Entries for July, 2004

BST stuff, Phone
POSTED AT 01:34 AM in General

Went to lunch with Diana first and then to the cage to look at and organize some BST stuff.

Finished watching Phone... not as creepy as I thought/hoped it would be, and did actually have a complete ending. But the plot requires a bit of suspension of disbelief.
Currently feeling okay




More on movie, forum argument
POSTED AT 12:36 AM in General

On second thought, the movie doesn't really have a complete ending. One character is still unaccounted for, although you can probably imagine what happened after the movie ended. Also forgot to mention that the movie uses Moonlight Sonata, a song that seems to be commonly associated with death, murder, monsters, etc (some other references to it are Biohazard [aka Resident Evil in the US] and one story in Detective Conan).

Lots of forum activity happening today, and had a pretty big argument with Jenny later at night about censorship, authority, and other related stuff that happen on forums. I was probably still in a ticked off state from earlier in the forums and was thus, more sensitive to things that might've constituted as attacks, especially when I'd just moments ago, been vindicated on the forums for it. But yeah, sorry 'bout that.
Currently feeling dejected




WinMX 3.53 is out!
POSTED AT 01:25 PM in General

Woah, talk about hell freezing over. I thought development on WinMX had completely died!
Currently feeling amazed




Looks like an uneventful weekend...
POSTED AT 01:22 AM in General

Hrm... nothing really happened today, nothing's gonna really happen tomorrow either. Wanna go grocery shopping, but not sure if the stores will be open... sucky.
Currently feeling blah




Certainly was an uneventful weekend
POSTED AT 01:40 AM in General

Well, one odd thing. For the first time, I couldn't finish quite a bit of chicken I got at Safeway. Interesting...
Currently feeling blah




Gladius
POSTED AT 12:31 AM in Gaming

I got Gladius. Only new thing out of the ordinary today.
Currently feeling tired




Relatives coming this month
POSTED AT 01:09 AM in General

Ok, talking about how nothing new is happening every day is hecka boring.

So here's something new. My relatives are gonna visit the States later this month to check things out. Their first time here since gaining their permanent residency from the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program (aka green card lottery).
Currently feeling okay




Whee, LotR extended versions coming out in theaters
POSTED AT 01:58 AM in General

Read them here and here.

But what they need to really do is do the marathon again, this time with all three movies being the extended versions.
Currently feeling tired




Some stuff with Diana
POSTED AT 12:18 AM in General

Ron came by to pick up keys.

Then Diana came by to pick up the BST stuff that was at my place. Then she offered to take me to Safeway since she was going there so I accepted.
Currently feeling okay




Dinner, Tapioca with BST people
POSTED AT 12:24 AM in General

Went to Ichiban with BST people (David, Jenny, Kaisen, Sophia, Diana, and Charlie) today. I still think they're a bit overpriced, although the portions were decent (Tonkatsu + Tempura).

Then, people wanted to go to Tapioca Express (sans Sophia, who had to go to lab). But first, we went to David's house 'cause people wanted to see his pictures. We ended up playing Chinese Chess there instead. Finally, we did go to Tapioca Express where Yosen was waiting, and they met more people they knew. Their Tapioca Pudding Milk Tea was not bad, although it would have been a lot better without all that ice.
Currently feeling tired




Dinner, The Terminal
POSTED AT 12:31 AM in General

Went to dinner with Karen, Thomas, Sam, Sam (no, that's not a mistake), Windy, Ben, Kat, Aubrey, May (sp?), and Rob (I think?). We were late, so most had already begun eating at Asqew. Food was pretty decent (doh, need to pay Windy back, $9.25 so I don't forget), but they had a hard time getting the orders straight.

We watched The Terminal afterwards, which I found to be a pretty good movie. Karen did make an interesting point, about how non-Americans (including permanent residents perhaps), probably see the movie differently from the rest of us, and all the troubles, worries, etc. we have to suffer through each time we go to the airport.

Quite a bit of audience sync, in that people would tend to laugh together at the same time quite a few times.

Oh, and if you didn't know, The Terminal was based on this real-life story.

