Monday night, an old friend of my mom's took me to her house for dinner. Her daughter (who's roughly my age) is a relatively accomplished English speaker, and I can be a little more relaxed about word usage around her (well, being able to speak English to someone in China's a blessing enough). She's been really into Prison Break, too, and we discussed a little about TV shows and bootlegging. I also gave her a quick rundown of open-source software, since it's easier for me to explain in English rather than Chinese, like I tried to last year to my cousin.
While at their place, I watched a bootleg version of Transformers, but the picture quality was so bad that it wasn't entirely worth it. I did totally geek out a little when Optimus Prime said "One shall stand, and one shall fall" near the end. It's totally reminiscent of the 1986 animated movie I loved when I was a little kid.
Two things I noticed when I was driven back: first, I figured out why Chinese driving freaks me out so much. If you thought drivers in New York or Boston are bad (they're actually not, if you ask my dad, who's driven for a long time at both places, but that's a different story), wait 'til you see Beijing. While disregard for common courtesy is commonplace (crosswalks are only at large intersections, otherwise, it's all jaywalking, and drivers don't make way unless necessary), there are also other driving practices that unnerve me. One is the driver's tendency to pass on both sides. While America traffic law states to pass on the right only when strictly necessary, Chinese drivers actively pass on both sides, causing dangerous weaving in traffic, and doubling the threat of something being in your blind spot. Second is the almost total lack of turn signal use, Twice, I have seen a car speed past us on the right and cross all four lanes of the highway without once turning on their blinkers. Heck, even my mom has complained that either drivers put on the parking brakes at a stop or remove their brake light altogether, because they don't want to replace the light when it burns out. It all leads to a dangerous lack of communication between drivers about each others' intentions, freaking me (who's learning to drive right now at home) out entirely.
Secondly, about the use of "Engrish" (English for the sake of having English there, usually with laughable or groan-worthy results), I'm just gonna rant a little about its usage. The daughter (I'm skipping names since they would probably confuse people) listens to a lot of American Pop, and regularly listens to the international music radio station. The DJ's know English well enough to pronounce names and titles without sounding stupid, but I hardly recognised any of the English songs they played. There were a few Justin Timberlake songs (curse him) and some bad cover by "Walk This Way" by some woman I didn't recognise. Either way, the "chart toppers" nowadays aren't things that I would really care for (see previous rant about my roommate's music). But back to the Engrish. At one point the DJ's spouted off an annoyingly enthusiastic, Engrishy "Okay!" and "Let's go!" that just made me sick. While I'm not commenting on their pronunciation or anything, it's the blatant usage of English-for-English's-sake-to-sound-cool (and simple English for that matter) that really bugs me. They throw out these little tidbits as though it would instantly spice up their language (imagine that episode of Spongebob Squarepants where Spongebob and Patrick learned to swear). While in English we do that with French with little phrases like "raison d'etre" and "tour de force," but they serve a distinct purpose; we use them to mean something. I compare what they're doing to saying "molto bene" obnoxiously in an Olive Garden. Speaking of French, the DJ's even tried their hand at it. After 14 years of learning English and 4 of French, you can easily imagine that I nearly flipped then and there. What came out of my mouth basically boiled down to threatening to hunt down their families and sacrificing their firstborn child to some unholy god.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Food Poisoning, par hasard?
Sorry for a total lack of posts. I had a strange, but thankfully light case of food poisoning. Imagine trying to digest gravel and you're around Boston from Maine to San Diego on a cross-country road trip of pain (and that's just the pain part *shudder*). I spent pretty much the entire time from Tuesday to Thursday in unpleasantness.
In other news, Monday led to some interesting thoughts, and they'll be up, soon. On Wednesday, my uncle took me out to get some new glasses, since they're so much cheaper than in the States. The small shops don't do transitions, so I got a frame with magnetic clip-on sunglasses (I'm not a hat guy, hard to find one that fits well). It also rained that morning. Afterwards, the sun actually came out to blue skies and clouds instead of the usual haze. It almost felt like home; it would've been a perfect day at school. Because the Chinese value a pale complexion, most people had sun umbrellas and/or were staying in the shade. He then took me to see Transformers, but it was a Chinese dub, which was a bit disappointing.
Tonight, just now, my grandparents and my aunts took me out to dinner at a local restaurant for roast duck. I swear, if any of you are in China, especially Beijing, try the roast duck at least once. It was a relaxing family dinner, and I'm glad my appetite was there to enjoy it. Things got pretty funny when my aunt and uncle started relating stories from their childhood to their kids. Boy did that bring back memories of my own childhood. I'm just glad that I don't have any siblings to share any dirt they have on me to my kids, but at least it usually involves the other party being embarrassed by my antics, as well.
