What ever happened to the good old days when I could sit in front of the TV all day long and just play video games??? It's weird but I find myself not being able to focus or stay interested in one game for more than a day or a few days at most.
Most recently I bought Streeth Fighter IV, and Killzone 2. Both great games, but I have played those games about 2 days at most ... I don't know why???
Back in the day on 90th street, I remember the days when I would sit with my cousins and play video games all day long! The all too wonderful Super Mario, Contra, Gradius, actually it even goes further back then that. All that time spent on playing games with Ody on the Atari 2600 like Asteroids, Baseball, Pacman, King Solomon's Mine, Pit Fall, Pole Position and there were so many more games that I can't remember. One game I can't remember the name of is where you're in a mall, and you're a cop chasing the prisoner jumping over shopping carts, going up the escalators and all that good stuff ... I think it was calle Keystone Cops???
Those were the days when we would spend hours and hours playing these games, for me it was even days at a time! I remember I'd wake up and the first thing I would do is turn on my Sega Master System ... yes I always had Sega, from the Sega Master System to the Sega Genesis. We would sit there watching each other play and rooting each other to win so we can see what else happens in the game and story.
But that's all in the past now, well for the meantime at least. Maybe it's the games that I'm playing? Little Big Planet was a game that kept me interested for a while, at least a month. Metal Gear Solid 4 ... now that was a game that I couldn't stop playing, that brought me back to the days when I would play for hours on end until I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore, that game was one that I played for soooooooo long.
So maybe it is the games that I'm playing which dictate how interested I am. Maybe the FPS games on the PS3 don't keep me entertained that much anymore, but I need more of that adventure type game where there's a good story or you have to save the mushroom princess. Maybe I'm just getting old??? Nooo I can't say that, I'm never too old to play video games!
Oh well, I guess I'll try going back to playing MGS4 and Little Big Planet since they were the ones to keep me interested for a while.
I mentioned it in the "Knocked Out" entry about how I have a few bedrooms, one is in my house, the second is the subway, the third is here - at work!
Noo I don't sleep at my desk if that's what you're thinking. Well actually I've fallen asleep for a couple of minutes here at my desk and ended up knocking things down when I suddenly woke up, but that's not the third bedroom I'm talking about.
It actually started while I was working at another firm and I came in one day dead tired, I can't remember if it was from a lack of sleep, or I was just tired during the day. So I needed a power nap, the only place to do it was in the men's room, yes you read that right, in the men's room.
I would sit there on the porcelain thrown and either rest my elbow on the toilet paper holder to support my head, while I closed my eyes for a few minutes, or I will put my elbows on my knees (if the toilet paper holder wasn't in the correct position), and I'd have double support for my head.
There is a maximum time limit here, 15 minutes is borderline so you need to make your exit prior to that. Anything more than 15 minutes and people will knock on the door asking if you're alright. There was one time where I didn't wake up for a good 30 minutes and people were looking for me, someone knocked on the door after recognizing my shoes from under the stall walls. They asked if I was alright and I woke up not knowing where I was and what was going on ... I had to quickly answer and I told them that I had something bad for lunch.
So many stories of my third bedroom ... there was the time when I started to snore while taking my power nap, luckily no one I knew came in the bathroom, or at least no one knew it was me. There was another time where there was someone that came into the stall next to me that was quite loud with his ... deposits and air from down there. It was similar to trying to sleep next to someone who snores loud, and has some stank breath.
There are times when I'll go to a higher floor because they have cleaner bathrooms, but I'll usually stay here somewhere close to my desk, just incase. I actually haven't done it in a while but the option is always there!
As you're reading this, I bet you're wondering ... does he sit with his pants up or does he sit as if he's doing the deuce? Well ... you have to sell it so you gotta go all out with the pants to the floor!
Gotta love meeting that get cancelled and it's too late to cancel the food order! So today we have free lunch, MmmMmmMm and yes that is fruit you see on my plate! I'm trying to eat a little bit healthier.
There I was in my room at 1am trying to find a nicer or cheaper hotel for my Holy Week trip in April to Cali. I was checking around and found the HYatt at Ontario Mills which seemed like a really nice place to stay. The prices were pretty high at abotu $130 a night, but then I saw this little "guaranteed lowest rate" link on their site saying that hyatt.com will have the lowest rate online, and if it doesn't, then they will match whatever lower rate you did find and discount it another 20%.