Oh, yeah. Sometime in between dinner and the movie, Karen lost her keys. Turns out she dropped it in the car, but it still caused quite a panic.
Currently feeling tired




Dinner again!
POSTED AT 01:10 AM in General

Yah, went to dinner with Dave, Charlie, Diana, Catherine, and Sophia at Crepevine. The crepes there are good, especially it having big portions. Although only Catherine and I actually finished our plates... although everyone had room for dessert (two different sweet crepes). Tsk tsk.

Afterwards, I got dropped off at Sam's place, where Sam, Sam (not a typo), Windy, Kat, and Ben were watching the Director's Cut of Battle Royale. I've watched that film *way* too many times now... afterwards, we played some Smash Brothers, where I was doing really well until Sam Ou put in the handicap. Kinda sucks being so easily KOed at 0% damage...
Currently feeling content




Power outage, Van Helsing, marriage petition
POSTED AT 07:56 PM in General

Woke up to the sound of my computer shutting off, then starting up, then shutting off briefly afterwards again. Got up quickly to turn off the power in case the fluctuating power did damage. Made sure it wasn't my apartment, then called PG&E to check. Power was restored not too long after.

Watched Van Helsing. My thoughts, after about 15 or so minutes of watching it was, someone's been getting inspiration from LotR (Mr. Hyde reminded me of Gollum, and the panning journey scenes were in all the LotR movies).

Oh, and it's petition time. Pick your poison.

For Marriage Equality: Sign here or here
For Marriage Sanctity: Sign here

Oh, as an FYI, seems like the first one has more supporters at the moment.
Currently feeling amused




Drunk people...
POSTED AT 02:49 AM in General

Lovely... drunk guy shoots off his own testicles and goes to jail for it.

Possible winner of Darwin Awards.... except he didn't actually die.

Read about it here.
Currently feeling amused




Bittorrent usage up
POSTED AT 11:56 PM in General

Bittorrent usage up.

Hmm.... dunno if this is a good thing or a bad thing. The more legit uses there are for BT though, the better protected we'll all be.
Currently feeling okay




No real food left
POSTED AT 01:36 AM in General

Err.... I need to go grocery shopping. Only thing really left are instant noodles and eggs. Lots of eggs. I think I ate too many eggs today.

For fans of Whose Line Is It Anyway? I've got something great for you. http://wliia.ananian-cooper.com/wliia - BT downloads of the episodes! I haven't laughed so hard so often while watching something for a long time.
Currently feeling bouncy




EAD, Shen and Chester's housewarming party
POSTED AT 01:10 AM in General

Yeah, as I was leaving the house, I checked and saw that my EAD had finally arrived in the mail, just 1 day after it was supposed to have arrived. Not bad, not bad.

I was leaving for Shen and Chester's new apartment, where they had some good food cooked. Played some Playstation games, including several rounds of DDR with people. After that, we talked, watched TV, played Chinese Chess (Anqi version, and I lost every game to Chester) and some card games, including a VERY long game of Mao, which was fun, although we had the usual people who were trying to spoil the game on purpose, but I eventually eked out a win over Shen, the only other person who really sort of knew the rules.
Currently feeling relieved




Happy Birthday Jenny!
POSTED AT 12:26 AM in General

It was her birthday today (well yesterday now technically).

First, was gonna work on some BST stuff but Eshleman was locked (Diana, Sophia, and I were the poor sufferers), so instead I went to Safeway for a little grocery shopping.

Then around 6, it was to Catherine's apt to celebrate Jenny's birthday with Cheeseboard pizza. Good as usual. Also had a bit of ice cream courtesy of Catherine.

Then they wanted to go to karaoke so that's where we went. Sang almost exclusively older songs (from the older system) today, and we sang happy birthday at the very end.
Currently feeling alright




Brazilians, language, trolls, and Orkut
POSTED AT 11:23 PM in General

Been some amusing reads recently. As Orkut's Brazilian population is now 2x the American population, it is causing quite a bit of feuding as certain Brazilians start posting in formerly English communities in Portuguese without a corresponding translation, causing much fuss over the community/thread hijackings as the original creators can no longer understand the rest of the discussion. This led to the creation of the WTF A CRAZY BRAZILIAN INVASION community to be created, as well as this corresponding community that's anti the former community's creator.

