Blog

Short blog posts, journal entries, and random thoughts. Topics include a mix of personal and the world at large.

Beijing 2022

The Winter Olympics is happening right now in Beijing. It feels weird because we’ve only just had the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, even though yes that was delayed for one year due to the ongoing pandemic. Perhaps the Beijing winter games should have been postponed as well, seeing as spectators at events are still severely limited, and the athlete’s families aren’t able to travel with to China. The show must go on, I guess.

It certainly does not have the same awe-inspiring feel as the 2008 summer games, also held in Beijing. That was the first time China got to host an Olympics. I can remember how proud I was of my motherland as I watched the opening ceremony. Tears of pride gathered at the corner of my eyes as the Chinese national anthem played to the raising of the flag of five stars. The 2008 Olympics was indeed a coming out party for China on the world stage.

In contrast, the 2022 Beijing Olympics has an air of controversy clouding over it, especially if you’re watching from a western country. The NBC broadcast here in the States began with a discussion of the massive human rights violation happening in the Xinjiang region of the China. The Biden administration is diplomatically boycotting the games. Then there’s also COVID: a second straight Olympics with practically zero fan attendance seems like a failure of governance and policy.

Nevertheless, I tuned in to the opening ceremonies last Friday. You can always count on the Chinese to put on a great show (Zhang Yimou directing, too, once again), and indeed the ceremony did not disappoint. Perhaps this second time around was always going to feel less pomp and circumstantial than the first. The emotions of seeing my mother country hosting these winter games just isn’t as strong as the experience of 2008.

Because if the pandemic never happened, I might be in Beijing right now to take in the games in person. A once in a lifetime opportunity derailed by the COVID. Now that’s something we can all commiserate in.

Back to gaming

It’s been about a month since I lucked into buying a PlayStation 5: I just so happened to catch a stock release on BestBuy’s website. It remains baffling that you still can’t simply walk into any BestBuy or Target and buy one of these next-generation consoles. But whatever; I got mine!

And yet I only started to play games on the PS5 this past weekend. Why the delay? Well, before buying the console I already had set routines and hobbies to attend to. It took a bit of time for me to carve out a space within my schedule to dedicate the few hours per week towards gaming. Much like the few hours I allocate weekly to reading, studying Korean, and piano practice.

The days of playing games with every hour of a spare time is absolutely over. Those days (read: college) was awesome. But back then I wouldn’t have been able to drop $500 dollars on a gaming console at a moment’s notice. Nor would I have been able to pay nearly $2,000 for a television to go along with it. Having an adult income is very nice, though that comes with having adult responsibilities as well that takes up your time.

Anyways, the first game I’ve decided to play on the PS5 is the director’s cut version of Ghost of Tsushima. Having recently read James Clavell’s Shogun, I was in the mood for some feudal Japan action. The game is absolutely stunning: the fictional Japanese island of Tsushima looks utterly fantastic, no matter what the in-game time of day it is. Of course, it helps to have a 4K OLED TV. The last time I consistently gamed, it was on a PlayStation 3 hooked up to a run-of-the-mill 1080P TV (playing Gran Theft Auto 4). The 4X jump in visual fidelity is kind of breathtaking.

I’m going to finish Ghost of Tsushima before moving on to another game, whenever that may be. One game at a time, instead of buying a whole lot of games and jumping around.

Price of the brick

Amazon Prime is raising its membership fee for the first time in four years. The service goes to $139 per year, up from $119. The slow boil of the frog that is inflation continues unabated. Netflix also recently hiked its rates; the top 4K tier of service is now $20 a month. I sure hope your account gets shared between four people to lessen the cost burden. Have you ordered food from DoorDash recently? The prices of every restaurant has gone up. Though here in San Francisco that may have something to do with the minimum wage increase too.

The $20 increase is not going to make me cancel my subscription. Amazon knows this, of course. I bet the vast majority of Prime users will simply shrug off the price hike like its nothing. With about 150 million subscribers, that’s a quick and handy profit (150 x $20) of $3 billion dollars. Just a figurative flick of the switch. The law of large numbers is indeed amazing.

The reason I’m not cancelling is because I make the annual fee back in credit card points. The Amazon Prime Visa card gives 5% back on all purchases done on Amazon (and Whole Foods) - so long as you are a subscriber to Prime. WIth the large amount of spending I do with Amazon, I make more than enough money back to at least break even on membership fee. All the while I’m enjoying the benefits of free two-day shipping, and the vast catalog of shows on Prime Video.

That said, it’s certainly not great to see the price going up, not only with Amazon Prime but seemingly everywhere. I’ve certainly used DoorDash way less these days. Order of a single item is at least $20 dollars now, once factoring in all the fees and tips. It’s really handy to live within walking distance to a mall with decent food options.

The American dream

Yesterday I was chatting with an acquaintance at work. The topic came to the huge amounts of money I’ve spent on cars. The guy’s traditional Chinese sensibilities went straight to: why not buy a house instead? Such a massive waste of money switching cars every few years (especially considering what I’ve bought in recent times). It makes far better financial sense to put it towards a house I can live in, instead of paying rent, which is what I’m doing now.

Well, at least that’s what that acquaintance thinks.