Oh, and I'm heading for my other grandparents' place tomorrow. They won't have internet access, so I'll have to update when I get to school (like I've been updating regularly here, heh). When I first created this blog I was also hoping to work in lots of random things of interest from my years of wandering "teh interwebz," but I just don't have the time to provide the links and work out the connections. I gave it a shot, but whatever. I'll try to work it out later.
And finally, my mom got some strings pulled. A friend (the same one who had me over in the above post) is gonna grab me the last Harry Potter as it comes out tomorrow. No midnight madness party, but whatever. I'll keep myself up to date.
In other news, Monday led to some interesting thoughts, and they'll be up, soon. On Wednesday, my uncle took me out to get some new glasses, since they're so much cheaper than in the States. The small shops don't do transitions, so I got a frame with magnetic clip-on sunglasses (I'm not a hat guy, hard to find one that fits well). It also rained that morning. Afterwards, the sun actually came out to blue skies and clouds instead of the usual haze. It almost felt like home; it would've been a perfect day at school. Because the Chinese value a pale complexion, most people had sun umbrellas and/or were staying in the shade. He then took me to see Transformers, but it was a Chinese dub, which was a bit disappointing.
Tonight, just now, my grandparents and my aunts took me out to dinner at a local restaurant for roast duck. I swear, if any of you are in China, especially Beijing, try the roast duck at least once. It was a relaxing family dinner, and I'm glad my appetite was there to enjoy it. Things got pretty funny when my aunt and uncle started relating stories from their childhood to their kids. Boy did that bring back memories of my own childhood. I'm just glad that I don't have any siblings to share any dirt they have on me to my kids, but at least it usually involves the other party being embarrassed by my antics, as well.
Oh, and I'm heading for my other grandparents' place tomorrow. They won't have internet access, so I'll have to update when I get to school (like I've been updating regularly here, heh). When I first created this blog I was also hoping to work in lots of random things of interest from my years of wandering "teh interwebz," but I just don't have the time to provide the links and work out the connections. I gave it a shot, but whatever. I'll try to work it out later.
And finally, my mom got some strings pulled. A friend (the same one who had me over in the above post) is gonna grab me the last Harry Potter as it comes out tomorrow. No midnight madness party, but whatever. I'll keep myself up to date.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Finally, a live update!
As you can probably see, I've finally gotten my internet problems sorted out. I can finally connect with my own laptop. It's a godsend, as far as usability goes. My output is still alright, I'm not exactly running out of things to write about. This week will probably be the slowest in terms of stuff, but I'll try to keep everyone reading entertained.
My uncle gave me season 1 of Prison Break. I think I'll look into that. I'm stuck in Cave Story against the giant robot in the Labyrinth, so it'll be a nice distraction while I figure out an effective way to throw it to the scrap heap.
Anyway, this is just a heads-up saying you can all expect timely and regular updates, now. Since I'll probably be posting in the evenings at the end of my day, with the time difference, you should be able to see something new every day when you wake up. A handy way of doing things would be to subscribe to the blog with Google Reader or something, but the syndication might be a little wonky since I edit my posts so much (I upload my writings to Google Documents and then publish them, which end up without a title, so I have to add that and do links and whatever other formatting necessary).
Considering this week, I might do a quick post on my family, so people won't get confused about who I'm referring to all the time. Then again, it's not like I have that many cousins...
So for everybody who's been following this little adventure, I thank you for taking the time to read my daily ramblings. I've enabled comments, if anybody wants to drop me a line (and is too lazy to e-mail my Gmail account). Comments, suggestions, encouragement, anything to suggest to me at least one person is reading this would be very helpful. *ends attention whoring*
My uncle gave me season 1 of Prison Break. I think I'll look into that. I'm stuck in Cave Story against the giant robot in the Labyrinth, so it'll be a nice distraction while I figure out an effective way to throw it to the scrap heap.
Anyway, this is just a heads-up saying you can all expect timely and regular updates, now. Since I'll probably be posting in the evenings at the end of my day, with the time difference, you should be able to see something new every day when you wake up. A handy way of doing things would be to subscribe to the blog with Google Reader or something, but the syndication might be a little wonky since I edit my posts so much (I upload my writings to Google Documents and then publish them, which end up without a title, so I have to add that and do links and whatever other formatting necessary).
Considering this week, I might do a quick post on my family, so people won't get confused about who I'm referring to all the time. Then again, it's not like I have that many cousins...
So for everybody who's been following this little adventure, I thank you for taking the time to read my daily ramblings. I've enabled comments, if anybody wants to drop me a line (and is too lazy to e-mail my Gmail account). Comments, suggestions, encouragement, anything to suggest to me at least one person is reading this would be very helpful. *ends attention whoring*
Taking its toll
From my journal:
"I'm writing this at 5:20 in the morning. It's even earlier than when I got up yesterday, but I slept sounder, so I'm not sure what's going on. Last night, I started to naturally feel tired at around 10:30 and when I went to bed later, I fell asleep before my fan's timer shut itself off (30 minutes, I set it for 20 minutes last time and fell asleep after it turned off). Maybe my body's natural endurance is just strong enough so that I may appear to suffer no jet lag, but in truth I am. At least I'm not suffering from insomnia or anything; I wake up feeling refreshed, anyway."