The first time I noticed that this thing was going on was when I decided to check out the Happy Tree Friends community, which had a couple threads devoted to this topic, including one by the community creator stating that the primary language of the community was supposed to be English, as well as comments about how there were already not one, but two HTF communities that were specifically in Portuguese.

Some stuff I've noticed is how a lot of these people seem to think the only people who have a problem are "stupid Americans," but of course, they seem to forget the fact that there's still a significant chunk of the Orkut population who are English-speaking non-Americans, some of who are also getting just as fed up with this whole thing. They complain, and want us all to learn Portuguese instead, but I really wonder how receptive they would be to learning Chinese or another language if one day the predominant population on Orkut spoke neither English nor Portuguese?

But by and large, most people agree (at least from the English posts, considering I don't understand Portuguese) that it's only a minority that's causing all this trouble, and furthermore, it is the repeated community spam in foreign languages that's really irritating people.

Personally, I don't care for the most part (I already disabled community messages a long time ago), *however* once a community creator has specified that the community is supposed to be in X language and people still insist on posting exclusively in a non-X language, then they are being rude and are now officially trolling and their posts should deleted and/or be kicked out of the community. Standard procedure for trolls on the internet.

Edit: Forgot to add the Slashdot article on this.
Currently feeling thoughtful




New roommate moved in
POSTED AT 12:33 AM in General

So yeah, my new roommate, Ron, has finally moved in. Spent part of the night helping him along with his old roommate move stuff here. Lots of stuff... Once again, there will be someone else in the bunkbed.
Currently feeling okay




Haircut
POSTED AT 11:53 PM in General

Finally got myself a haircut, and was itchy all day until I took a shower and changed clothing. But at least I'm no longer being annoyed by long hair on my face.
Currently feeling content




Contest...
POSTED AT 11:11 AM in General

Dear winner,

Thank you for entering in the BAWLS Guarana Fallout Sweepstakes!

Congratulations, you have been selected as one of the 40 winners. Your
prize consists of a BAWLS Guarana 12-pack plus a Playstation2 or XBOX
version(depending on what you selected) of Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel.

Both items will be arriving separately during the next 15 days.

Enjoy,

Never Sleep!

BAWLS Guarana staff


Umm.... cool!
Currently feeling surprised




Upright Monkey
POSTED AT 01:11 AM in Philosophy

News article

Yep, it's a monkey walking upright. Something to ponder about for the Creationists. Too bad it probably won't be passed on to its offspring. That would actually be Lamarckian.


Currently feeling amused




BST sign cleaning
POSTED AT 11:37 PM in General

So, cleaned the BST sign with BST peeps today. Took a lot less time than originally planned, which is good.
Currently feeling tired




Spiderman 2, announcement
POSTED AT 11:18 PM in General

While walking to the movie theater, I saw Rebecca waiting at the bus stop. What coincidence, so we took the bus together. Theater wasn't open when we got there, and Rebecca's two friends hadn't shown up yet, so we started eating first at Mel's Diner. Eventually they both showed up. Interestingly, Rebecca and I both got Mel's Cheese Burger and her two friends both got Oreo shakes. Well, partly because they arrived so late, so they couldn't get anything too big. Her two friends are both international students, but I forgot the guy's name. The girl's name was Sophia and from Taiwan (knowing another Sophia from Taiwan probably helped me remember it better ). Anyway, Sophia didn't watch the movie, but the rest of us did. Movie was nice. I like the theme of how being a superhero sucks for leading a normal life. Sometime near the end of the movie, I suddenly needed to go to the bathroom. I was still ok when we left the theater, but I barely made it back home in time. Whoops, too much information?

Anyway, the announcement is this. Free slice of ice cream cake at Coldstone on July 29th from 5-8PM! Info here.
Currently feeling content




Game night
POSTED AT 02:50 AM in Gaming

But not at my place. It was with a guy called James, who has a significantly larger game collection than me. Like maybe 10x.... O_o

So, I managed to play the following...