That actually wasn't hard to find and found it using expedia.com where it was cheaper. Called the number to get the low rate guarantee and spoke to Tori. Gave her the details of my trip and told her where I found the lower price ... she put me on hold. And there I sat on hold ... for about 15 minutes. I was here wondering if this was their technique, that when you call you tell them that you found a lower rate and you want them to match it and 20% off, that they will just put you on hold for x number of minutes until you hang up or your battery dies. Well ... my battery started to die and I had to find my charger to make sure that it didn't. She finally came back on the line telling me that she was doing paperwork for the discount and I was correct with the 20% ... then she put me back on hold for another 10-15 minutes again! Here I was twidling my thumbs and just waiting, at this point I thought they were changing their site to get the same price and get out of the ad they put up. She finally comes back and takes my reservation for about $85 a night (not including taxes and fees), well that was a huge drop from the $130 a night that I originally was quoted at!
So the lesson for this is ... do some research when booking online at hotels, cars or anything. You can find coupons, and deals, and you can also find low rate guarantees like this!
I think part of the reason they put these guarantees up is because a lot of people are reluctant to call. At first I didn't want to call them and ask for the discount because I thought I might be wrong, or that it might label me as a cheapskate. But really who am I to care what they think? And it's saving me money!
The hotel looks nice and looking forward to the trip in April. Good to get a discount on it too ... I might actually call my car rental place to ask for a discount or a deal :)
OoOoooo alright I've been blogging about anything and everything, but have purposely been avoiding a topic on here. But ... I decided that I'll just post it anyway, it's about the whole "dating" thing especially those "online dating services."
Well this serves as a placeholder for now, I'm going to continue this in a few minutes ... just something to wet the appetites of whomever reads my blog.
+ mon
Update on Wednesday, March 11, 2009 at 11:47AM by
MONStar
Actually ... this was really boring as I was typing it out so I'm going to get rid of this entry.
This doesn't happen often but I broke a candle today as I was trying to find something on my cluttered desk. This is actually the second time this has happened, but this time when the glass broke it went everywhere.
My sneakers were next to the point of impact and since it's raining today I decided to wear those sneakers into work. I thought I had cleaned everything up, all the little pieces of glass are hard to see, but then as I was getting ready I stepped on one that ended up on my slipper! I hate the feeling of having broken glass cut you, and it's one of those pieces that are smaller than a splinter. I was able to take it out with relative ease, but it was on the bottom of my foot, so now it's the most annoying thing ever! With every step I take, I can feel the pain, even though on a scale of 1 to 10 it's only a 1, it's that annoying feeling of the pain with every step.
I thought that was the end of it until I felt something poking my foot while on the subway. After a few pokes and some pain, I realized that was some more glass that had made it's way into my sneaker which I missed. I couldn't take off my sneaker and socks on the train so I toughed it out until I got to the office.
When I finally got to take a look, there was actually a lot of those little pieces of glass in my sneaker! Damn this is hard to clean up, it's like cleaning out sand in your shoes when you go to the beach. So now I'm here at work with about 3 or 4 cuts from the glass on my right foot ... gotta love it.
We've all been through this, or seen this where people fight to get a seat on the subway, well not fight, but sometimes we just walk faster than anyone else. I don't think there's going to be a point to this topic but again this is just me rambling about my daily experiences.
So here we are, paying our $2.00 to get into the subway, well for that amount of money, I better get a seat! You know about a hundred other people are thinking the same way, and especially the "older" people.
There have been so many times where I've gotten on the train, and after taking it day in and out, I kind of know where the train doors will stop so I can be the first one in, that an older lady (it's usually a lady) will try to squeeze in right next to me or even in front of me to get in that door first. It doesn't matter if I've been standing there in the same spot for 10 minutes waiting for the train. It doesn't even matter if there are people who are trying to get out of the train, they will stand there as if no one else exists and try to get into the train car while people are going in.
The reason for this ... to get that most desired place on the train, the empty seat.
