HI SPEED INTERNET!

YAYYY! 'Bout damn time too. You know what else its time for? PICTURES!

An adorable littel girl playing with her mom at the airport. I was having a breakfast crossaint sandwich at the JFK airport waiting for my transfer, and this little girl was just so cute.

The view of the front of my apt. Its the second door from the right.

The tiny kitchen, first thing you come into in my apt

Go upstairs, and theres 2 bedrooms and a bathroom. This is my quaint little room.

This deer was chillin' out in the back of my apt. He decided to stop by again later at 2AM and scare the shit outta me.

If I'm not sleeping, cooking, or at the gym, this is my view everyday. On the couch, with my laptop, watching food network -___-

The hills in front of my apt. Nice evening.

The concerts in the park-esque place (via last post). It's right on this lake, real pretty view.

More park.

A funny sign near the 220z tall boy vendors. "Sidewalk Closed Dude".

Hopefully more photos comming soon (: Comment comment comment!

Syracuse, day whatever.

Still don't have a fast internet connection so I can't upload photos. WAACK!

So my supervisor told us (Min and I) about some kind of concerts in the park type deal that happens every thursday, and so we went to check it out. She told us it starts at 6, and when we got there it was filling up with a bunch of white people(no surprise) who were either drinking tall boys or 16oz bottles of arbor mist hahah. The band looked like a mid-40 year old version of Disturbed.

After thoroughly feeling akward, Min suggested we go bowling. So we used my navi and found 3 local bowling alleys. The first one looked really shady, so we decided to check out the next closest one. Upon arrival at bowling alley#2, we were surrounded by nothing but houses. So our last shot, we checked out #3 which was closed. on a thursday. possibly indefinately.

Went home. Called it a night. Friday night, went out to downtown, only to be dissapointed again. Came home at like.. 12:30 (we were out for an hour) and did nothingggg.

Yesterday we watched Wanted, which is a REALLY good movie. And gaddamn is Angelina Jolie hot. After was our cheat meal.

So for this cheat meal, we ordered a medium pan pepperoni mushroom onion from Pizza Hut, a 6pc bucket, large mac and cheese, and 3 biscuits from KFC, 6pack michelob ultra, and i got a pint of Ben & Jerry's Chubby Hubby.

I ate 3 slices of pizza, 2 breasts and a drumstick, a biscuit, half the order of mac and cheese, a beer, and half the pint of chubby hubby.


According to Lainey, thats nothing. But I felt disgusting after that. And that was the highlight of my weekend.


Gimme topics to blog about!

Topics!

I've realized that I would rather blog about topics and stuff. Like I love reading peoples blogs and commenting on what they have to say; I guess something like a discussion.

So if you have any ideas of topics I should blog about, let me know (: or if you'd like to hear my opinion about anything do so as well. Unless you're asking me about something like Utilitarianism and Business Ethics (you will not con me into writing essays for you StacycatS).


So tonight I will be discussing falling asleep in lectures or while studying. A sever medical condition that I have learned to live with. I often tend to fall asleep during lectures or studying. My friend Stacy also mentioned that she had the same problem, and I've developed a theory on it.


So as kids, our parents have either read us bedtime stories or we're given books to read until we fall asleep. This soon becomes a subconcious theme were reading or being read to induces sleepiness, thus we fall asleep. 15 years later, when we find ourselves amidst lectures or trying to engage in rigorous studying, we become sleepy.


Thoughts? (You're welcome to comment anounymously, just let me know who you are at the end of your comment :] )

Blah

damn. i want to be productive and like.. write. and do stuff. but i just have no inspiration. and I hate it.


So Min and I are watching TV after dinner, the usual, and then he tells me about how he had some kinda neck therapy or hypnosis or something done to his neck, and after he started to feel weird. He started stuttering sometimes he had to gather his thoughts; problems that never had affected him before.

So he looked up the symptoms online, and a lot of the symptoms he had are connected to some crazy medical condition called Aphasia. So he went to the hospital and they're gonna keep him overnight and do some tests on him tomorrow and stuff.

So please say a prayer for him. Hope everythings ok...



On a lighter note. Some of you know that this past semester, I did Karaoke almost every monday @ school cause we do karaoke in the pub from 12-1 on mondays. Well thanks to Lalaine, I can now do karaoke whenever i want! myspace has this beta karaoke site; www.ksolo.myspace.com. Pretty interesting. I dont know how I feel about making peoples ears bleed, but it seem's like it'd be fun to give it a run.. I think I'll do that now..

I'm watching

George Lopez on Nick @ Night, and the son is being picked on by bullies. So the mom has a lady and her son over looking at fine China thats shes selling, and remembers the lady's son goes to the same school as her son. She wants to get him some friends so he cant get picked on and George is like "You cant hook him up on a blind date to make friends. A kid falls in the cafateria, one squirts milk out his nose cause he's laughing so hard, the other farts because he's laughing so hard and BAM! Best friends."

