Catching up on back topics...

So after dragging things out for the past few weeks, I was invigorated by motivation over Thanksgiving-- which had been missing for quite some time.

Strangely enough, this coincided with my completion of a Buddhist ritual, so I wonder if that was the main reason why things are getting done.

I don't consider myself a devout "follower" of any religion, but I have to say that the Dalai Lama's teachings really make sense to me-- fact that he promotes kindness and tolerance to all individuals in the world seems to be the kind of thing that everyone strives to be...

Along with this newfound motivation, though, is my desire to write about certain topics that I previously said I'd address...
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First off, the New York Knicks...


Being in the less competitive Eastern Conference, they had a great shot at the playoffs last season, but they completely blew their chances-- even losing to the Timberwolves at the game I attended.

They were moving very slowly that night and just didn't have any fire...

Now, they are facing a slew of new problems-- with their coach being sued for sexual harassment and drama over Stephon Marbury.

If they can just start playing like a team and leave their personal problems off the court, maybe they'll stop having 8-game losing streaks (and embarassing losses to Boston). =P

And I find it pretty disturbing that Boston could be baseball, football AND basketball champions this year (although hopefully, that won't happen).

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Next: Yul Kwon and Jeff Yang, whom I met at this discussion on perceptions of Asian American men a few months ago.

Here's a (crappy/blurry) photo of them that I tried to take the night of the Asia Society panel:

The panel discussed a number of issues, ranging from the un-coolness of Asian men to professional development of Asians to the portrayal of Asians in the media. (And I'll refrain from commenting on the complete idiocy of some of the comments made by The Daily Show's Aasif Mandvi, or some of the moronic questions asked by audience members).

One topic that I really enjoyed was when Yul brought up the two ways that Asian Americans can become cool:

1. They can conform to Western perceptions of coolness (much like Yul does).
2. They can be happy with themselves and invent their own definition of coolness-- the way actors such as Masi Oka, of Heroes fame, does.

Personally, I really appreciate Yul calling out the second form of coolness and I have to give props to Mr. Oka for playing such an interesting and funny character, and thereby, helping change perceptions of Asian Americans and coolness.

I admire people who accept who they really are (even if they're dorky) and can be cool by being themselves--that personal acceptance is my own definition of coolness. Someday, maybe I'll be as cool as Hiro! heheheh. :)

The other good speaker, Jeff Yang (who hasn't updated his blog, http://instantyang.blogspot.com/, in FOREVER) was also extremely articulate-- and I like the fact that he brought up the topic of homophobia in the Asian community, with respect to the 2004 Details Magazine debacle (which I won't get into-- lest it re-unleash my wrath at the supposedly "politically correct" homophobes from my college).

All in all, though, it was an enjoyable talk and I was so happy to see Yul using his celebrity from his "Survivor: Cook Islands" win to promote more discussion and awareness of the Asian American community, and hear Jeff Yang give some of his insightful commentaries in person.

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Another hobby I've picked up recently is microlending!

Specifically, http://www.kiva.org/ has become a tremendous success and it really promotes some values that I appreciate: simplicity, hard work and transparency.

Through this site, donors (such as myself) give small amounts of money (e.g. $25) to entrepreneurs from less fortunate areas of the world, so that they can develop their businesses.

For example, one woman in Cambodia was selling eggs from her ducks and earning $5 a day (a pretty decent income in her country) and needed money to buy more ducks, so she could sell more eggs and make more money!

Makes perfect sense, right?

A brilliant idea to have people help other people around the world-- so props to Nobel Peace Prize winner, Muhammad Yunus, for pioneering the field of microfinance!

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And finally, a topic which seems very long-past but I believe should still remain in the minds and hearts of people across the country: the shootings at Virginia Polytechnic Institute.

I have to admit that I was initially pretty upset to find out that the shooter, Seung-Hui Cho, was of Asian descent--and very concerned about how it would reflect on our community.

The university has done a great job of hiding this event from the media (and therefore, partially erasing it from the minds of Americans) ever since it occurred back in April, and that's proven to be pretty good in stopping stereotypes of crazed Asian Americans from coming out.

But as I thought about the event some more, I began to wonder if the values within Asian America really do prompt some level of mental instability and I guess this goes back to my usual gripe about Asian American culture... =P

There's so much pressure to succeed and show off that it tends to drive many people at least a little bonkers.

The following passage from Newsweek magazine seemed really telling:

"It is hard to exaggerate the premium that many Korean immigrants place on admission to highly selective American Universities. The Ivy League is preferred. 'Local Korean TV [in the United States] will even broadcast who gets into which college,' says Jeff Ahn, president of the League of Korean Americans in Virginia. Sun-Kyung [the shooter's older sister] went to Princeton and majored in economics (she turned down Harvard). Cho's father worked 12 hours a day as a presser in a dry cleaner to help pay for it, going to the parking lot to eat his lunch while sitting in his car. The elder Cho rarely spoke, except to say how proud he was to have his children in college. ([Cho's] Uncle Kim recalled to Korean reporters that his sister talked a lot about her daughter who went to Princeton, but not much about the son at Virginia Tech.)

"Virginia Tech is a fine school, but it's not the Ivy League. (Nor, despite Cho's rants against rich kids, are its students very affluent.)"

The Korean government and Korean Americans apologized for Cho's actions after the incident. And while I feel that it seemed the right thing to do (not to mention that it was perfectly consistent with Asian American norms), I almost wondered if it was necessary. I'm sure that had Cho been of some other background, his community might not have been so quick to recognize their influence over him and apologize for everything (if at all).

I feel like I've been having these same Asian identity issues forever.

