Saturday, February 28, 2004

Racist Geisha Film?

I read Memoirs of a Geisha and I don't think it's a racist book written by a racist white man, as this
person suggests. After reading the book I doubt anyone's going to hate the Japanese, especially the men. Although some doubt whether the main character's authentic.

Friday, February 27, 2004

The Way We Do Things

Now that mom's gone, we have to take care of ourselves. We have a lot of extra responsibilities in our house and keeping track of these tasks can be hard. When mom was home, things never seemed to run out. If we were getting down to the last few paper towels, we'd have more by the next day. If the cat puked on the carpet, it'd be cleaned immediately. Now things are different. We have run out of many things, but we never seem to get around to buying more. Paper towels, tissues, napkins, bread (sliced), mustard, ice cream, and a bunch of other stuff. The things we use everyday like the paper towels and napkins usually run low for about a week before we get more. Other items we need/eat everyday like milk, orange juice, and potatoes run out completely, but are replenished the next day or two. Either way, it takes longer then when mom was around.

I would go out and shop for things but I can't find the time to do it. Also, I hate walking around the store with a set amount of money, hoping that I don't buy too much. So far I've been a good judge of how much things will cost, but there have been occasions when I was younger where I didn't have the cash. They were real embarrassing moments that I do not wish to go through again. My dad says that he'll just sign a blank check and have me write in the amount, but that wouldn't work out. The cashiers always ask you for your i.d., and I don't think I could pass off as my dad. So the majority of the shopping's up to my dad.

All I will say about his style is that some people just don't know how to shop. We run out of things constantly. That's how we do things.

Blogging Consequences

All though I think it would be pretty rare, there is a chance that someone I know personally would stumble across my site and recognize me. It's an even slimmer chance that I'll write something about that person in addition to them discovering this place. I don't want to take any chances, so I don't really post information about people I know. Sure, I'll mention friends and family every once in awhile, but nothing incriminating, personal, or specific. My policy is that I don't write anything that will upset them, especially if they don't know it. It's like telling the world a friend's secrets behind their backs. That would be the worst case scenario for me.

Also, I don't put things on here that would get me into trouble, like things I don't want people to know about me. Revealing information would put me into jeopardy, but at least I wouldn't hurt anybody else. However, people do get into lots of trouble with their blogs.
Jessica, a 23-year-old Los Angeles blogger who pens The Blueprint, had a full-fledged family throwdown thanks to her occasional posts about drunken nights on the town. "I told my parents about my blog to give them some sort of insight into my life," she says. "Then I went home for Thanksgiving and my Mom busts out with: 'All you do is go out and drink every night!' We had this huge blow-out."

"I've heard of a lot of breakups because someone posted, 'Last night I cheated on my boyfriend, don't tell!' - and their boyfriend read their journal," says Hep, a 25-year-old San Francisco Web developer behind Ljdrama.org (short for LiveJournal drama), a site dedicated to chronicling the crises that arise from blogging.

...
Twenty-five-year-old Scott Lapatine, who runs a popular media Weblog in Manhattan (he requested we not divulge the name so as to protect his identity), believes that bloggers have the potential to destroy someone's life with just one post.

"One girl I know mentioned on her blog that her best friend had an abortion," he says. Needless to say, "now they're enemies."
Yikes! Be careful what you blog, even if you think you're anonymous.

Thursday, February 26, 2004

The Secrets of Movable Type

If I had my own domain and a place to host my blog, I'd use Movable Type. However, people say it's for more advanced users and beginners should stick to something like Blogger. But everybody says that MT is better. I had no clue who to believe until I found a Movable Type tutorial. It's not a complete walk through of the whole program, but it shows you how to do two important things (it only shows you how to do two things): post an entry and add links. The tutorial has screen shots which any beginner would appreciate.

So the site doesn't spill all the secrets, it at least lets you see what the program looks like. Now I don't feel like the program's too hard to use. Typepad's also supposed to be good because it's all in one at a cheap price. Either way, my mom will be buying the space I'll need.

Sushi Art

I don't know about you, but I would not want to eat Sushi art like this. Just looking at it reminds me that hands have been manipulating my food, making it less apetizing. I guess these aren't for eating, but just for looking.

Thanks othermaciej

Wednesday, February 25, 2004

Hey Ya Charlie Brown

I knew nothing about this Hey Ya Charlie Brown! video until somebody asked for it in Joi's IRC channel. I think it's pretty cute. There is an ABC stamp in the lower right hand corner so I guess it was on that channel, but I rarely watch the national networks, so I don't know anything about why the video was made. It's 9 megabytes.