That really resonated with me, not because thats how i found my bestfriends, but because its simple character traits like that, that can make you feel like you have so much in common with someone else.

Or maybe it was just funny and i should leave it at that.



So today was my cheat meal from my diet. When you go on a diet, they say its ok to have a cheat meal a couple days out of the week. I might not do a couple days, but at least once a week for sure.

I ate at this place called Dinosaur BBQ. BOOOOOMB.COM! It was like Lucille's BBQ on methanine dioxy methane phetamine. I had an appetizer sampler, and a beef brisket, 1/4 rack of ribs, 1/4 BBQ chicken entree combo with mac&cheese and mashed potatoes, and a beer. And I killed EVERYTHING. I forgot to bring my camera to take pictures, but I'm sure i'll be there once more before I leave.



On another note. I'm kinda homesick :/ I barely get texts/calls/IMs. Which is nothing new. But I dont see people either. To be as extroverted as I am and have little human contact like I do is something pretty crazy. But I guess its good for me. I guess. I think that'll do it for me tonight.

I lovvvvve comments. hint hint. (:

Syracuse: Day 7

So I get vocab words mailed to me daily from dictionary.com because i'm hoping it'll help me expand my selection of weapons when writing spoken word.

Today's word is defenestrate. A verb, meaning to throw out a window. The example sentence given was "I defenstrated a clock to see if time flies."

I don't know if i'll ever have any possible use of that word in real life hahah. But i thoguht that was interesting.

So last post i mentioned a guy named Cedric who does spoken word workshops and stuff. He's a real down guy, and he's actually a producer too. He told me he'd send a link so I cold DL his album. I'mma check that out and hopefully it'll be good, cause he's all about that Pharcyde/Rakim/Wu-Tang tip. I told him that i'd be interested in going to his workshops and droppin a couple pieces at his open mic, and he said he might wanna have me as the nights featured poet. DAAAAAAMN. Just a little pressure.

I was thinking about finishing my piece entitled "Irony". It's a piece where i talk about some of the intricate ironys that i've found that have had some part in my life and my growth as a person. A small preview of a few bars:

Irony.

cause you work hard to be the driving force for change

but you're left with no guard and all the shits the same

so ultimately you feel like your day to day is all in vain

but you relentlessly push on gathering your salt grains.

i need to add a lot more to that. but thats the jist of it.

So, i'm going into the city mid July. I was thinking about getting my tattoo then. My family crest, probably about 4" diameter on my left shoulder blade.

The crest is called "maru ni ken katabami' or, a wood sorrel with swords going in it, inside a circle. Family crests in Japan are used to designate a family's skillset, i.e. farmers, blacksmiths, healers, samurai, et cetera.

The wood sorrel was often used in medical salves back in the feudal lord eras of Japan, and the swords penetrating from it started as an appeal for familys known for the martial arts. My grandfather came from a line of farmers while my grandmother came from a line of samurais and chinese medicine experts.

So yeah, thought i'd get that on my back. I've also contemplated getting it as a short sleeve with other designs too.. but i'm not sure yet. suggestions?

Syracuse: Day 5

Had my first seminar today which went well. My roommate (Min) is mad cool, but it's nice to have contact with other humans hahah. Met some other people in the office, and i found out one of the guys named Cedric runs spoken word workshops for students, so i really wanna chop it up with him.

Breakfast was the same oatmeal and whey protein. For lunch, my roommate made lean groudn turkey with spinach and spaghetti sauce which was pretty good. Then I went to the gym, ran a mile, upper body circuit again, and then just shot around bball with Min for another 20 mins (extra cardio). Yo my body is suuuuuuuper feelin' it. But it feels so good. I used to be sore like this all the time playing soccer in high school, i miss it.

For Dinner, Min and I tried some random concoction. We did shrimp and eggplant, carotts peas corn and onions with this spicy garlic sauce we bought from the Asian grocery store (which is mad legit) and soy sauce. Little did we know that "spicy garlic sauce" means red chili paste with a hint of garlic. Stuff was pretty spicy. But it was good considering it was pretty healthy. Light salt and pepper; I'd say the meal was no more than 400 calories. I took a picture of it, but to my i had left my memory card in my computer -_- so sorry, no pictures.

I wanted to go to the Zoo tomorrow, but it's probably gonna be raining again, sooo not sure what i'll be doing tomorrow. Probably reading, run another mile, try out another recipe.

Gonna try and go to Montreal sometime soon. We're only like 2 hrs away which is chill, and I've never been to Canada.