My aunt took me out for some hotpot. It wasn't as good as when she took me to some different place last year, but I appreciate it, anyway. My little cousin's as cheeky as ever, but she's quieter, too. My aunt seemed intent on turning me into a lunchbox. I'm not growing nearly as much, anymore, but she still thinks I still have my appetite.
And in other news, I finally got to check out Cave Story by Pixel. If any of you have ever looked into the Indy gaming scene, it isn't long before you run into this little number. It's considered one of the crown jewels of Independent Gaming, with a large cast of charming characters, an expansive map, and multiple endings for replayability, it's really quite epic; and to think it was created by a single guy and released for free! The homebrew modding community is hard at work adapting it for the PSP and Nintendo DS, even though I think there's going to be a retail version for the PSP (no news on that for a while, good riddance). Upon playing, I can see why it's been so critically acclaimed. Gameplay is tight and the weapons system is original (but a little annoying for an OCD guy like me). It plays a lot like Metroid, but exploration is less about meticulous searching and backtracking and more "how do I figure out how to get to that ledge?" The enemies are original, but it can get a little tedious to blast your way through them when you want to get somewhere. But overall, I'm enjoying it thus far, even though I probably should be devoting this time on my college essays.
Whew, I felt really tired at around 5:30, and collapsed into bed. I didn't get up 'till 8. Maybe it is jet lag.
"I'm writing this at 5:20 in the morning. It's even earlier than when I got up yesterday, but I slept sounder, so I'm not sure what's going on. Last night, I started to naturally feel tired at around 10:30 and when I went to bed later, I fell asleep before my fan's timer shut itself off (30 minutes, I set it for 20 minutes last time and fell asleep after it turned off). Maybe my body's natural endurance is just strong enough so that I may appear to suffer no jet lag, but in truth I am. At least I'm not suffering from insomnia or anything; I wake up feeling refreshed, anyway."
My aunt took me out for some hotpot. It wasn't as good as when she took me to some different place last year, but I appreciate it, anyway. My little cousin's as cheeky as ever, but she's quieter, too. My aunt seemed intent on turning me into a lunchbox. I'm not growing nearly as much, anymore, but she still thinks I still have my appetite.
And in other news, I finally got to check out Cave Story by Pixel. If any of you have ever looked into the Indy gaming scene, it isn't long before you run into this little number. It's considered one of the crown jewels of Independent Gaming, with a large cast of charming characters, an expansive map, and multiple endings for replayability, it's really quite epic; and to think it was created by a single guy and released for free! The homebrew modding community is hard at work adapting it for the PSP and Nintendo DS, even though I think there's going to be a retail version for the PSP (no news on that for a while, good riddance). Upon playing, I can see why it's been so critically acclaimed. Gameplay is tight and the weapons system is original (but a little annoying for an OCD guy like me). It plays a lot like Metroid, but exploration is less about meticulous searching and backtracking and more "how do I figure out how to get to that ledge?" The enemies are original, but it can get a little tedious to blast your way through them when you want to get somewhere. But overall, I'm enjoying it thus far, even though I probably should be devoting this time on my college essays.
Whew, I felt really tired at around 5:30, and collapsed into bed. I didn't get up 'till 8. Maybe it is jet lag.
Battle Royale
Nothing fancy today. I got up at 7:30, earlier than my grandparents expected. They were expecting me to crash due to jet lag. Ha! I'm made of sterner stuff.
I sent Mary a quick text message. She's an old friend of mine and we left for China on the same day. She didn't call back until the evening. She apparently suffered some delays, but ultimately arrived okay. It almost seems as though my usual bad luck all went to her. With my botched description of where I'm living, she said that her grandparents actually live pretty close. My reception was really bad, so we ended our call relatively quickly. Oh well, at least we made contact.
