re: idea

snacks

2007-10-10T10:34:00.000-07:00

One of the things I have a habit of doing, especially in the late afternoon, is snacking on some licorice or twix or any number of the snacks here at work. I feel like I should be eating something healthier, like an apple or a bannana, but they sometimes run out of those. It's not that I'm that hungry either; I think it's just because I want a break from work and want to get up and walk around and the kitchen is so close, and I guess candy tastes good.

I heard someone say that self control is eating all but the last bite of ice cream and telling that last bit of ice cream, "you don't control me!" When I heard that, I thought, "I can do that!" Hmm, maybe I should try it first.

10/10, 10:34 am - "you don't control me!"

10/10, 2:02 pm - "so far so good"

10/10, 4:54 pm - "I have the munchies . . . but it's not worth it"

10/10, 7:53 pm - "at the library"

10/10, 10:20 pm - "good night milky way morsel"

10/11, 9:10 am - "on my way to work"

10/11, 6:15 pm - "still here"

10/12, 10:05 am - "my choices for breakfast this morning are..."

10/12, 1:21 pm - "Ryan is tempted as well"

almost 1 month later - "sitting quietly by the phone"

I think it's pretty safe to say that I'll never eat that last bit of milky way mini. I've held off from eating any candy from the kitchen but lately I have been eying these Mott's gummy fruit snacks. Maybe I can eat them if I just save one ...

CCAC

2007-10-09T08:36:00.000-07:00

This is the church that I go to. It's called Community Christian Alliance Church. It used to be called Chinese Christian Alliance Church and it changed its name a few years go. I've heard that it is becoming more diverse, but I would still say, as seen above, that I go to a chinese church. I've been going for almost a year.

Pastor David, the senior pastor, stands out. He is very tall. When I first visited the church, I noted that his sermons were more logical than emotional. I think that appealed to me. I heard recently that the mind should be the foundation of the heart. But also, knowledge without any heart response is pointless.

pretty much black

2007-10-07T02:53:00.001-07:00

Ak, I can't sleep! I usually have been able to fall back asleep but lately I've had a lot of things that I've been wanting to write about (not just here) and can't seem to put these ideas to rest. I suppose it is better than not being able to write anything when you have to.

This is what my room looks like in the middle of the night. If you squint closely you can make out my des . . . wait, never mind, it's pretty much black.

Ryan and Bryan

2007-10-04T17:34:00.000-07:00

For some reason I wanted to take a picture of the very large copier at work, which is almost as long as my car. Apparently, it can print, scan, and copy concurrently 100 pages per minute, but I just use it to print my time sheet, which is a bit anticlimactic.

I didn't want to take a picture of a simple copier so I persuaded my coworkers, Ryan and Bryan, to pose in front of it. Bryan doesn't normally look that stunned. My bad. I sort of wish taking photos of people didn't have to be so blatant.

signage

2007-10-03T07:00:00.001-07:00

I did some signs for a church retreat awhile back and it made me think of whether it is better to just print out words than to spend time making a picture. Is it necessary to put time into a simple sign that says, "Men's Ministry"? I guess it is inefficient, but a part of me still likes to try to make things look nice.

fortune cookie

2007-10-02T09:41:00.000-07:00

If I put any stock into these things, my money would be on "close friend." It's refreshing to see that my fortune is actually a prediction of the future, and not a piece of general advice or description of who I supposedly am. Well done, Mr. Fortune Cookie Writer. I'm glad you included specifics, too. To check accuracy, all I need is a calendar and a little patience...

starting over

2007-10-01T22:14:00.000-07:00

For awhile now, I've been wanting to start writing again. I decided I wanted a fresh start, too, and archived all previous posts as "drafts." Maybe one day I'll resurrect them all (or maybe only a few here and there). It was a little tedious going to each post and clicking "save as draft" 384 times, but fortunately I had that right amount of resolve and tolerance of tedium.

Scanning all the posts I was a bit impressed at how simple and funny life seemed when I was younger, 23, and in Philadelphia. I've experienced more heartache here in LA ... more growth too, but exposed insecurities and immaturities can be painful. I wonder if I'll harden up as I grow older, and the thought of writing about sticking erasers under my keyboard for that extra lift will no longer be appealing.

