarded stuff like this to - oh God, rape my childhood!

And this is why I turned to Batman! Not the "main" one, but the other "non-canon" stuff - at least those are written in quality!

Damn you, Marvel. I used to love you so much because you did stuff that DC would never do - kill, murder, cheat, and lie. And now I've turned to DC because Batman makes more sense to me than the retarded mess you've left my childhood.

Sigh.

I need a shower. I like seeing how I went from "business card" to "Fuck Spiderman, go Batman!" Weird thing where the mind can take you.

Dreamt about Barack Obama last night

We were in Hawaii. In the ocean for some odd reason. It was tropical. There were sharks and giant reefs. We went back to his house, and had dinner there. He seems like a really chill guy. We just sat down, leaned against a glass window that looked into his backyard that was the Pacific Ocean and just talked while his house was busy. My ex-girlfriend was also there, for some odd reason - leaning between me and Barack. Wolverine was also somewhere in my dream, too.

This dream is probably in response to some thoughts weighing in my mind. Hawaii - well, I can't really explain why I thought of that. I'm guessing it's from Forgetting Sarah Marshall and that movie's kind of been on my mind lately. The sharks I don't remember so much - probably from the article I read about the man who inspired the character Quint in Jaws. The ex-girlfriend's appearance, well - it's a bit obvious. Wolverine? Hells-fucking-yeah that's been on my mind!

And then there's Barack.

'Course he's been on my mind for awhile. Not because he's the next President-elect but because I'm worried for him. And his career.

Yes, he's got charisma, and yes, he's our first ethnic president - but he's also being fucked over by our friend George Dubya. He's being handed eight years of an unpopular war, a spiraling recession, and a lot of high expectations.

He's already made several good calls. He's elected people who are actually qualified for their positions in the cabinet. He's got Hillary Clinton as his Secretary of State - which is good for this divisive Democrats who are all hardcore for the Cliton. Arne Duncan as our Secretary of Education - and this guy is the current Chief Executive Officer of the Chicago Public Schools. But the thing that's really got to me? The nomination of Steven Chu as our Secretary of Energy - a real fucking Nobel Prize winning fucking scientist.

However...

Rumor has it, he's pulling a Gerald Ford and there's a possibility that he might pardon our good friend Dubya from all war crimes that he could be indicted for.

Now you can understand why I worry for the guy. Obviously there are going to be people out there, wanting to tear Bush piece by piece who feel that Bush should get a trial. And I can understand why Obama doesn't want to - "moving forward" and such... But this is going to be terrible for his approval ratings.

Not to mention, I feel like a Depression is inevitable. Sure, the economy is looking up for now - but once Obama's approval ratings drop, people are going to start criticizing him, faith is gonna be loss, stock market's going to drop rapidly, bada-bing! Maybe it's me being paranoid...

But it's articles like this that's got me all shits and scaries. The Great Depression II - seems imaginable, but then again so did another World War. And so did another Indiana Jones movie.

I'm hungry. I think I'm going to go eat now.

Usually late night like these...

most especially in Diamond Bar, California - I look outside my window and start to worry as I can see the sun rise beyond the horizon and over the hills.

But then I check the time, and realize that it's just light pollution.

Reminds me of the camping trips I always take several times a year. It's weird, but one of the reasons I don't like camping is because it reminds me of my own mortality. I blame it on the night sky; being able to see all those stars, staring into the infinite. Subconsciously I feel how small I am against the vast measureless darkness that we call the universe, and how my existence doesn't really mean much in the indefinitely broad measure of things. And then I start to feel a need for the city life again; man-made walls surround me, protect me from this constant reminder of the nihilism rooted deep within my mind.

I take comfort in hearing the freeway outside of my bedroom window at home. It's not right outside of my window; it's at a distance - a mile or two - far away enough for it to be soft white noise but close enough for me to know that there are people riding man-made, 12 tons of raw power out there on the road. Even at night. I grew up with that sound, slept to it, lived with it. I guess I take comfort in the inventions and constructions of the human mind - although, not so much the creator of all these artificial creations.