One thing I did get to do was watch Battle Royale, suggested by a friend of mine. It's some Japanese film where a random high school (I think, could be college) class is brought to a deserted island and kill each other off in a twisted game of survivor. Each student is issued a random weapon as well, ranging from a pot lid to automatic rifles. As much as I applaud the concept of random killing, it got a little too human. I thought it would be more Robinson Crusoe (I'm totally screwed, I'll make the best of it, here's the cool stuff I did) than Lord of the Flies (Let's try to work things out, but that goes down the crap chute). Note, however, that I haven't read Lord of the Flies yet, and that's just what I've gathered about the book. Or maybe because I just came from watching Fate/Stay Night, whose themes and moral conflicts were similar. Then again, it might also be because the movie moved too fast and (once again) I didn't feel connected to the characters/plot. The hacker, guy with the sensor (sorta), possibly the crazy girl with the scythe, and the main characters were the only ones that garnered any interest from me. I also feel that the whole lighthouse scene was a huge cop-out. The director/screenwriter could've done so much more. Maybe I'm getting sappy, but I sorta felt for all the couples in the movie. Plus, the random violence didn't bring nearly the amount of sheer exhilaration that I had hoped. Maybe it's phasing out of of me, maybe I'm just fascinated with the concept rather than the act (like torture), or perhaps I only enjoy it as an object of my twisted humor and an enabler of my silly little amusements. Anyway, each of the characters could've been a main character, only some of them got shortchanged. Ultimately, I'd give the movie a thumbs-up and a recommendation, but not for some violent psycho like me. Rather, it would better fit some intellectually-inclined person looking for some interesting group dynamic stuff and isn't turned off by violence and has an offbeat, quirky sense of humor. If I ever find a girl like me, then it might make for an interesting date movie. I dunno, now that I look back on it, maybe I should've giggled some more at a few points (like whenever that psycho killer showed up). I guess I wasn't in the best position to be enjoying the movie, just like when I saw Borat. I probably should watch it with John next time, maybe Jordan, too, sometime.
I sent Mary a quick text message. She's an old friend of mine and we left for China on the same day. She didn't call back until the evening. She apparently suffered some delays, but ultimately arrived okay. It almost seems as though my usual bad luck all went to her. With my botched description of where I'm living, she said that her grandparents actually live pretty close. My reception was really bad, so we ended our call relatively quickly. Oh well, at least we made contact.
One thing I did get to do was watch Battle Royale, suggested by a friend of mine. It's some Japanese film where a random high school (I think, could be college) class is brought to a deserted island and kill each other off in a twisted game of survivor. Each student is issued a random weapon as well, ranging from a pot lid to automatic rifles. As much as I applaud the concept of random killing, it got a little too human. I thought it would be more Robinson Crusoe (I'm totally screwed, I'll make the best of it, here's the cool stuff I did) than Lord of the Flies (Let's try to work things out, but that goes down the crap chute). Note, however, that I haven't read Lord of the Flies yet, and that's just what I've gathered about the book. Or maybe because I just came from watching Fate/Stay Night, whose themes and moral conflicts were similar. Then again, it might also be because the movie moved too fast and (once again) I didn't feel connected to the characters/plot. The hacker, guy with the sensor (sorta), possibly the crazy girl with the scythe, and the main characters were the only ones that garnered any interest from me. I also feel that the whole lighthouse scene was a huge cop-out. The director/screenwriter could've done so much more. Maybe I'm getting sappy, but I sorta felt for all the couples in the movie. Plus, the random violence didn't bring nearly the amount of sheer exhilaration that I had hoped. Maybe it's phasing out of of me, maybe I'm just fascinated with the concept rather than the act (like torture), or perhaps I only enjoy it as an object of my twisted humor and an enabler of my silly little amusements. Anyway, each of the characters could've been a main character, only some of them got shortchanged. Ultimately, I'd give the movie a thumbs-up and a recommendation, but not for some violent psycho like me. Rather, it would better fit some intellectually-inclined person looking for some interesting group dynamic stuff and isn't turned off by violence and has an offbeat, quirky sense of humor. If I ever find a girl like me, then it might make for an interesting date movie. I dunno, now that I look back on it, maybe I should've giggled some more at a few points (like whenever that psycho killer showed up). I guess I wasn't in the best position to be enjoying the movie, just like when I saw Borat. I probably should watch it with John next time, maybe Jordan, too, sometime.
Beijing
I'm typing this while in my grandparents; house. Everything went smoothly along the way. I even caught some shut-eye on the flight. I suppose I'm sorta predisposed to falling asleep during meal times when I'm tired. Oh, and now that it's past 7 in the morning EST, I can now calculate that for the last 24 hours I've been operating on about 3-4 hours of sleep. I'm not at full capacity, but I'm not a zombie, either. In fact, as I'm writing this now before I go to bed, I'm slowly regaining my senses. The plane was an Airbus A330, the newest in Northwest's fleet, as the pilot said. Being Airbus, it was pretty comfy and was pretty high-tech, even for the economy sections. One thing I noticed, and I wrote it down in my notebook, as well, was that the flight attendants were generally prettier the as your ticket got more expensive. It even applied down to the security checkpoint personnel, as they generally all looked like rejects compared to the beaming flight attendents.
Customs and baggage check went surprisingly quickly, and my mom just so happened to call my aunt and uncle moments before they spotted me coming out. She also called moments after I got into my grandparents' place. Yep, things have gone super-smooth. Even the bathroom smells better than usual (it usually has a musty smell from being poorly ventilated). My cousin's taking an exam tomorrow, so my aunt won't be able to take me out tomorrow, but I have some shopping to do, anyway. She says she'll take me to see the new Transformers movie. I'm surprised it's already released in China; it's probably subtitled rather than dubbed, which is the way I like it. Come to think of it, I should probably give a quick overview of my family before thing's get too confusing. But that's gonna have to be for later, as I'm gonna finish up, go to bed, and probably put this online the next day.