I obviously disagree. Purchasing a home is not for everyone, no matter how much the “American dream” is drilled into us. Renting a place is not throwing money away, or paying another person’s mortgage. Whether buy or rent, the mechanism is no different: exchanging hard earned cash for a roof over the head. To say buying is automatically superior to renting for any individual is kind of absurd.

What about the upkeep of a home that you as the homeowner is responsible for? If the main house drain is clogged up, I just have to call the landlord. It’s the landlord who has to stress about fixing it (rather quickly, too: I’m paying money for a functioning unit, after all). For me, renting is far less stressful, and that is worth any money I’m perceived to be “throwing away”.

Besides, who the heck can afford a house in San Francisco on a public worker’s salary anyways.

I can’t refute that my spending habit on cars is incredibly wasteful. But I love cars; what’s the point of making money if you’re not going to spend some of it on frivolous things that bring you joy (shoutout to Marie Condo)? I said to that acquaintance: the thing about money is, you can always make more.

Switching it up

One of my coworkers like to play games on this Nintendo Switch during lunch hour. I never quite understood the popularity of these handheld gaming machines. Back in the days of GameBoy it made sense because it was a truly portable device, not all that much weightier than the modern smartphone. The Switch is an iPad in size; a small tablet flanked on the sides by joystick controllers. I never liked the gaming experience on the iPad either. It’s not very ergonomic: painful to the wrists, the constant hunching of the neck.

I much prefer playing on a proper gaming console, sitting comfortably in front of a large television.

But the popularity of the Nintendo Switch is amazing to see. Steam is coming out with a similar device - the Steam Deck - which will play the latest PC games portably. The waitlist for one of those stretches way into the 2022. No doubt scalpers will have a huge payday on eBay. Other handheld PC gaming systems are already out in the market. Linus Tech Tips have reviewed a few of them recently. Indeed, it seems people want the portable experience.

I guess it’s just another way to pass the time while we’re in between things. Is playing on a Switch during lunch time really any different than listening to a podcast, or deathly scrolling through Instagram and twitter? Man’s inability to be still with his thoughts alone have created these varying methods to keep ourselves entertained. Even as we’re taking our dogs out for a stroll, we have to stare at our phones for the latest dopamine hit.

To each their own, obviously. I rather read a book during my lunch hour.

Weekend routine

Saturday mornings are the best. I wake up well-rested because I got to sleep in. Mind you that means waking up at around 8:00AM instead of the usual 6:30. Even if I wanted to, my body won’t allow me to sleep deep into the morning like before. Unless of course I absolutely had a very late night on Friday, but I can’t remember the last time I’ve gone out on a Friday. What with the pandemic and everything.

Upon waking up, I head straight for the iPhone. Not to browse twitter, because I’ve deleted that app from my phone (it’s the only New Year’s resolution I have). Instead, it’s the McDonals app. I’m ordering breakfast before I take the leisure stroll to the mall that’s three blocks away. Buy one get one free of the breakfast sandwich is always a good deal.

The walk is super lovely. Blues skies, early sunshine, and breaths of fresh air. There’s not a worry in the world. Because it’s Saturday; the Sunday evening panic won’t arrive for another earthly rotation. So I’m the calmest I can be over the two days of the weekend. Errands can be done later. My friends are still in bed at such an early hour. The Saturday morning is sacred, and mine alone.

I see grocery shoppers heading into Trader Joe’s. A silent high-five to fellow early risers. As I grab my order from McDonalds, I notice a woman also getting breakfast to go. However, she’s not heading home, but rather she’s off to work. McDonalds is the reward, a treat for herself before she has to face the arduous work day. I silently wish her well, and count myself lucky to have a job with proper weekends off.

So I can have these Saturday mornings.

I miss Asia so much

On the work iMac I use the Aerial screensaver. It’s an open source app that allow users to run the same stunning 4K screensavers found on the Apple TV. These majestic slow pans of amazing cities and earthy locales can be yours without paying the hefty entry price for an Apple TV unit. I’m surprised Apple hasn’t shut it down since Aerial downloads directly from Apple’s servers.

Anyways, a screensaver that popped open last week was of a flight view of Hong Kong island. Starting from just behind the mountains from the south side, it slowly flies over island towards Victoria Harbor, right into the heart of the super dense city. It was beautiful to watch, though with a bit of sadness. It’s been two years since I’ve last step foot in Hong Kong, and I miss it so so much.

It doesn’t help that it’s Lunar New Year, so my family in China are gathering for the annual dinner. Seeing their posted pictures on WeChat brings a bittersweet feeling. It’s great to see everyone healthy and well, but man do I wish I could be there to celebrate with them. Hong Kong/China’s relatively draconian COVID policies mean foreigners - no matter the vaccination status - have to quarantine for a substantial amount of days before allowed entry. I simply don’t have that kind of vacation length to do it.

Other parts of Asia also have such requirements, prohibiting me from visiting some of my favorite places. Japan as far as I recall is completely shut down to foreign entry. I would love to go back to South Korea and Taiwan, taking in the Asian style of living and atmosphere I adore so much. At this point I don’t know what to think in regards to the possibility of traveling to Asia this year. All I know is, soon as quarantine requirements go away, I am absolutely there.

Starting with Hong Kong, and to see my family in China.