It's not hard to find these seat scavengers, that's right I call them seat scavengers! They'll fight their way to the seat no matter what, whatever the cost. Be it elbowing someone or "accidently" stepping on someone's foot, or just standing 2 inches in front of them as the train doors open. It's survival of the fittest here.
You may think that this battle ends when you have won the seat and are sitting down, but think again! The battle rages on even passed that, and it is no longer a physical war, but now it's a mental battle and sometimes emotions come into play as well.
I have bared witness to many older people (again mostly ladies!) stand directly in front of you after you have been able to get a seat. They will stand directly in front of you, almost in your lap, sometimes even with a leg in between yours, and wait ... and wait ... and wait until you are weakened by their fragile appearance and want to give your seat up to this elderly person who is swinging back and forth on this pole like a flag.
There have been instances where that person would stand in front of me and start to rub their knees or look like they are in pain, all this to get me to give my seat up. But only the strong survive, and I have to be strong at these times. The worst part is when there's a very attractive lady sitting next to you (only for an instant) who seems this, and sees that you're not a gentleman willing to give up their seat, then that lady gives their seat to the elderly person posing as someone in pain! What can you do in that situation? You can't necessarily get up and offer your seat to that lady ...
Some people who read this and are not from NYC might think that this is all a bunch of hogwash, that it's as simple as getting an empty seat or standing there, well that my friends is just false! The battle for a seat in the subway is real and I have been on the frontlines day in and day out.
The enemies vary ... the elderly who cut you off for the seat, the elderly who stay watch as close as posslble to you and entice you with their pain and agony, the ghetto people who spread their legs as far apart as possible (maybe to keep their fat balls from sweating ... sorry that was uncalled for but this topic gets me upset!), the people who fake falling asleep while taking up more than one seat, the ones who set their bags in the seat next to them, the people with strollers who think that just because you have a stroller entitles you to have two seats, the ghetto person counting on their look to scare you away from even attempting to fit into that small space they left you to fit part of your butt.
All these enemies come in differnt shapes and forms, but those above are the most common of them! This is a battle that I refuse to give up on ... after all I did pay my $2.00. If there's a seat, regardless if I'm going to race for it, squeeze into it, or wake someone up to get it, I will do what I have to do.
But the game is over when you are faced with the big boss in this game. It's a battle that you cannot win, when you are facing the pregnant lady. There is almost no way around this, especially if you're running after one open seat and that lady incorporates the elderly tactic of pain and close contact, how can you not give up that seat.
I have the answer because I have done it many times before, and you might think of me as a barbarian for this and for not giving up my seat to a pregnant lady, but the secret is to not make any eye contact. To look in the total opposte direction of this enemy combatant.
Or you could just be nice and offer that pregnant lady your seat, and sometimes you'll get lucky and they will tell you that it's alright. So you've come out of the situation as a gentleman and you get to keep your seat! But remember this my friends, this does not come often, so when the day comes that this comes to you, remember it and cherish it!
Usually when there's a warning label, there's a reason for it. I bought this miso soup at the Christmas Tree Store in Delaware, yes they had miso soup there. It was cheap too, only $1.99! I actually ended up buying more of them even though I hadn't tried it out, darn their yummy pictures on the box.
I decided to bring it into work today to "save" some money on lunch, and followed the instructions as directed on the box. It said that the bowl would be hot once it came out of the microwave. Yeah, I've read that places before and it can't be that hot. Well it is that hot! The bowl isn't those styrofoam bowls, it's a plastic bowl which heats up pretty fast.
I ended up spilling some of the very hot soup on my hand while carrying it out of the microwave, of course, I couldn't just let go of it or else all the soup would have spilled. So as I'm there holding the bowl of hot soup with two hands, one of them red from the burn and trembling from the pain, I notice a line start to form behind me for the microwave.
Of couse I had a little audience that I was unaware of because I was just so focused on the soup. Cleaned up the spill, then put about 20 - 30 napkins on the top and bottom so that I could hold it and walk back to my desk as fast as I could!
Had to let my fan blow on the soup for a few minutes to let it cool down, since I already had a burnt hand, I didn't want a burnt mouth either where I wouldn't be able to taste anything. The soup is pretty good, had some udon noodles too which was a good touch. It wasn't the dry noodles that I'm used to with "Cup O Noodles" but it was actually in it's own packaging within the bowl.