And I leave you with something interesting I saw today:

So I was in the campus bookstore looking around, and they had a Ralph Lauren Polo brand windbreaker with Syracuse University embroidered on it: $76.99

yeaaaaaaaahh..


haha k, until next time (:

somethin' coo

about not having much to do, is I get a chance to blog a little more often. not that these are quality blogs -_- but i think that just the prospect of having this time to be with myself and really just reflect on my day to day is whats nice.

So today, I woke up to the usual breakfast; brown sugar oatmeal with a serving of whey protein. Ran some errands, came back and did some reading. And then i took a nap -_- i've been so tired lately its weird. Aaanyway. Woke up from the nap, made myself an spinach and provolone cheese omlette with Eggbeaters. Yo, that stuff is pretty amazing for not being all egg.

Thennn, went to the gym. DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNNN! i know right? Mann. Ran a mile, upper body circuit, situps, then played an hour of bball. And i was dyingggggg. And hopefully I'll be doin' this everyday (: and come back a new man. kinda.




So now that i've thoroughly bored you with a play-by-play of my day, I wanna talk about the book I'm reading.

So some of you know this, but Fight Club is one of my favorite movies. And its actually based on the book Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk. I've read that and a few others by him which have all been great. Right now I'm reading Stranger Than Fiction, which has nothing to do with the Will Ferrel movie btw.

It's basically a collection of wild stories, some about him, and others about others. If anyone remembers fight club, the beginning of the movie shows Edward Norton going around to multiple support groups for diseases he doesn't have so that he can add some kind of validation to his life.

This idea of the character came about because Palahniuk used to work at a hospice, in which he drove elderly people to support groups for their respective terminal illnesses. People always assumed he was in the same boat, and he stormed up the idea for fight club.

So Stranger Than Fiction is basically a collection of stories he's heard from people, or his experiences. He said in his foreward that he would call up phone sex numbers and ask the chick to tell him her craziest experience, and he would get these elaborate concoctions that seemed borderline impossible, but the raw emotion that would arise as these people told there stories made him think that either they were the best story tellers ever or that they just experienced insane events; either way he felt the stories were worthy of retelling.



So if I haven't bored you by now, I wanna read a quote from one of his stories that I really liked. This is about how so many writers tell stories of their lives to make it in the industry as if it was for their salvation. This is actually a quote from a philosopher by the name of Martin Heidegger:

"...human beings tend to look at the world as standing stock of material ready for us to use. As inventory to be processed into something more valuable. Trees into wood. Animals into meat. He called this world of raw natural resources: bestand.

It seems inevitable that peope without acess to natural bestand such as oil wells or diamond minds, that they'd turn into the only inventory they do have--their lives.

More and more the bestand of our era is our own intellectual property. Our ideas. Our life stories. Our experience."

I think the prospect of us using our experiences as our valuable natural resources is brilliant. I suppose thats why I enjoy writing spoken word so much. Maybe its because I feel like its the one valuable thing that I have an abundance of.

And thats enough thinking for tonight. I think 2 people will have read this far anyway.

Syracuse: Day 3

So i tried to upload pictures, but i'm logged onto a guest internet connection because i dont know my ID and password yet, so the connection is super slow. hopefully i'll have acquired the information by tomorrows update.

I don't do much here. Wake up at 2pm. Eat a bowl of oatmeal, watch TV or read. Have a snack, cook dinner. Hopefully I'll have more stuff to do once I start my seminars, but i hoenstly am pretty skeptical.

Today's word of the day (via dictionarydotcom) is claque. Pernounced "clack", its basically a group hired to applaud at performances. I dont know if this will be useful for my spoken word poetry expansion. then again, you never know.

The world is going crazy. R Kelly is acquitted of all his charges. Iowa State is submerged under 40ft of water. Hideki is in New York. CRAZY!



OH! Another interesting story. So back in 97, there were two Asian girls at a Denny's in Syracuse. They were being made fun of by some white guys and got into an argument which turned into a physical quarrel. Basically, these white boys started to beat on the Asian girls while the security guards stood back and watched. Some Black guys came to the girls rescue after confronting the security guards about not doing their job. Charges were pressed for Assault both actively through the acomplice, as well as passively through the security guard's nonaction.

Now check this. The D.A. was cousins with one of the security guard, so he dropped the case and nothing ever happened. That D.A. is still in office today. Corruption at its finest, no? I definately will not be going to any Denny's around here. Not that I'm afraid of getting my ass beat, cause I'll stomp on any white boy talkin' shit to me. But man if the government in this city is that corrupt, i don't even wanna mess.

When Life Gives You Lemons

You Paint That Shit Gold


Pick up that album by Atmosphere. Fire.



