Smile - random thoughts

Again there was no Giants game tonight so there goes three hours that I would have otherwise devoted to it (amongst other things of course). Needed a mental sports day off anyways because the Giants have been doing so much winning lately (FOUR straight series win!) that if I don't get a day off I might burst from too much enthusiasm (second live game of the season this Sunday!).

Speaking of the Giants, I am very sad that the organization decided to sent Brandon Belt back to the minors. I completely understand the move, but still it is quite disappointing, as I feel Belt needed a longer time at the majors and a fair shake. But the odds were against him really. He was not exactly lighting it up on fire like Posey did last year, and the Giants just have way too many outfielders right now with the return of Cody Ross to keep Belt, who have what they call "options" (established players with a certain amount of years in the big leagues CANNOT be sent down to the minors, except for injury rehab reasons).

Today is Thursday right? (Rebecca Black?) I almost forgotten due to the super weird day that Monday was. First of all due to various circumstances, my work schedule on campus has completely changed, to now I work at night Monday to Thursday, and my usual morning hours on Friday. So thus on Monday I did not have to be on campus until 2pm, due to the fact I work at night now, and 2pm is my first (and only) class that day.

Working at night means I have to once again do my workouts in the morning - which is not so bad. The only problem is that I am not nearly as flexible in the morning as I am later in the day (can't even touch my toes with my legs straight), so stretching is a bit compromised. Other than that, the only difference is, instead of going straight to slumber after working out at night, I still now have a full day ahead of me (please don't ask me to lift that box). The thing is though, it is very satisfying to get my workout for the day out of the way and not have to think about it.

So right, on Monday I worked out and ate breakfast, only to then find that my 2pm class was cancelled due to my professor having inflammation flare ups (take your fish oil, kids). I was like okay great, guess I won't have to be on campus until 6ish. So I figure I just chill and Facebook until then (ah, the freedom of college I will miss). Well turns out the SFSU campus lost power in a catastrophic fashion, hence all classes in the afternoon and night is cancelled. Well since there is no class, it makes my job on campus redundant, hence yes I did not have to go to work on Monday either.

Overall it was just too weird. Try adjusting to a brand new schedule on the first day and then having it turn completely upside down. Sure I can't ultimately complain about it as I kind of sort of had an extra day off attached to the weekend, but I did go back to work the next day wondering to myself how much it feels like a Monday. Thankfully the rest of the week was much less confusing and straight forward. 

Today for my internship I went to a middle school's earth day extravaganza to promote and sell the company's environmental friendly stationary and pencils. And man do I feel old (I'm ONLY 23!?). Hard to believe I am almost a decade removed from my middle school days. So it was indeed a bit of nostalgia visiting a middle school, even if it was not my own. I even got to have some school food for lunch, which brought back some good memories, in that back in middle I could eat what ever the fuck I wanted and still be stick skinny (it is how I got to be so tall I bet). 

Speaking of food - what the heck are they feeding the middle school children these days? Man are they tall! Either puberty is really robust or it is the water they are drinking. At first I ask my boss is it really a junior high and not a high school we are going to. I swear most of the girls were like taller than five foot five, and the dudes were massive. Thank heavens for genetically altered, mass produced food I guess. 

So recently I have move sort of a bit beyond photography and going into videography and video editing. At this juncture I would like to say that it is better to be great at one thing than good at many things. Suffice to say I am going to keep working on photography for a long while before I move on to other visual media. It is not that videography is hard (well, maybe), it is just that like photography, there is just so many things to learn that it can be overwhelming at first. The thing is, after you learn the stuff, it is more like muscle memory and everything just clicks (that goes with everything I guess). 

The good thing is though with digital art, anything and everything you can and want to learn is available online for free. I kind of wish this kind of proliferation of knowledge was available back when I was much younger, so that by now I could have much more knowledge. Nonetheless it is probably the golden age of actually learning anything, because the internet has made it so accessible (and FREE!). So for my cooking inept friends, you no longer need to watch the food channel - just get an app on your phone). There is absolutely no reason you should stop learning things after you graduated from college (t-minus 4 weeks). 

I paid $45 dollars for tank of gas yesterday. This is getting out of control! I drive an economy car for pete's sake! Though interesting that in the latest survey by consumer report, even with the high gas prices, Americans are generally not interested in downsizing their automobiles on their next purchase (Europeans are laughing at us). Well I guess people have deeper pockets than I do, and you know what, as long as the demand is there, automobile makers will continue to make big cars that is beyond what people needs (I understand, a nice big van is very comfortable for the kids, but if you only have two, do you REALLY need the extra third row? How about just get a very tall car?).

I wonder when are we going to see news reports of people stealing gas from people's tanks again (why do they put it at such a convenient location!). You how you can save gas and have screaming fast performance? Get a bike! I would so get one if not for the fact I don't have a cover garage to safely store it from the elements. Also I am not the type to like to carry a lot of gear with me, so all that motorcycle gear I have to lug around everywhere I go is no bueno. But man can bikes rev to stratospheric levels (10k rpm +)! Sounds freaking sweet.