Good stuff, but next time I'll go when there's less traffic, so that I won't put on another spill and burn show for the office.
If you take a look at the time of the posts, you'll see that it's not so far apart from when I ate my breakfast and from when I started to eat these!
I brought these in so I could eat them as a snack for later ... repeat ... later. Well that didn't happen and I ended up opening it early and eating a few sticks. Ahhh the temptation of chocolate!
This reminds me of when I bought potato chips at Duane Reade, the big bag to save money from the vending machines. Needless to say that bag was done in about an hour or two ... I hope this isn't the same with this can of Piroulines. My coworker is giving it a lifespan of only two days.
+ mon
Update on Tuesday, March 10, 2009 at 4:51PM by
MONStar
Ummm ... I find myself saying "just one more" about 5, or 10 times today. I need to duck tape this lid shut so I can't get anymore! Help!
I was runing a little bit late this morning and didn't have time to eat breakfast at home. So I decided to bring it into work instead of buying the $8 sandwich from the "gourmet" deli. I packed longanisa and fried rice, but not just any old fried rice. It's the fried rice my dad likes to make every morning that has garlic and patis (fish sauce) in it ... so you know it tastes good! But the smell ... well people who aren't used to it will have that look on their face like "who just farted."
So I get into work and wanted to eat it right away as that was all I could think about on the train ride in, good thing I didn't eat it on the train. As I opened the tuperware the wonderful smell of garlic, patis and longanisa fill my nasal passages and what a great smell it was to me. But I'm not sure how it smelled to the other people in the office and was hoping that they can't smell it! Sooo to "cover up" the smell, I start to clean my desk with the antibacterial for the hands which smells like watermelon. I put a good amount where there was a small puddle on my desk and let it sit there so it could fill the office for a little bit with it's familiar smell.
After cleaning up, I went on to eat my breakfast ... damn this is good stuff! Of course, for those that know me, I had to put some toyo on it.
I lied, I am going to post now before I forget the topic ...
Ok ... don't deny this happening to you because you know it's happened a few times, well at least once. So you're in the subway, and you're tired from a long day at work, or just hanging out, or it could even be the morning commute. You also happen to be one of the lucky ones that get a seat, and you can't just help it but you close your eyes to the music of the train stations going by and the "ding dong" sound of the doors closing.
You fall into a semi deep sleep, and you start to dream about whatever comes to mind, but it's usually something weird. Next thing you know you wake up ... you're not sitting straight anymore, but you find yourself at a 45 degree angle almost on top of your neighbor!
Yes this has happened to you before! Admit it ... please it'll make me feel better!
So today on the train going home, I found my seat and closed my eyes. I knew I was going to fall asleep, as I do everyday, but I wasn't expecting what was to come. I woke up about one stop later to a lady trying to sit down, but either I was too far over on her side, or her right butt cheek was too big and fell onto my left leg. She squeezed in and I went back to sleep, on the right side of me were two high school girls just talking and joking around. I drifted into dreamland and started to have some really crazy dreams, I think I actually incorporated the things the two high school girls were saying into my dream. Then I woke up! I woke up in the 45 degree angle towards the two girls, and to them laughing hysterically at me who was about to fall on the one sitting next to me. I clearly remember hearing the one standing up saying ... "alright here we go here we go, watch him watch him!" ... then again "he's almost there, awwww" as I woke up.
To add to the humiliation, I woke up with a cold spot on my chin as the drool came out of my mouth! So as I apologized to the two girls, I had to take a slurp and quickly wipe my chin. You'd think I would have learned from that experience ... but no, I was still 4 stops away, that's a good 5-10 minutes left, so I closed my eyes again, but this time making sure the back of my head was against the train.
Well this isn't the first time this has happened. It seemd that the subway has become my second bedroom. There was another time where I fell asleep on a crowded train going home, and I woke up to the sound of "if this motherf**ker touches me one more time ..." and again at the famous 45 degree angle. I look to my left and see two girls staring at me with the most evil of eyes, as I try my best to play it off that I wasn't falling asleep on her, and that I wasn't sleeping at all, but that it was actually the train stopping and going that made my body fall in that direction!
Ahhh yes, the infamous coverup! Using the motion of the train to disguise that 45 sleep position ... I've done it many a times.