Yahoo! RSS

Yahoo! has just launched RSS support for My Yahoo!. At first I thought it was a bad idea because people use software newsreaders like NetNewsWire. But then I realized that if you use another computer, especially one that you can't download things on, then you can't get all your information. Now with My Yahoo! you can take your RSS subscriptions anywhere. The software's in beta now, so there'll probably be bugs, but I hope they don't drop the idea.

Tuesday, February 24, 2004

Milos

This photo album of Milos, an island in Greece, is excellent. I especially love the cat photos.

Thanks Derek

Poor iPod Mini

I don't understand why people want to disembowel their brand new iPods, but at least they came to the conclusion that nobody else should do it.

Sunday, February 22, 2004

Business Blogging

The new trend is business is to blog, really blog. Forget the thousands of personal journals talking about what people had for lunch or why they hate their lives. Serious business people are actually blogging. Business 2.0 talks about business blogs. You have to be a subscriber to read the second part of the article (I was fortunate enough to read it early so I didn't have to), but it basically talks about how blogging helps share information. Anybody not reading blogs and using a newsreader (the author claims it took him hours to set up, but NetNewsWire is so much easier), is out of the loop.

To me this just sounds like a job where you get to spend time blogging. How cool is that? It's like doing a blog for a course in school, instead of just some silly old journal. Right now I should be doing math, but I'd like to think of blogging as promoting school activity, so this is justified.

Saturday, February 21, 2004

The Power of War

There's a video that's been circulating the internet for the last few weeks. It shows US forces in Iraq shooting 3 Iraqi insurgents from an Apache helicopter. People say that the Iraqis were just farmers working in their field, but these are just unfounded rumors. I wasn't there, so as far as I'm concerned the US forces were just doing their job.

When I first saw the video, in it's shortened form on Joi's blog, I was pretty moved by how fast the people were destroyed. It was like they had swallowed bombs and were exploding from the inside. Their bodies were completely destroyed; no remains, but particles of flesh and blood. This is what happens in war, whether it's a so-called just war or not. If the war was being fought in the US, I'd be scared 24/7 of what could happen to me, my family, and friends. Maybe that's how the Iraqis feel now, hardly different from how they felt when Saddam was in power. It looks like the sooner we leave Iraq the better. No people should live in this kind of fear.

Thursday, February 19, 2004

Fire

Two nights ago we had to call 911 because our oven caught on fire and we couldn't put it out. I was baking a pizza and heard a zap noise in the kitchen. I looked in the oven an there was a white hot light on the heating element and it started to shoot sparks out. My dad came over and turned the oven off, but sparks continued to fly. He put baking soda on the part that was sparking, but it just started to spark in another location. We called the next city's fire dept. non-emergency number (we couldn't find our city's number), but they told us to call 911. 911 told us to leave the house and wait for the firefighters to come.

In about 5 to 10 minutes they arrived and stopped the oven from sparking. I don't know how they did it, but it was pretty quick. Standing outside waiting for the firefighters to come was a pretty unnerving experience. I didn't think the oven would do anything worse that shoot sparks in its inside, but I didn't want to leave the house and stand helplessly outside. The thought of leaving the oven to run its course, possibly taking the whole house with it, consumed my thoughts as I heard the sirens getting closer.

We were lucky that there was hardly any damage, just a oven heating element to replace. The thought of losing everything still lingers in my mind. All I grabbed was my coat and cat (in carrier). Other than that I would've been left with nothing had the fire/sparks ignited the entire place. But that did not happen. The new heating element is in the mail, and we'll probably get a new fire extinguisher (we didn't use the one we had, it was expired anyways).

Saturday, February 14, 2004

Asian Women's Driving School

I love this cute movie about an Asian Women's Driving School. Phonebooks/booster seats included with enrollment

Monday, February 09, 2004

Kerry v. Bush

Take a little time to read about Kerry and Bush's military records. Kerry: 3 purple hearts, 1 bronze star, 1 silver star, anti-Vietnam war protestor. Bush: no combat, doesn't show up for duty toward end of service, stays at exclusive apartment complex.

Amazing

I can't believe I was able to get all my work done at the last minute without suffering from major brain damage! There's got to be some serious side effects from major procrastination other than not getting work done. Healthwise, it seems like loss of sleep is the most prominent negative effect, but I think loss of brain cells is another.

I had two tests last Friday, one that I crammed for, and the other I didn't study for at all. Part of one tests was a take home essay, which I started at 11 pm Thursday. I was able to finish writing/cramming by 1 am on Friday. I started all this work so late because I was working on silly English for about five hours. I didn't think it would take me long to finish the other half of the work I had completed, but I was wrong and suffered by not getting very much sleep.