Kevin, Ed, and me

my thinking process

2007-04-27T21:12:00.002-07:00

I was thinking why my posting has been so sparse. It may have something to do with this girl I was writing to. I suppose I saved up all my "interesting" stories to write in our emails instead of writing them here. And I couldn't just repeat what I wrote her in this blog. Or maybe I could? Comedians repeat their stories over and over again all the time. But I'm not really a comedian. I wonder if I could be a commedian? Maybe I could! I'd probably be bad at it. I wonder how I would do if I had to do it, say at gunpoint. That sounds very dramatic. What was I here to get? Oh yeah, laundry detergent.

dan

2007-04-27T20:37:00.001-07:00

I was about to call my dad, flipping through the numbers in my phone, when I came across the entry "Dan". Dan? I must have a really bad memory ... who could that be? I didn't think I knew a Dan, at least none that live here in LA. I know a Joe, a couple Mikes, a Jason, an Allen, even an Ezekial. Hmmm. Maybe I could find out by calling him! I wonder what that would be like.

"Hey Dan, it's Ted."
"Woah, Ted? I haven't heard from you in ages, how have you been?"
"Um, OK. I'm doing some freelance work and doing some job searching."
"Ahh I see. Cool. Nice to hear from you."
"Yeah it's been awhile..."

Hmm. I guess that sounds like a regular conversation. That's kinda anti-climactic.

black sammy

2007-02-03T22:59:00.001-08:00

A few weeks ago while waiting for a ride to go to a new job I saw pulling up to the corner, a black version of the car I drive, which is an older red Honda Civic Wagovan named Sammy. It was Black Sammy! Maybe the driver in it is my arch nemesis. It was good he didn't recognize me without my car. Who knows what chaos would have ensued. He drove away unaware, and all was right with the world.

Today I passed by Blue Sammy, which would make a good sidekick for my Red Sammy. I guess I could play his sidekick some days.

mockingbird

2006-12-04T10:33:00.001-08:00

I haven't updated this page in awhile. I guess I've been doing a lot of emailing to various people and all my anecdotes have been all used up already. In any event: look! Free Music! I was sick most of the weekend and spent some time in bed listening to Derek Webb's latest album which you can download for free in its entirety. And I'm always a fan of free music but it only lasts through this Friday, December 8th. On the website, I think you can put in dummy email accounts too.

Nooooooo!

2006-11-14T09:43:00.001-08:00

"Nooooooo!" That's what I said when I woke up yesterday. I don't remember ever waking up saying something before. Sounds kinda like something you'd see in the movies, right? Like when a guy discovers he has superpowers and how he is suddenly different from everyone (poor soul). Or when a guy has some sort of premonition of what will happen which sends him on some sort of adventure.

Unfortunately my dream was a lot less exciting. I think I was on the east coast traveling with some friends and got separated from them. I ran into this girl who was a bit younger than me and we went around the train station trying to get on the right train. I kept going on the wrong train, going farther and farther from them and it was frustrating, so I guess I yelled, "Nooooo!" But I think talking with the girl gave me some sort of comfort. I didn't know who she was though but waking up, I sort of wished I could meet her. Ok, random.

xanga

2006-11-10T09:31:00.001-08:00

Well I got a xanga page yesterday, just so I can comment on and view other people's xanga pages. And give out eprops. They look like little gold coins. Too bad you can't convert them into real currency. Anyway, now I have this blank page that I feel the need to fill. Hmm, I wonder what I should put up there...

I also came across Internerd the other day. I thought the articles on the site were pretty funny, especially "Married," "Novelists," and "Your Honor."

And for the longest time I couldn't stop watching this:

Click on Robot and Girl to view. Link from Pascal Campion's blog

the milky way of shame

2006-11-07T20:23:00.001-08:00

So I guess a week ago after Halloween, some people brought in some bags of candy and surprisingly it went pretty quick, considering we're grown adults and not kids. But there's this one lone Milky Way bite that has been sitting on the table for about a week. I suppose no one really wants to eat this piece because I guess it carries a mark of shame to the person who eats it, as if that person is so greedy as to deprive everyone else from the last remains of the candy. I guess we're pretty polite at work. Sometimes the last piece of something gets split in half, and then no one wants to eat the last half.