We can't forget about the sleeping while standing now can we?! I haven't seen this done as much, but when you're there just standing, either against the door or just holding onto the poles, then you close your eyes for a quick second, next thing you know your knees give out from you falling asleep and you do this little jerking motion as you fall downward and quickly wake back up! What a wonderful sight that is to see when I do that. And of course, I try to play it off with the motion of the train, even though we could have been at a stop with the doors open.
Well those are the quick stories that I had and I'm sure there will be more since it's not 1:30am and I'm going to be sleepy on the train again. Onto my first bed for a few hours, then I'll be moving onto the second bed on the way to work (actually, that got me remembering that I do have a third bed ... I'll blog about that later, but the third bed is at work!).
Gotta try and stay awake on the train like this guy!
Everyone knows I'm not a health nut or even close to that, so it comes as no surprise that one of the best foods ever is french fries! Yes those crunchy, golden yellow, nutritionless sticks that you dip into ketchup ... MmmmmMmmm just blogging about it makes me want some (I actually have some from Burger King that my dad didn't finish in the kitchen!).
But what is better than french fries though? When you're going either one by one, or a handful of a fries at a time. Just watching the fries disappear from that carton box they come in ... it's sad when you don't have anymore left. But ... but but ... one of the greatest feelings in the world is when you look inside the bag and see that there are more fries that had fallen out of that carton box and were just waiting for you to find them!
Ahhh yes, the fries that are at the bottom of that bag are the best fries ever. They are like a surprise, I was going to compare them to the prize in the Crackle Jack boxes, but that one is expected. The fries at the bottom of the bag, are definitely unexpected. It can either be one fry, sometimes non at all if you get super effecient employee that makes sure there's no spillage, or there could be a ton of fries! I prefer the latter.
One of the reasons, well the main reason we went to Delaware this weekend was to pick up my dad's old car. It's the 91 Camry that has been through a thing or two, at one point it was rockin' a three tone paint job! Ahhh yes I said THREE. Sure you've heard of the two tone paint job, but this one was the three tone, pimpin'. The front drivers side fender was a dark blue, the passenger side door was gray and the rest of the body was maroon.
Now the way it got the multi colors is a whole different entry, but I'll give you a little tid bit. The front fender, was caused by getting rammed twice by an SUV. The passenger door was caused by a not so smart man who stepped on the gas when the light turned green, even though there was a car directly in front of him.
I remember when my dad had to get rid of his old car, the white Mitsubishi Galant. It was the first car that he bought here in the US and he loved that car. When the non profit org towed it away, he was really sad. I think the same went when we drove this 91 Camry to Delaware to give it to my sister.
There is definitely sentimental value in it, him and my mom drove in that car a lot. When we were about to take the car back home today, he was checking it out and opening the door. I was a little bit aways but I told my sister that he was getting flashbacks, and old memories were coming back. He then sat in the drivers seat and started the car. A few minutes went by as he just sat there soaking it all in, it's just like how when we get a new car and we sit there once we had bought it or decided that we're buying it, and take a deep breath to get that "new car smell." Well he was sitting in there and taking that deep breath to get that old car smell. My brother in law was telling him to becareful with this and that on the car, and my dad simply replied ... "I know this car."
I told him to go ahead of me since I wasn't sure how fast he'd be driving it, and if it would even make it back to NY! He went about 20-30 minutes ahead of me ... and I was going to catch up with him. I was doing about 90-100 on the turnpike, really I was. Trying to catch up with him as fast as I could just incase there was any problems. About 45 minutes goes by and nothing! I thought maybe I had missed him, or he went into the single rest area that I didn't check, I did stop by the other rest area to check if he was there, but to no avail. I finally caught up to him on exit 8 and pull along side him to let him know that I was there. He was in the slow lane going about 60-65. So I pull up in front of him going the same speed, when we reached a rest area. He followed me in and we parked next to each other, he got out of his car and stood there leaning on the car, sort of posing. There was a huge smile on his face! It was a kool-aid smiel for sure! He didn't say anything and just smiled and I smiled back ... then he said he was hungry and went to get some food.