Sooo day 2 in syracuse. Went to this mall that was acclaimed to be super fancy and cool. And it turns out its just like Brea Mall. Except they have a carousel. Bought this month's editions of YRB and Filter mag and Chuck Palahniuk's new novel "Snuff".

I'll start doing pictures soon. Haven't really had much to take pictures of. Im gonna try to do video blogs too, lets see how that works.

But real quick, I wanna share something that happened today. So me and my roommate are walking around downtown Syracuse checkin' out the bars and stuff. And this black guy sticks his hand out like he wants some props and says "Wsup?"

So i shake his hand and say "chillin' " and then he asks "where the ladys at?" and i say "you tell me man, where the hunnies at?" and he says "around the corner on south street." and i ask him where its at, and he tells me. and so i ask again "and they got fly hunnies over there?" and he says "Yeah, you can get your dick sucked for 4$"



HAHAHAHAH. What a funny guy. He was dead serious too. Then he proceeded to ask me for 4$ for food. So i bought him a burger and left. But man, that was funny.


Between now and the next time you read my blog, listen to Just Like The Rest Of Us - Atmosphere.

I'm heeeeeeeeeeeere (:

And on a good day from what I'm told. The weather is about 80 degrees. I'd guestimate 50% humidity. I miss Cali weather ): haha.

So my place is chill. no airconditioning though (WTF?!) But they gave us fans hahah. I'll take pictures of the place later and post 'em up.


Just wanted to do a real quick update. And here's something I learned today. Syracuse University was built on top of a hill so historically, only rich white people went to school there. Downtown was where all the minorities were at, so all the people up on the hill could look down on all the puerto ricans and blacks. How elite-ist, ey?


k, until next time :D

I packed my bags and I'm about to go

I'm giving you the time to be alone.

Az Yet - I Don't Wanna Be Lonely


How many people said "Oh shit. That was the jam.." just right now? eh? eh?

Btw, you should be able to make comments on my blogs anounymously. just leave a name at the end if you'd like :)




So i'm using the lyrics above ^ in a different context. I feel like I'm leaving my life to find myself almost. Here I am, 24hrs before I leave to NY for a few months, and its just hitting me right now. I havent started packing and I'm having a quasi mini panic attack.

I'm leaving for 2 months. The longest I've been away from my family has been 6 days. The longest I've been away with my family is 2 weeks. I'm leaving for 2 MONTHS. (Sidebar, with my ADHD, i just went to dictionary.com to make sure i used "quasi" in the right context and ended up signing up to get a word-of-the-day emailed to me. wow.)

Ok, i'm leaving for 2 months. And theres so much i'm thinking about. I get homesick :/ And, I'm missing some of my best friend's graduations. Peter, Keith, Joanna, Laura. They've worked for and achieved so much, and I cant even celebrate their accomplishments with them.


And I also just feel like theres gonna be so much this summer that I'm gonna miss out on. So many more inside jokes that I won't be involved with. And it kills me to think theres a prospect of drifting further away from my friends.

And I'm nervous about what i'll be doing with my internship. Working in a Multicultural Affairs Department in a school thats 80% Caucasian. Does it really make in an impact? Or is my work just gonna be token multicultural work so that the Institution saves face and wont be labeled as racist. Which then makes me turn on the existential vacuum, and then I start to question the nature of my work and future profession. And i think "it's kinda hard to keep faith in the things that you do, when everybody turns their back on you." (Talib Kweli - The Nature)






And then people tell me that I'm thinking too much. Which sounds pretty accurate. And someone told me I'm too busy worrying about others, and that I need to just need to care about myself more. Which kinda sounds true too. I care too much; my Shakespearean tragic flaw.


And the fact is, my flight leaves Thursday, June 12 at 9:20PM from Ontario Airport. And I will then be on a 9hr journey to the booney-ish upstate New York city known as Syracuse. So farewell Life as I know it, I'll see you in a couple months. I will come back a changed man, and I hope that 1) It will be fore the better, and 2) It will be for the better.



Congratulations Peter and Keith. You guys are family, and I could not be prouder. My brothers, close enough to be blood. We'll party it up when I get back.

God I'm so inconsistent.

My life has been a little too hectic lately. But it's getting better. I leave for NY next thursday. I have an internship with Syracuse University's Multicultural Affairs Department.

I feel like I'm gonna have a double culture shock. One from just the culture of the East coast and being away from home for so long.

The other culture shock I foresee is just being in a small college town thats 80% caucasian. And seeing as how tuition at Syracuse is roughly $15,000 a semester, everyones pretty much upper class. I just think it'll be hard to relate to people; we essentially come from different worlds.

And I'm gonna miss so much at home. But I'll be doing so much. So contradictory! I truly am a Gemini I guess.

Hopefully i'll be more consistent with this in Boonyville Syracuse :P