But by all means, that doesn't mean I don't enjoy camping with friends. I just enjoy the city more. I'm a city boy, and I grew up that way. I like my concrete walls, and I like to decorate them with artistic, creative practices and cultures of all sorts - both inventions of the human mind. It keeps my mind busy and helps me forget that I am really just one person amongst the canvas of trillions of lifeforms on this planet - and quite possibly, one against the trillion trillion trillion in this universe - struggling for survival. I am one being against the billions of humans on this planet trying to find meaning. God, that's so fucking scary.

I write this after a late night spent at another midnight screening of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. My thoughts came to a nihilistic approach as I rode home from the theater in Claremont, looking outside towards the artificial night sky done by light pollution. My thoughts - they traveled to the many camping trips I've been too, and the many nights where I've just lied there in my sleeping bag or my air bed - and look up towards the fabric ceiling of my tint and think to myself, "There's a thin layer of fabric between me and the infinite that is the sky, space, the universe - staring right back at me."

And then I fall asleep letting that thought haunt me for the rest of the night. And hell, my life even. I've just never really communicated these thoughts to anybody because well... fuck, it's quite a buzzkill for a thrill-seeker like me. But it haunts me still, to this day...

Random observation

I've been keeping tabs on several blogs of people close to me lately, and I've come to realize that people have different writing "voices" than their real voices. Not much of a realization come to think of it... Well, what I've noticed more is how different everybody writes compared to how they speak. I mean it's one thing writing for papers, but for blogs - the way they speak online differs greatly to my interaction with them outside of the 'net. And then I compare my writing online to my own speech and I find myself more verbose online. In real life, on the other hand, I'm more vulgar and blunt.

Wow, that was a worthless paragraph. On another note...

I've been listening to a lot of Ska lately. It's odd, the genre never really interested me but the hat I'm wearing kind of makes me feel impelled to listen to lots of Reel Big Fish and skank my way home. Luckily, I got a hold of several gigs of Ska from My White Friend - as he insists on being called - Tristan.


Reel Big Fish

Mmmm... 'scuse me as I listen to ska covers of 80s music...

I'm An Idiot

I just learned how to add titles to this blog...

God, this would have helped a long time ago. Oh well, the more you know.



Putting my idiocy aside, I feel like I really needed that winter break. As I arrived in my dorm the other day, a lot of my dormmates were surprised to see me wearing a gray fedora and a suit jacket - well, I guess when you're not wearing a suit jacket with a full on suit, I guess it's a blazer - a blazer. Those paired with my Vans Limited Edition Era in antique gold and black:

Trust me, these look a lot better on my feet than in this picture.

I have to admit - damn, I look fresh.

I walked through UCI feeling like a new man. I've got a newer, chipper attitude, a new look and style, and I'm feeling more confident than I did last quarter. Granted, my studying habits still haven't changed and there's that possibility that in a couple weeks I'll fall back to my old ways...

But here's hoping I improve! Or stay the way I am right now...

I made small adjustments in my room that I must admit I quite like. Well, quite honestly the only adjustment I've done is put all the books I care about onto my desk shelf - which actually helps with the look of my room a lot.

And also, during lecture today, Professor Lupton was talking about "Making" as a core theme for our lecture - and all this talk about making had me in a mood to "make" a script. So, throughout the lecture, I made a start on a script. From the looks of it, it looks decent. The dialogue's kind of got that whimsical Seinfield/Tarantino element in a sense that the audience is caught in a random conversation shared between two acquaintances/friends. I'm going to try to develop it into a little crime/comedy type of short film from the looks of it...

... and from the looks of it, I've ignored my Italian homework for much too long. Alright, off I go.

... and you know, from the looks of how this year is starting - it's going to be a real good year.

Perfect Way to Start Off the New Year

After a night of miscellaneous video games and Death Race down in San Diego, I had my bags packed and ready for Santa Barbara county! I've previously stated in one of my earlier posts my plans for New Years. New Year Eve was - sad to say - uneventful and as climatic as my sex life.

And I have no sex life.

By no means I didn't enjoy myself; it was nice being able to see and spend some time with several of the folks that were able to grace me with their presence. I just wish we could have spent our time somewhere other than where we were: in a mansion with drunk, older adults who finished the alcohol before we could get the chance. I mean, it's one thing talking about our debauchery with alcohol, but another thing when there is alcohol within the household that we cannot touch. I'm not insinuating that we needed alcohol to enjoy ourselves.