My dad is very happy to have his car back, the kids had dubbed it the Red Panther. So it's returned, and I also have memories with this car, a lot of them. The youth also have a lot of memories with this car! This is the car that I hit 117mph with, this is the car where I fit 9 people, this is the car where I got my first speeding ticket after cutting off an undercover cop, this is the car that you had to open the back passenger door just to open the passenger door, this is the car that we took all over the place even though people said it would never make it, this is the car that made my dad smile ear to ear.
This is a late entry because I can't seem to find any wifi here. So I had to set things up through my phone and bberry so that I can moblog. If you haven't heard that term, you're not alone. In researching how to send a blog entry through your phone, I discovered that it actually has a name, moblogging. I knew it was possible since I saw some other people doing it but never tried till now.
So here I am in quiet Delaware moblogging from my bberry, ahhh the joys of technology (it also has its darkside).
We weren't sure if we were going to take the trip here this weekend, but decided around noon time that we were going and will spend the night. Usually we leave Shadow at home but this time we brought him! He actualy loves this trip and he's in his bed sleeping now.
Today was pretty uneventful as we stayed in the house most of the day and made our way to Target and the Christmass Tree Shoppe for a quick 1.5 hour quick shop.
It was a nice day though, just spending time with family and not doing anything. Eating, watching tv, chit chatting is especially fun when with the fam bam. It was good to get my dad out of the house since he stays home most of the time while here in NY.
Watching the kids play with their sticky hands on the ceiling ad Buggy walking everywhere was definitely worth the trip. Shadow even ran around the backyard and had some exercise! Before coming here we stopped at the Petco on 32nd and 2nd. I took Shadow inside because he needed a harness (couldn't find his at home). He was scared going in there and usually his reaction when seeing other dogs is barking and being mister macho man. But not this time he was quiet and I even put him on the floor while thisother Chihuahua smelled his ear without him doing anything. Maybe this is a turning point in his life??
So we're heading back to NY in the morning (if I wake up) and its always sad when we part ways since we are unsure of the next Delaware or the next NY visit.
On another note I wasn't planning on "shopping" but ended up spending a good amount of change at Target and the Christmas Treee Shoppe. Again the impulse buying got to me, I guess there goes that Lenten sacrifice!
Alright that's it for now, I found another use for my work issued bberry. Now I can blog on the run and if anything interesting happens, I can take video, pics and then have it up within 5 minutes (I think there's a 5 minute lag). Sorry this entry has been all over the place, I'm having a hard time typing with my overly muscular fingers on this tiny keyboard.
So as I was coming home from the city, around 10:30 tonight I ended up in the Union Square stop to catch the L train home. Walking towards the platform and passing many street performers (a band playing upstairs, one man on the guitar on the L train platform), I noticed a crowd between the stairs heading up to the the uptown and downtown R trains. I thought it was another performer and wasn't going to stop but then did a double take as I saw it was a man sitting on a chair.
At first I thought he was selling DVDs, but then I saw that he was selling portraits of people. Not just the typical portraits you see, and not even the characature portraits that you see all over the city (especially Central Park). This man, Ming ... had a black piece of paper about 4 or 5 inches square, folded it in half, then started to just cut and cut and cut.
I was intrigued and wanted to see what he was doing, he struck up a conversation with me telling me that he can redo the guy he just did a portrait for just by his memory. So he had the paper folded up ... and I he told me that it's $10 for the portrait and takes about 5 minutes. Well sign me up!
He made me stand in front of him while he had that folder black sheet of paper. He would look up at me, then cut, and the process would repeat for the next 3 or 4 minutes. A crowd started to form, and I started to get embarassed. He cut and cut away as we chit chatted, and he told me that he has been doing this for 50 years ... and he was 59 years old. So you do the math and he's been doing this since he was 9 years old! He said he learned it from his art teacher, and now he's teaching it too. During the winter he does this in the subway, and in the spring and summer he does it on Prince + Broadway.
I couldn't tell how the face was coming along, but then he even gave me a nice tie since I was wearing a tie from work. We exchanged some more conversation and then he started to work on my hair. Before you know it, he unfolds it and shows it to me and the rest of the people, there was a round of applause!
He gave me the portrait and I was a bit surprised as I was expecting a "real life" portrait, but forgot that it was a characature portrait. So I look fat in the portrait ... but then again, I do need to lose some weight! He even gave me a double chin!