Customs and baggage check went surprisingly quickly, and my mom just so happened to call my aunt and uncle moments before they spotted me coming out. She also called moments after I got into my grandparents' place. Yep, things have gone super-smooth. Even the bathroom smells better than usual (it usually has a musty smell from being poorly ventilated). My cousin's taking an exam tomorrow, so my aunt won't be able to take me out tomorrow, but I have some shopping to do, anyway. She says she'll take me to see the new Transformers movie. I'm surprised it's already released in China; it's probably subtitled rather than dubbed, which is the way I like it. Come to think of it, I should probably give a quick overview of my family before thing's get too confusing. But that's gonna have to be for later, as I'm gonna finish up, go to bed, and probably put this online the next day.
Tokyo
Well that was fast... The gate to my connecting flight was just outside of the door after going through the security checkpoint. It's strangely chilly and hot at the same time. It's pretty humid, but every once in a while a breeze from the AC would hit ya and I'd shiver. It's annoyingly inconsistent. And everything's muggy and eww outside.
On the descent, I had a pretty in-depth discussion with the guy next to me about different flight plans to Beijing. I was talking about how excited I would be when the FAA finally approves of a nonstop flight from Boston to Beijing, but it also depends on which airline snaps it up. Then there's the introduction of the new Boeing Dreamliner, but he only mentioned it in passing. I'm not entirely sure how bigger airplanes affect flights, since the 747 can already fly nonstop from Boston to Beijing (right?), and that's about as close to halfway around the world (among major cities with international airports) as you can get. We were so engrossed, however, that I didn't notice us landing. Compared to the touchdown at Minneapolis, this was literally butter. Maybe it was because we were distracted, but I didn't even hear the engines roar or the air brakes come on, nor did I feel a bump along the way. Now that was good flying. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna look around and explore the goodies my quick stay in Tokyo is going to provide me. Then again, maybe I should stay here and let my computer charge while watching sumo wrestling on an HDTV. Decisions, decisions...
Nevermind. Not only are the shops only food (no trinkets or"service"), but the area is generally uninteresting, too.
On the descent, I had a pretty in-depth discussion with the guy next to me about different flight plans to Beijing. I was talking about how excited I would be when the FAA finally approves of a nonstop flight from Boston to Beijing, but it also depends on which airline snaps it up. Then there's the introduction of the new Boeing Dreamliner, but he only mentioned it in passing. I'm not entirely sure how bigger airplanes affect flights, since the 747 can already fly nonstop from Boston to Beijing (right?), and that's about as close to halfway around the world (among major cities with international airports) as you can get. We were so engrossed, however, that I didn't notice us landing. Compared to the touchdown at Minneapolis, this was literally butter. Maybe it was because we were distracted, but I didn't even hear the engines roar or the air brakes come on, nor did I feel a bump along the way. Now that was good flying. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna look around and explore the goodies my quick stay in Tokyo is going to provide me. Then again, maybe I should stay here and let my computer charge while watching sumo wrestling on an HDTV. Decisions, decisions...
Nevermind. Not only are the shops only food (no trinkets or
En-route to Tokyo
This is the long, annoying part of the trip. This flight is always a bore since it's so freaking long. Now I really wished I brought my P.G. Wodehouse along for the trip. Any other books I have are in ebook format on my laptop and I only have so much in terms of battery power. Oh well, at least The Brothers Karamazov is interesting. It's mostly classics and stuff that one would find for free online. Remember, I'm a cheap ass, and a big supporter of free and open source software. I regularly browse Project Gutenberg, but since they only have books that are out of copyright, the selection is mostly classics. Other books I've been meaning to read lately are the rest of the His Dark Materials trilogy (The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass), Lord of the Flies, and The Prestige (since I loved the movie). If I can, I also want to look into the newer Redwall books. While everyone else during their elementary-middle school days were reading all sorts of stuff, like Bridge to Terabithia or Where the Red Fern Grows, I was engrossed in the Redwall series and then The Complete Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Yes, I spent about half a year (can't remember exactly how long it took) reading nothing but Sherlock Holmes, but I think that Sir Arther Conan Doyle's influence on my writing was ultimately beneficial.
Well, since I was bored and had nothing better to do, I decided to write, but my mind was blank. I tried all sorts of ideas to create a story out of, but my mind ended up rejecting all of them. Finally, however, I settled on an idea and started to write. This is the result of it. I turned Billy Joel's Piano Man into a three and a half page (by my notebook's count) short story. I tried to write a story representing the setting in which the song takes place, almost like the course of events that would've inspired the song in the first place. It's pretty raw, I only edited a handful of things here and there. I'd love to hear what you guys have to say about it.