Just that it sure as hell would have helped.

Anywho, the first day of my New Year's Day was in an Recreational Vehicle - an RV. I was meandering around in it, playing my DS within the presence of Spencer Brown, Eric Coressel, Christopher Buckley, and Claire Cylkowski. I spent a lot of time with them throughout high school and I was excited about reliving those times again. Spencer's father was the man behind the wheel; he took good care of us throughout our trip; he was the one who made us our meals and drove us around to our destinations. Ah yes, Mike Brown, a great character who works over at Cal Poly Pomona - he would give his mini-lectures and anecdotes of his experiences that kept us entertained.

We spent Day One traveling and setting up for the days ahead of us. The drive to the Santa Barbara county went very smoothly; there was no traffic. I was as surprised as the others, and took this as a good sign for the rest of our trip. We arrived in Refugio Beach, a beautiful state park. We parked close to the beach and took advantage of that; that night we walked along the beach, bitching about how cold it was but at the same time trying to catch sight of shooting stars. Being out in that part of California, stars were actually visible in the sky and it was a beautiful sight.


Day Two was spent the way I envisioned: a fun trip through Solvang. Solvang is a quaint Danish city that is a popular tourist attraction. Whilst exploring the city, we made a stop through several thrift stores that we've frequented before; it was there that I found more to add to my wardrobe. We also collected a handful of golf balls and a club. We dined at Solvang Restaurant - famous for their delicious aeblskivers and one of the filming locations of Sideways. Of course, we found the restaurant before the producers of Sideways did. We made a visit to Jule Hus, Inc. - a store that sold Christmas ornaments and decorations year round. It was there the guys and I found a very cute girl at the counter; Claire rolled her eyes at us whilst we acted like little school boys, chanting "Please be legal." Legal or not, I was able to get a picture of and with her; unfortunately, it was on Chris's camera, so I doubt I'll be seeing it anytime soon.

After our day at Solvang, we spent the rest of our night on the beach; Spencer and Christ did their surf fishing while Claire, Eric, and I smoked cigars and sipped on our soft drinks. Eric had speakers attached to his Zune, so we had our share of Sublime and Doctor Horrible; an interesting combination. Afterwards, we played a round of golf on the beach whilst purposely hitting them into the large water hazard in front of us. We slept late that night; however, Claire couldn't get that much sleep on account of my sonorous snoring. Sorry, Claire.

Day Three we spent fishing over at Gaviota - our favorite camping and fishing spot. There's a train track that runs through the site, but its a ways from the campground. In addition, the pier also promises some sea life for us to catch. Initially, the fish weren't biting throughout the day, but come sunset, we were lucky to be at the right spot and the right time: we were catching perch off the pier for a good half hour before they went away. I'm proud to say that I caught the biggest one - unfortunately, we didn't get to eat our catch. Instead, we went to AJ Spurs, a steakhouse that provided quite a hefty meal yet at quite a hefty price. I attempted to order a Butch Cassidy; they were out of burgers. A steakhouse. Out of ground beef. I was a bit puzzled but I didn't let that get me - I ordered something else to appease my appetite. That night, Spencer, Eric, and I finished off what was left of the golf balls; we knocked a couple golf balls off the railroad tracks (not the safest thing on Earth...) towards the sea and finished the rest on the beach before heading off to bed.

Playing golf off of this is scary as fuck.

This morning we all woke up and got ready to leave for home. We had a meager breakfast of toast and tea and waited around inside whilst heading back home (It seems like I've had tea with every single meal during my time out there; in fact, I've drank more tea within these last four days than all last year.). My DS was already out of batteries from battling the Elite Four Pokemon League the other night so I finished up Clockwork Orange. I completed it an hour before we got home and I spent most of that time looking out the window. Our trip back home was as smooth as our trip away from it - no traffic, just constant pressing of the gas pedal.

And now here I am. I have clothes lying around right now that I should pack away for my return back to UCI. I shall be returning with a fistful of cash, a slightly new wardrobe that shall greatly change my appearance, and greatly refreshed from a long and highly enjoyable break.

And you know what?

I can quite honestly say that this has been the best Winter break for me ever.