There was a couple after me, and I ended up staying to watch him work again. I ended up video taping him and them for you to view below (I didn't finish the video as I ran out of memory). Also below is a comparison to me and the portrait that he gave me.
I think this man is quite skilled and very good at what he does! The damage was $20 total as I gave him a $10 tip for his skills. Definitely an artist and I hope to see him again maybe with some friends and family who would also get their portrait cut out of paper! Ming ... simply amazing what he can do with a pair of scissors and a piece of paper. He actually teaches this ...
Ok I think this is a little bit old, but I'm just finding out about this site for the first time today! It's funny how I've been to a lot of sites, but haven't seen this one ...
www.hopstop.com
You just enter the start point and end point, the times of day and pick if you're taking the train(s), cab or are walking! It's pretty sweet! Damn this is so much easier than going on Google maps and going to the MTA website to see what subways are nearby and where to transfer!
I hadn't tried these but then I got a free pair from the new BBerry that I got from work. So I started to use them for listening to things throughout the day here at my desk. At first it was a little uncomfortable, it sounded like I had my hands over my ears and could hear everything but in a muffly bassy type of way.
I guess the only comparison I have to it is when you're underwater and you can still hear the sounds from what's going on above the water.
Well these things go INSIDE of your ear for the most part and the little rubber bud part is replacable, they also have different sizes, which I actually switched to a smaller one since it didn't fit well with what was originally on the earphone.
As I was taking out the right earphone I noticed that it felt weird. The thing is when you take them out of your ear, they make this sort of "popping" sound since it's almost a vacuum seal. I looked at the earphone and saw that the rubber bud was missing ... but it didn't fall on the floor or anything. It was still stuck in my ear!
I didn't know how to get it out, I was trying to fish it out with my fingers, but there was nothing I could grab onto where I could get a grip and take it out. My coworker was just looking at me laughing, and I didn't want to ask him for help because I don't think he's stick his fingers in my ear. So here I am in somewhat of panic mode, thinking this is going to fall in deeper or I might push it deeper. I was looking for something that I could use as make shift tweezers, but nothing! So I did the next logical thing to do ... I shook my head on the right side hoping to lossen it or move it just a little bit.
That's exactly what happened, there was just enough movement where I was able to pinch my fingers to grab a little piece and pull it out. For all those who were worried about me while reading this story, I'm alright!
I woke up today and totally forgot that it was Friday. I didn't eat any meat, but I got to work without eating breakfast ... I wasn't sure what I was going to have. Last week I had two egg and cheese croissants but didn't want that since that made me a big gassy (tmi?).
So I made my way to the gourmet deli across the street and ended up getting some rice and shrimp (gotta have the rice!). Then I went around a little more and saw that they had stuffed shells! MmmmMmm I love stuffed shells! I haven't had stuffed shells in a while, and well today I had this treat! I forgot about this yummy food but now that I've found it, I do hope that they have this often! Gotta love me some stuffed shells. So that's another option for the Lenten Fridays!
I forgot about this yummy food but now that I've found it, I do hope that they have this often! Gotta love me some stuffed shells. So that's another option for the Lenten Fridays!
So I was talking to a friend of mine today and I was asked "has been ever been a time in your life when you started to lose faith?"
The answer to this question for me, and I think it goes for a lot of people is yes. But it goes beyond answering the simple question, and goes into finding out why the question was asked in the first place. Then it comes to how to deal with it and what solutions can be found to deal with the issue.
People sometimes ask me how I do the things I do, meaning how do I deal with things that are tragic, or how I deal with things so lightly. I think some people only see the times when I'm getting to the point of being alright again, and not at that point where I'm breaking down, but those times of breakdown do exist.
There have been more than a few times where I've almost lost faith, and lost my hope in a better tomorrow. But as the saying goes, it's not the number of times you fall, but it's the number of times you get up. That saying has been used from so many different angles, from basketball, to religious views, to just personal matters. It's everywhere, and the reason it's everywhere is because it's definitely true.