There's about an hour and a half left in the flight. I'm irritable, and my ankles are swelling up. I grabbed a nap sometime around 6:00 PM EST, but that didn't amount to much more than an hour and a half. I watched Meet the Robinsons. It's an alright movie, but I didn't get very attached to the characters. I felt the same way about The Incredibles. There's plenty of stuff to make you go "cool!" and want to see more. But once they hook you, the movie does little in terms of giving you what you want: seeing that coolness in action. I mean, take a look at The Incredibles. There's the fight scene that shows the whole family in action, but it lasts what, a minute and a half, two minutes at most? And the climactic "final showdown" is against a boring enemy with a boring ending. There's no "fanservice" so to speak. They don't place the characters in cool and interesting situations any more than strictly necessary to make you interested in seeing the character in more of those situations.
So what was a guy to do? Other than trying to doze off, I tried to listen to what music the airplane radio provided (woefully inadequate), but that didn't work. I don't have a portable mp3 player, and my computer was running relatively low on batteries. So ultimately I just let my mind wander and think of whatever songs I could. My mind eventually hit a rut on "Golden Boy" by Sin with Sebastian. It's a pretty bad 90's group that exemplified the era: catchy, relatively empty pop/techno/funk songs. The verses were pretty clever and well-written, but the chorus digs into your brain and drives me to go out and end some creature from 4 inches to 4 feet tall via a brutal, Black Mage-esque stabitty death. The music video on Youtube also causes my eyeballs to bleed green Kool-Aid (so it's German-safe, too!) and makes me want to gouge them out with a spork and feed them to my goldfish. Okay, enough ranting. I don't want to disturb my readers too much. Besides, I already said I was irritable at the moment.
About this time, as well, breakfast was served, or at least they tried to. There's a typhoon that recently hit Japan, and there are pockets of turbulence along the way. I was literally the last person to be served breakfast before the flight attendants had to pack things up for the turbulence to come. The guy next to me, who also got served before the pack-up, commented that one of the good things from sitting near the front is getting served first. But then, with my sparkling wit, said, "Yeah, but the first thing you gain is also the first thing you lose." While I'm not a guy to get motion sick, I did have the scrambled eggs, and they have a tendency to give me an upset stomach sometimes, especially if they're poorly prepared, which airline food undoubtedly is. Luckily, I can say that I have felt no discomfort thus far.
Well, since I was bored and had nothing better to do, I decided to write, but my mind was blank. I tried all sorts of ideas to create a story out of, but my mind ended up rejecting all of them. Finally, however, I settled on an idea and started to write. This is the result of it. I turned Billy Joel's Piano Man into a three and a half page (by my notebook's count) short story. I tried to write a story representing the setting in which the song takes place, almost like the course of events that would've inspired the song in the first place. It's pretty raw, I only edited a handful of things here and there. I'd love to hear what you guys have to say about it.
There's about an hour and a half left in the flight. I'm irritable, and my ankles are swelling up. I grabbed a nap sometime around 6:00 PM EST, but that didn't amount to much more than an hour and a half. I watched Meet the Robinsons. It's an alright movie, but I didn't get very attached to the characters. I felt the same way about The Incredibles. There's plenty of stuff to make you go "cool!" and want to see more. But once they hook you, the movie does little in terms of giving you what you want: seeing that coolness in action. I mean, take a look at The Incredibles. There's the fight scene that shows the whole family in action, but it lasts what, a minute and a half, two minutes at most? And the climactic "final showdown" is against a boring enemy with a boring ending. There's no "fanservice" so to speak. They don't place the characters in cool and interesting situations any more than strictly necessary to make you interested in seeing the character in more of those situations.
So what was a guy to do? Other than trying to doze off, I tried to listen to what music the airplane radio provided (woefully inadequate), but that didn't work. I don't have a portable mp3 player, and my computer was running relatively low on batteries. So ultimately I just let my mind wander and think of whatever songs I could. My mind eventually hit a rut on "Golden Boy" by Sin with Sebastian. It's a pretty bad 90's group that exemplified the era: catchy, relatively empty pop/techno/funk songs. The verses were pretty clever and well-written, but the chorus digs into your brain and drives me to go out and end some creature from 4 inches to 4 feet tall via a brutal, Black Mage-esque stabitty death. The music video on Youtube also causes my eyeballs to bleed green Kool-Aid (so it's German-safe, too!) and makes me want to gouge them out with a spork and feed them to my goldfish. Okay, enough ranting. I don't want to disturb my readers too much. Besides, I already said I was irritable at the moment.