Modern Art - finally, got to play an auction game. Was refreshing. James won, but I did manage a 2nd place win.
Bohnanza - with 7 players, the deals were intense, and time intensive too. People only played through the deck twice. I won.
Qwitch - similar to Speed, played twice. James won both.
San Juan - I won the single 4-player game by a pretty good margin.
Bang with High Noon expansion - a full 7 player game. Nobody wanted to shoot the Sheriff (James), so it was an overwhelming win by the Sheriff and the surviving deputy. I did have the highest kills though (killed the other 2 outlaws and a deputy and the renegade).
LOTR: Confrontation - two games with.... a guy whose name I don't remember anymore (was it Yang-Fen?), once as Light and once as Dark. Light side won both times, although I eked out with more surviving characters both times, even when I lost as Dark.
Fluxx - two games with the same guy. Lost the first one, won the second one. Yeah, probably not that good come to think of it. But there *is* some strategy. But barely.
Guillotine - with the same guy again. Only played one day, had a good hand so won by 8 points. Rather fun. People who were playing it before seemed to have a good time.

Carcassone (and/or the expansions?) was the other popular game of the night. A *ton* of people came by. Possibly 15 or more (and why I can't remember names. I remember who Lenny and are Chris though). We actually ran out of seats. We also had 2 Cheeseboard pizzas, split 6 ways, along with soda, and some chips later on. So was there from 7PM to a little past 3AM. Thank goodness James drove us back. Walking that distance back would not have been fun.
Currently feeling content




Sleep deprivation, Safeway
POSTED AT 12:38 AM in General

Got woken up by my uncle a little before 9AM. So they finally contacted me! But looks like they don't have time to visit this time around. Tried to go back to sleep after, but roommate began vacuuming. Gah. So lay on the couch in the living room till he was down, then went back to get my long-awaited sleep.

Later, got a ride from Diana with Sophia to Safeway. Yay!
Currently feeling content




The Day the Internet Died
POSTED AT 01:44 AM in General

Ok, well not really, but a lot of the places I visit often were down.

Gmail - inaccessible
2 big message boards down for maintenance

Oh, and this story has been circulating around lately.
Currently feeling blah




Orkut demographics
POSTED AT 01:29 AM in General

I still don't quite get the constant drop in people in the US on Orkut. No other country is dropping nearly as rapidly. It's almost as if people were leaving Orkut in massive droves, which is unlikely.
Currently feeling blah




Prizes, reminder
POSTED AT 12:51 AM in General

So my sweepstake prizes arrived. The Bawls energy drink doesn't taste particularly special.

Don't forget the Cold Stone ice cream cake slice at 5-8PM!

And yeah, I've begun reading The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Rather interesting... especially the humor.
Book of the Moment: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Currently feeling okay




Cold Stone, dinner, movie
POSTED AT 11:57 PM in General

Woah, Francis Crick died on Wednesday! Yah, I'm a little behind.

Let's see... hope you all enjoyed your free slice of ice cream cake at Cold Stone! Was supposed to meet up with Karen there. First saw Sophia and her friend. Then saw Xing, Geena (sp?), and their friends. Then finally saw Karen. And Thomas came by eventually. Was pretty good. But not suitable for eating in layers, or at least, not with the chocolate last. Then it's too bitter.

Afterwards, Karen came to my place briefly before we went to eat with her friends (Ryan, David, Gabby [sp?]) at Joshuya. Everyone ordered sushi or sashimi. Was good. Surprisingly filling (usually I don't consider sushi by itself to be necessarily filling, that's why I usually get the plates), and cheaper than what I would've ordered if we were not sharing. And lots of drinking by them. Well, 2 bottles of sake.

Then went to Ryan's place where we watched The Thomas Crown Affairs after whiling away time trying to transfer pictures to Karen. Lots of playing with Ryan's stuffed animals too. Then got a ride home from Gabby. Yay, thanks!

Oh yeah, Catherine, your name's finally in AsianWeek. The one that just came out today too (July 29-August 4). It's under "AsianWeek Newspaper Workshop" in the staff listing.
Currently feeling content




Library
POSTED AT 01:13 AM in General

Haven't been to the library for awhile. Thankfully, my student ID still works. Borrowed the first 2 books in the Hitchhiker series. Didn't realize I'd already read so much of it on my computer already... but yeah, I got hard copies so I don't have to be in front of my computer to read it.
Currently feeling okay




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