My next amazing accomplishment was another essay that I neglected to do research on until 10 the night before it was due. I don't think I'll get as good a grade as I'd like, but I've learned my lesson, and promise I'll start research earlier next time.

I need a plan! I need to schedule work time and leisure time so I can get more sleep. I need to talk to a highly organized person who can help me sort things out. Don't we all? There's probably shrinks who do this for you; I need to find one.

Friday, February 06, 2004

Meaning and Recognition

I get up every morning, go to school, come back home and do my homework. What's the big deal? Is that important? Why am I doing this? These are questions I ask myself all the time, day in and day out. I often feel that I'm just living a pointless existence and that real success is not how smart you are, how much money you have, or what your accomplishments are, but instead what other people think of you. I know, you're not supposed to think like that. You should only care about what those close and important to you think, or just what you think. But I can't help thinking that I'm just some kind of lemming that doesn't really matter and that I'm making somebody else wealthy and important. These are really depressing thoughts that are hard to get over.

In the beginning I was so happy to be doing something beneficial for myself, but now I feel that I'm not doing anything for myself. What's doing something for myself? It's trying to figure out how to use Dreamweaver MX2004, messing around with digital photos, or reading all the best books. I want to travel and learn on my own time, doing my own thing. To me, that is real meaning in life. Who cares what other people think of me as long as I get to do what I want?

But I can't do any of that. I'm stuck here going to school and doing my homework, which takes up all my free time. So instead, I want others to give me their attention for doing just that. Why on earth would someone want to be recognized for going to school? That's completely absurd! However, if I were to stop going to school, boy oh boy would I gain recognition for quitting. How come we get recognized for doing the wrong thing? Maybe being deviant in various ways is the only way to gain recognition. Young children throw fits when they want something, people dye their hair bright green for looks. I think it's society itself that chooses to focus on the bad and not the good. If you look in national American news there are plenty of unpleasant things that get recognition. Unfortunately, it's taking its toll on me, and I feel that my efforts are pointless and that quitting seems like a better path.

I guess I have some demons to battle with what little will I have left. I've been invited to join an academic honors society, which I have accepted, so maybe that will help my self-esteem for the time being.

Still No Time

I still haven't figured out how to manage my time so I can update my blog on the weekdays. I've been so busy with all my work that by the end of the day I have no energy left. But that is what everybody who's busy says. When you are not overburdened by tons of work it is hard to understand what a person who is means. When you've got loads of free time you think that other people should know how to manage their time, that they just aren't responsible, or that they should be able to "make" time. Making time is a concept in American society that goes hand in hand with optimal efficiency. Basically, everyone should have time for anything that will benefit them. Not doing enough work is frowned upon, while doing too much work is almost rewarded.

People like to hear about the hard worker who always gets her work done and is able to make deadlines. The fact that she has little time for herself and family is ignored because her career should not be jeopardized. Our politicians like to remind us that Americans are the hardest working people on the planet. This has nothing to do with how much effort we put into our work, but that we have one of the longest work weeks among postindustrial societies.

Still, I believe that we are obsessed with working, and could use a nice siesta every so often. Siesta time used to be for reserved for the weekends, but now work is spilling over into that time frame, virtually eliminating any breaks. I try to have 5 to 8 hours of break time each weekend. I spend that time watching TV, movies, and blogging. All the rest is dedicated to work, and I am doing my work. I deserve an award.

Sunday, February 01, 2004

The Little Guys

There are millions of blogs on the internet. Not just American English blogs, but blogs in many languages and countries. Blogs are relatively new, like everything else on the internet, but some have become popular among internet users. These popular blogs are usually well written, give lots of information, and are generally trusted by many. But these blogs make up only a tiny minority of the blogsphere. So what about the "little people?"

I think the little blogs deserve just as much respect as the bigger ones. Not everybody can communicate their ideas very well. So why not give the little people some respect? It's hard to describe but I'll try my best. You're a big blogger and you're visiting a little bloggers site. You scan the posts; they're about family, school, pets, etc. You barely even read the blog, but something catches your eye, so you leave a comment. You never come back and you've forgotten what you just did. The blogger tries to talk to you about the comment, but you blow him off. Thanks for the respect. A little blogger wouldn't mind talking to someone who's left a comment on his blog. The solution: little blogger stay away from the big bloggers.

Busy

I've been so busy this past week that I haven't had anytime to update my blog. There's so much work to do all of a sudden, so I don't have time to blog all my ideas. It'll be another seven weeks before I get a break and I have a feeling that my work load will not get any lighter. Blog time may be moved strictly to the weekends, I doubt I'll learn how to budget my time.