About this time, as well, breakfast was served, or at least they tried to. There's a typhoon that recently hit Japan, and there are pockets of turbulence along the way. I was literally the last person to be served breakfast before the flight attendants had to pack things up for the turbulence to come. The guy next to me, who also got served before the pack-up, commented that one of the good things from sitting near the front is getting served first. But then, with my sparkling wit, said, "Yeah, but the first thing you gain is also the first thing you lose." While I'm not a guy to get motion sick, I did have the scrambled eggs, and they have a tendency to give me an upset stomach sometimes, especially if they're poorly prepared, which airline food undoubtedly is. Luckily, I can say that I have felt no discomfort thus far.
Minneapolis
Well I made it on the ground in Minneapolis. There was some food on the flight, but can you believe they were charging for it? I guess I've been pampered by United for too long. So I decided to grab a bite at the airport. While the variety's nice, I need to get on the plane a half hour early because it's international and for "security reasons." So I had to find a place close to the gate. But the selection close to where I am isn't very good. I finally settled at a Wolfgang Puck gourmet express. I ordered a pizza, which was pretty good. Plus, it used relatively healthy ingredients, unlike the grease bombs we're used to. I also realized something. Because flights no longer allow you to carry liquids on board, vendors can charge exorbitant prices for bottled water. So anyway, some select text from my writings while on the plane:
"Well it looks like I'm not the only one writing on the plane. A relatively cute girl sitting in the window seat across the aisle is intently writing in a diary of her own... and her dad just took a peek at my journal. As he was sitting down behind me, he was clearly staring at what I had written. I think he was curious to see if I was writing in Chinese or not, but still, it's creepy.
We've hit an islet outside; my bet is it's Michigan. Speaking of islet that was one of the crossword answers. To pass the time, I did the crossword in the airplane's magazine. It was just around my level. I'd have to thank Ty sometime, as Cree was also an answer. One thing that I am beating myself up on was "energy." The clue was a cabinet department since 1977, and ending in "-ergy." My mind was stuck on "clergy" and couldn't get off of it."
It turns out the creep guy wasn't the girl's father after all. I thought she was part of the family behind me. Oh well. But the family behind me's also heading to Beijing along the same path I am. So I guess I'll have some company.
"Well it looks like I'm not the only one writing on the plane. A relatively cute girl sitting in the window seat across the aisle is intently writing in a diary of her own... and her dad just took a peek at my journal. As he was sitting down behind me, he was clearly staring at what I had written. I think he was curious to see if I was writing in Chinese or not, but still, it's creepy.
We've hit an islet outside; my bet is it's Michigan. Speaking of islet that was one of the crossword answers. To pass the time, I did the crossword in the airplane's magazine. It was just around my level. I'd have to thank Ty sometime, as Cree was also an answer. One thing that I am beating myself up on was "energy." The clue was a cabinet department since 1977, and ending in "-ergy." My mind was stuck on "clergy" and couldn't get off of it."
It turns out the creep guy wasn't the girl's father after all. I thought she was part of the family behind me. Oh well. But the family behind me's also heading to Beijing along the same path I am. So I guess I'll have some company.
Friday, July 13, 2007
Boston
I'm typing this at a little cafe area in Logan. Things went relatively smoothly. This morning was nice. I got up at around 7:15 and had breakfast. Nothing too fancy, just some egg crepes with scallions. I went to bed at around 1 last night, and coupled with my usual amount of time to fall asleep nowadays, it basically boils down to me running on less than 6 hours of sleep right now. But if there's anything I learned at St. Paul's it's how to live with sleep deprivation. I've developed the willpower to drag myself out of bed and wake up after the fact. But a hot shower and a cup of coffee (black, it's the only way to fly, thanks to Dan Thompson for that) and I'm feeling bright-eyed and busy-tailed. Besides, I need to knock my biological clock out of whack so I won't suffer so much jet lag. Then again, I've traveled enough to China now that I suffer very little time zone shock/jet lag, but maybe that's just my by-now wonky and defunct biological clock.
The drive was the usual crap; traffic and more traffic. Boy was it a good idea to leave early. We made good time, though and arrived at Logan around 9. My dad used to suffer through this kinda traffic daily for work, but now he tries to work from home as much as possible. my mom got a little paranoid when she was checking in my bag. Since I lost my bag last time, she felt that if we labelled it more clearly, it would come back to us if it was lost. It doesn't contain anything important; gifts for relatives and grandparents and replaceable items of clothing. But even so, the bag has its own label and three of those elastic tags that the airline supplies. I'm actually travelling pretty light. Normally, I have my backpack (or a duffel bag last year) loaded with some stuff that wouldn't fit in my check-in stuff and my own belongings. This time, my carry-on is pretty much entirely personal and very light. I'm actually bringing this little wheeled contraption and laptop bag pair for a friend of my mom's but I'm using them for now (breaking it in, so to speak). The wheeled bag is small, nimble and light as a feather (unlike the clunky Chinese makes I'm used to, this is a Swiss Gear; compact and functional). I can literally dance with that thing. It'll be a shame to part with it.