Sometimes I would have the inability to turn of my sarcasm tone (I run on sarcasms), and instead of saying something is meant to be sincere and meaningful, it turns sarcastic, which has the opposite affect (does not work well when you tell a girl how beautiful she is). What I need is that machine Stephen Hawking has, which is only one tone and very clear. 

What a great idea to schedule a trip to LA next weekend, when everything is piling up. 

Black Day - random thoughts

Uh let see um don't know where to begin with this one. No Giants game tonight so kind of don't know what to do with myself really. (but don't you have studies?) No not really. I don't think it is senioritis at all (really, it is not haha), but I feel like I have not really done much at all this semester academic wise, and yet it is for certain now that I will graduate in mere five weeks from now (it is mid April already!?)

Just when I think it will be the week I finally give my car a bath, it freaking rains during the days before! It is as if the sky itself does not want me to do it. It has indeed been awhile. The mothership questions why I don't wash my car often, as back a couple of years ago I use to wash it religiously every 2 weeks, the weather be damned. But it is not because I have grown out of my automobile interest, it is just have been things to do with my time? I mean at least my interior is pretty clean! Honestly when it comes down to it cars are just appliances that gets you somewhere and through your productive day. Would I like to a drive a washed car? sure! But it is worth the effort? Eh not when I have more productive things to do - as long as the car is not falling apart of rusting haha.

Went to the Cherry Blossom Festival in Japantown this past weekend - first time in a long time. While there was not really much to see to be honest, but everybody goes for the food anyways (how could you not when there is a whole block just dedicated to food?) It reminds me of the street foods back home in Asia, where at the night blocks will be line up with just foods of all kinds, usually just small finger foods. Nostalgia and bad parking aside, it was just a good opportunity to pig out I guess on some Japanese food that is not made by that Mexican chef in the back of the restaurant.

Well I guess now is as good a time as any to gripe about gas prices again. I finally passed the four dollar threshold during my last fill up (at Costco no less!). Small efficient car not withstanding, it still hurts to have your gas bill go over $40 (those of you that drives SUV, I don't really have much pity haha). It does indeed makes you think twice about making an extra trip doing something that can be combined with another. It also makes you think of ridiculous stuff like taking out all passenger and back seats in order to save some weight (because honestly, 95% of the time its only me?). Then again it was during another blog post couple of weeks back where I said I welcome the high gas prices (in terms of the big picture for America), so I should not be complaining. You know I love San Francisco, but having the highest average pas price in the nation is just one of the side affects (like parking, street cleaning, and oh did I mention parking?)

I did not think it was possible, but I guess one can get sick of costco food. I mean you eat that pizza or hot dog often enough and it just does not taste good anymore. And costco is a such a big foods company, you would think they would have came up with more variety by now (remember when Churros went away and now came back? there used to be Pretzels?). But you know just as you are getting sick of it, you are then reminded the fact of just how cheap the food is. By that time you have no choice but resolve yourself to still patronize. Because $1.50 for a whole meal is nothing to sneeze at, even if your breathe will smell like hotdog for a few hours afterwards. You know what, new business idea - Costco food stands all over the place, and not just exclusive to Costco locations. Imagine what $1.50 hot dogs and soda will make in a place like downtown SF (that hotdog stand by Macy will probably not be happy).

I fully support restaurants posting calorie counts right on the menu. It tells me that just about 80% of the item of the menu, I cannot eat! I mean, you really going to have to at least think about it right? Seeing that meal you are about to order is 1500 calories have to people some thoughts (unless they are really hungry). But I will be honest, sometimes it is hard to put into mind that so little stuff can amount to large amount of calorie. Puts into your mind like "how the heck can this little thing be xxxx calories?". It is the eyes playing tricks on us? Perhaps we are so adapted to the visual volume of food that if it does not look like it is a lot, then even if it IS a lot calorie wise, we still won't be satisfied (it is why when I eat protein bars, even if the label say its 350 cal, I still feel like I barely ate anything). 

Case in point: this past weekend I ate at a diner for some American style breakfast and the portions where huge! I mean who the heck needs three eggs, three sausage, three strips of bacon, three pancakes, and a gang load of potatoes JUST for breakfast? (Don't get me wrong the food was fabulous). I ate like half of it and it was already more than I had wanted to eat. Had the restaurant showed the calorie count on the menu I would have passed on it and just ordered some eggs and cheese (like I would make at home, or just a bowl of oatmeal). As Chinese I was taught to eat everything that is given on the plate/bowl, so I feel extremely bad leaving half uneaten to be thrown away (because you really don't want American style breakfast for two meals in a roll, not me anyways).

Whoa times up, going to get off work soon. Until Monday.