Man, I remember when I was young I would be really into candy. The school bell would ring in 4th grade and I would race to the pharmacy down the block to buy some Kit Kat and/or Nerds then race back to make it before the school bus left (I think I may have missed it once). And I thought to myself that when I get old I would buy so much candy, because candy is so cheap compared to what adults make. I guess when I was younger, I couldn't possibly have imagined a Milky Way bite could be left on a table in front of people, left uneaten.

make her happy

2006-11-07T20:13:00.001-08:00

the archives

2006-11-05T15:34:00.001-08:00

I was really considering telling someone about this website to check out my weblog when it occurred to me that I better read what I have collected these past few years. The further back I went through the archives, the more embarassing everything seemed. Koizu, my roommate, and I were cracking up at how everything sounded so imature and how every post seemed to be about video games and sleep. I was sort of appalled at how I wrote, trying to sound funny and all and only wanting to write about trivial stuff. I've been seriously considering removing the bulk of my old entries and I may do that sometime soon.

At least two people have mentioned to me how I don't really sound anything like how I write and I guess that's because when I write I have time to pick my words and how I sound. It's like how I play chess: when I'm given a lot of time I can make some pretty good moves and beat Koizu but whenever I play 5 minute games with him he always wins. And I think when I speak, the words never seem to come out clear and confident but when I write I can sort of manage my way and make it sound fairly readable.

Going through those archives, I saw a few gems I think. My favorite old post I ran into must have been my last day at my museum job where I ended up hugging Maude (dated August 8, 2002). Even though she was sort of a cold older lady to be around, I sort of felt that at least for that moment on my last day, she wished me well.

the shepherd (wip)

2006-11-02T04:34:00.001-08:00

Aw man I was on a posting roll. In any event I was saving yesterday's post to put up pictures of my halloween "costume" which consisted of wearing blue jeans, a white shirt, sandals, and a red backpack (red backpack!) to look like Princess from the film our studio is working on. No one really got it though. I think I would have had to wear a blue skirt and a headband to really pull it off but I think that's a little too far for me. Well, the day went by and I totally forgot about taking a picture.

Lately this week has been pretty good at work. I'm doing some conceptual digital paintings for a hip hop oriented show and I'm starting to get more satisfied with the paintings I've been doing. It's sort of fun drawing graffiti and I can sort of see the draw to doing it in real life. Anyway, the work is going a lot better than the painting I'm working on at home for myself. Anyway, I sort of wanted to post it, but bear in mind that it's a work in progress.

Unfortunately I can't post anything I've done at work but maybe one day I'll be bold enough to post video of my 6 step.

my red backpack

2006-10-31T07:04:00.001-08:00

One of the characters in the film we're working on, Princess, always carries a red backpack. Lately I'm sort of wondering what it's like to live always wearing a backpack. I wore my red backpack most of the day on Sunday. I did feel more secure, knowing I had that padding behind me. And it always looked like I was going somewhere! I'm a man on the move!

There's at least a couple people at work who think Princess is actually carrying heavy stones to train for her soccer tournaments! Isn't that cool! What if I did that? I could have calves of steel! Or maybe just a sore spine.

the smiley

2006-10-30T08:33:00.001-08:00

I've been writing a few emails lately and I've noticed I'm starting to punctuate with the smiley :) Before I would feel the need to use a period after the smiley :). But I'm starting to think maybe the colon-parenthesis should be left to stand on its own. For example:

For a region of the nearest-neighbour ferromagnetic Ashkin�Teller spin systems on
Z2, we characterize the existence of multiple Gibbs states via percolation :)

Now wouldn't that brighten everyone's day :p

homemade french fries

2006-10-27T05:02:00.001-07:00

I've been really wanting to write in the blog lately. One thing I was thinking of earlier was whether or not it was possible to make french fries at home with just potatoes and a pot of cooking oil. From watching the people at In-N-Out do it, it seems pretty straightforward. But why don't I ever here of people doing this? Doesn't everyone dream of making french fries in the comfort of one's home? One of my coworkers says the machines they use are special and heat up hotter than what you could do at home. I don't know about that.

at the airport

2006-06-19T22:21:00.001-07:00

upside down sky

2006-03-17T10:53:00.001-08:00

My friend Mai gave me this t-shirt when I visited her last weekend. Thank you, Mai! For some reason I wanted to try coloring it so I scanned it in:

The sky is upside down! But I guess it gives me something to look at when I look down.

small comic vol. 4

2006-03-17T10:31:00.001-08:00

dancing fish

2006-02-17T08:09:00.001-08:00

I tried to design some latin dancing fish:

My roommate thinks they look Hawaiian.

dream train

2006-02-08T20:49:00.001-08:00

I tried to design a train:

As cheesy as it sounds I was imagining it carrying boys and girls off to Dreamland. I miss it a lot.