Ugh, the Terminal music is reminiscent of my roommate's. It's almost entirely oldies pop. At first it was relatively enjoyable: 100 years (Five for Fighting) and then Every Breath You Take (Sting and the Police) were playing when I was checking in, but now as I'm typing this, Dancing Queen and What a Night are playing. When school starts up again, I'm gonna take a stand on music. Normally, I'm complacent about the music in the room, but now I need to be more assertive, damn it! Before I left, I clumped all of my Radiohead and Red Hot Chili Peppers together in a playlist, the two bands that I need to explore more fully. Hey, Calling All Angels just started playing. Then again, Andy plays this all the time, too. Damn it! I curse you from afar, and laugh at your physics workload! I'll at least be doing something I enjoy *blows raspberry*.
Technical Problems
Grr...
I've got a lot of stuff to post, but this is going much worse than I expected. My grandparents' "DSL connection" was just a modem with an ADSL splitter. This means that I can't hook up with my own laptop and have to use my grandparents'. I didn't bring a USB thumb drive the transfer the files (which are simple text ones) from one computer to the other. I'll have to retype everything! So please expect some delays while I reorganize my workflow.
EDIT: Also, I'm having a lot of trouble with "The Great Firewall of China." If you already don't know about China's censorship of Google (and Wikipedia, too), then you should look it up while you're on the other side of the firewall. I can't access the main page of my blog, so I'm pretty much flying blind in terms of blog readability.
I've got a lot of stuff to post, but this is going much worse than I expected. My grandparents' "DSL connection" was just a modem with an ADSL splitter. This means that I can't hook up with my own laptop and have to use my grandparents'. I didn't bring a USB thumb drive the transfer the files (which are simple text ones) from one computer to the other. I'll have to retype everything! So please expect some delays while I reorganize my workflow.
EDIT: Also, I'm having a lot of trouble with "The Great Firewall of China." If you already don't know about China's censorship of Google (and Wikipedia, too), then you should look it up while you're on the other side of the firewall. I can't access the main page of my blog, so I'm pretty much flying blind in terms of blog readability.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Prelude
I'm pretty much all set to go tomorrow. I'm wondering how prevalent photos should be throughout this little adventure. I'm normally not much of a guy to take pictures of everything, but what the heck; this is my first time blogging, too. So my itinerary is like this (all times local):
Depart 11:10 AM from Logan Airport. Arrive 1:39 PM at Minneapolis St. Paul.
Depart 3:05 PM from Minneapolis. Arrive 5:05 PM at Tokyo Narita.
Depart 6:25 PM from Tokyo Narita. Arrive 9:20 PM at Beijing Capital.
This is a departure from my usual flight plans. Normally I take United Airlines, but due to booking problems, I'm stuck with Northwest this time. That's also why I'm gonna spend an hour and a half at Tokyo. Normally, with United, I stop at Chicago O' Hare and then take the 12 hour flight to Beijing. I can't wait 'til there's a nonstop flight from Boston to Beijing. Apparently, it's even more efficient than DC to Bejing, since Boston's pretty much exactly halfway around the world. Speaking of which, I ran across a really cool video (first from Youtube, but I'll link to the original site) of flight patterns. This was culled from actual FAA data. It's fascinating to watch, and it's sorta cool to see the country wake up and turn into a hive of activity. Also, towards the end, you can see the little packet of overnight flights and the whole pattern starts all over again. So anyway, that's my cool little tidbit to share today. I've got a notebook on me to write down my thoughts and keep track of everything when I don't have my laptop on me. I'll also try to take lots of photographs. So with that, it's a goodnight to everyone reading.
Depart 11:10 AM from Logan Airport. Arrive 1:39 PM at Minneapolis St. Paul.
Depart 3:05 PM from Minneapolis. Arrive 5:05 PM at Tokyo Narita.
Depart 6:25 PM from Tokyo Narita. Arrive 9:20 PM at Beijing Capital.
This is a departure from my usual flight plans. Normally I take United Airlines, but due to booking problems, I'm stuck with Northwest this time. That's also why I'm gonna spend an hour and a half at Tokyo. Normally, with United, I stop at Chicago O' Hare and then take the 12 hour flight to Beijing. I can't wait 'til there's a nonstop flight from Boston to Beijing. Apparently, it's even more efficient than DC to Bejing, since Boston's pretty much exactly halfway around the world. Speaking of which, I ran across a really cool video (first from Youtube, but I'll link to the original site) of flight patterns. This was culled from actual FAA data. It's fascinating to watch, and it's sorta cool to see the country wake up and turn into a hive of activity. Also, towards the end, you can see the little packet of overnight flights and the whole pattern starts all over again. So anyway, that's my cool little tidbit to share today. I've got a notebook on me to write down my thoughts and keep track of everything when I don't have my laptop on me. I'll also try to take lots of photographs. So with that, it's a goodnight to everyone reading.
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