I think as humans, we tend to take things in all at once. When we have problems we take it all in, and let it envelop us and even sometimes take over our lives. I've been through that a lot, where it's taken a toll on everything else around me, which is something that's quite dangerous. Along the way of my tragic moments, I've learned to try to take things one at a time. It's similar to those fight scenes in movies, you know the ones where there's a group of people against one person. The group will attack the one person one at a time so that the single person can deal with all the attackers. That's how I try to deal with problems, and how I think people should deal with them as well. We will always have issues and problems in our lives, be it from an outside source or something we made happen ourselves is no difference, it's how we react to them is what counts. As I told my friend you need to focus on the 1st problem before moving onto the 2nd and 3rd problem. Sure problems don't come one at a time and instead come in packs, but it's up to us to get them on the individual level. How can we solve the 1st problem, when all we're thinking about the 2nd and 3rd problems we have? The answer is we don't and can't. Well some people might be able to, but not as effective as dealing with the problems one at a time. If we can't find a solution to the 1st problem, then we move onto the 2nd and not worry about the 1st until we know that we have a plan of action against it. Dealing with one thing at a time makes things so much easier to handle.
I consider myself a pretty religious person, and one of the things that happens when we have problems and issues is we often ask the question "why?" We wonder why us, why now, we're the "good" people so why are we being "punished" and the list of quetsions goes on and on. Honestly, we never really know the entire picture of why something is happening, ever. We might know, or think we know why something is happening, but in reality we can only see it from our point of view. A lot of friends tend to ask the questions of why it's happening to them, instead of taking that step back to see a bigger picture of the situation. They focus on the part that involves them, and only them directly, why because that's how we are as humans. Sometimes we miss the other things that are thrown into the mix because we're so focused on one part. Then this is where we start to get into conflicts with each other, and even with God. We start to blame Him for the things that are happening, and we also decide that He's forgotten about us.
I don't think that's the case at all. He has told us that He gives us trials and tests in our lives to see how strong our faith is in Him. We need to see that when we're given hardships in our lives, it's our chance to shine through it all and not stick in a corner and complain as to why we were dealt a bad hand. He gives them to us to see us perceviere through this time, and usually we go through all the crap because He wants us to deal with it at that moment, so that when He does give us the brighter side of things, we'll appreciate it more, and we won't take it for granted. We are given these things to make us stronger individuals, families and most of the time we miss it. These aren't bad times, rather these are opportunities for us to come through a better person, come through as a better family.
The reason we don't see all this is that we keep those blinders on and we don't see how far the ripples extend. We don't see that the ripples we caused in that stagnant pond go into another little lake or pond.
A friend of mine said that when we're at our lowest, those are the times that we can get the closest to God that we ever will. I am proof of this, as when I was the lowest in my life, when everything seemed over for me, I was able to see Him clearly. It was strange, but I was able to hear Him better, and I was able to interact with Him in a such a way that I have never been before.
Just to clarify, when I mention Him I'm talking about God, not some male friend, or boyfriend because I'm not gay, not that there's anything wrong with it!
You know that saying, make the best of the situation? Well that's what should be done in most cases, if we are faced with something that is beyond our control, such as trying to find a new job and getting it. Trying to find a job nowadays can be really hard given the economy, and people can't get on themselves if they didn't get the position because 9 times out of 10, they didn't get the job for other reasons, for financial reasons - be it someone came in asking for a lower rate, or someone who is just barely qualified being hired as opposted to someone that has everything going for them. So we can't get down on ourselves about this, and also, remember take it as an opportunity. If you're unemployed, just do what you can for your parents, for your siginicant other, for yourself. Moping around and feeling bad for yourself will really get you nowhere, again, it's how many times we stand up and get up from situations that counts.
All that I've said here can really be summed up into a short paragraph. That when times are hard, handle your issues and problems one by one, instead of everything at once. In doing so, it will help other things in your life fall into place. Don't try to figure out the reasons for why things are going badly, or why you deserve or don't deserve this, because we really don't know what the reasons are until we take that step back from the situation. Trying to understand the reasons and the why's, won't work out too well since you'll now be focusing on the questions rather, than tackling the actual issue(s). Be strong and know that these trials and tests are simply an opportunity to shine! There's this song that reminds me of this ... Getting Better by the Beattles ... You've got to admit it's getting better geting better all the time ...
Thursday, March 12, 2009 at 10:15AM 