Maybe I haven't quite grown out of my college self... =P

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And I think that I'm now caught up with all the old topics I said I'd mention! =D

Random 2007 pics...

After a fairly mediocre Thanksgiving with the family, I'm back in my tiny Upper West Side studio and doing a bunch of miscellaneous tasks.

I also saw some photos in my camera phone from this past year, so I'm posting them too (again, in no particular order).

This photo actually should've been part of my 2006 review... This is of Grand Central at Christmastime!

I took off from work on my 25th birthday and decided to sunbathe on the rocks in Central Park. Here's a picture of the Park's south view. It was really a glorious day...

I was at this charity event at the Hard Rock Cafe in April. Here's a picture of the Edge (from U2) giving a guitar to the cafe (this event was meant to raise money for musicians in New Orleans-- i.e. those affected by Hurricane Katrina):

And here's a pic that I snuck of the Edge, as he was near me. In my usual bashful fashion, I couldn't speak to him directly.

For some reason, we had a rainbow bagel during this one office breakfast. Of course, I had to take a photo of it!

I found the graffiti additions to this sign (in the subway tunnels) to be very funny (Juliet's forehead says "HAG"):

I found this upside down sign to be funny too. It says "keep left"-- but the arrow's actually pointing right!!

I saw a teddy bear on a random cafe table in San Francisco. I think some poor kid must've forgotten to take it as the family left the cafe...

My friend wrote a poem about this:

Poor Teddy

He had been abandoned

In the middle of the golden city

All by his lonesome

The recipient of neither love nor pity.

And all the passers-by

Walked around him, without commotion

A few took pictures

While exhibiting no emotion.

Teddy now lay motionless

His family had bid him a permanent adieu

His will to survive had left him

As no longer was he of value.

Here's a photo of a pagoda I saw in Japantown, San Francisco:

One day, it rained so much that my office parking lot (and surrounding landscape) flooded, with our lake overflowing:

Here's a doe, I saw in our office parking lot one day:

And I saw this cool door in the Village one day:

Last year in review... (Part IV)

My cell phone died on me as I was getting back from Ohio a few weeks ago, so I decided that it was finally time to upload these pictures from over a year ago...

I also realized that I never got around to finishing up my 2006 in review series as I had hoped, so I'm just going to post up the rest of my cell phone pics (in no particular order) right now.

Here's a jack-o-lantern that I carved out for Halloween. I tried to give a nice big smile-- just like mine! =D


I was down on the Lower East Side one day and I saw a bicycle with antlers on it. I thought it was pretty kewl:

2006 seemed to be a weird weather year. One day, after rock-climbing in New Jersey, my rock buddy and I saw a rainbow that seriously went from one end of the horizon to the other.

Here's a pic of (part of) that rainbow:

There also seemed to be a lot of summer "sun storms" that year, so I took some photos when I saw the sun peaking through storm clouds:

And I went to this one vegan restaurant, where we coincidentally ran into an old high school classmate who's now an aspiring actress-- and vegan restaurant hostess on her off time. Strangely enough, the mayonnaise was purple!!

A mutated siamese strawberry, I noticed at an office happy hour:

A nice sunset I saw as I was driving home one day:

A silver spoon I won at the office for my wonderfully original "aqua cake".

The aforementioned prize-winning aqua cake:

Grammy-nominated U.K. artist, Corrine Bailey Rae (who I saw the night I first heard/met Ryan Star):

Ryan Star himself!! (on guitar and then piano...)

The Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center that year (it looks the same every year, I must admit...):

A peacock I saw wandering around the Bronx Zoo:

A cool scuplture of old boats I saw at Lincoln Center:

The fourth of July fireworks (photo taken from the FDR drive):

I saw this really cute elderly Asian couple on the subway one day when I was coming back from Chinatown and I had to take a photo of them (without their permission, of course).

They looked so happy together that it really gave me hope that I might someday find a relationship that functioned the way their's appeared:

David Blaine did his underwater stunt at Lincoln Center sometime in 2006, and here are photos of his "aquarium". I was meaning to walk by at 4AM in the morning sometime to check that he was still in there-- but unfortunately, I never got around to that. =(

Dreary, Grey Sunday...

So this weekend has been pretty much a big bust (although I *did* just have an enormously decadent brunch at Norma's at "Le Park Meridian"-- which ended up costing very little, since they accidentally spilled coffee on me!). It's currently grey and almost-rainey, and I've still gotten nowhere with my work.

Sometimes I wonder what I'm gonna do with myself... =P

Perfect time for a blog rant about a bunch of random topics!! :-D

I saw "Beowulf" in IMAX 3D yesterday and it was a pretty good film-- if you see it in 3D. Getting the extra layer of Angelina Jolie was definitely a treat, but people will be disappointed if they're hoping for a direct interpretation of the English epic.

My wonderful friend uploaded photos from the Cleveland wedding earlier this month and I have to say that I look pretty silly on the dance floor.

Here's a semi-decent (albeit still silly) photograph of me at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame:


Maybe I should go join a rock band... Heheheh.

News in the world of baseball was pretty weird these past few days.

Barry Bonds is being rightfully indicted for lying to the Feds about taking steroids, and A-Rod has gone crawling back to the Yankees. Although I see both these things as good news (since Bonds is getting what was coming to him and A-Rod will actually do the Yankees some good-- no matter how much of a jack he is for opting out of his contract), I have pretty mixed feelings about it all. =/

I can probably go on for a while about my conflicting thoughts, but I'll spare everyone from the mile-long stream of thought. =X

A few weeks ago, I saw Ang Lee's newest film, "Lust Caution"-- after running into him at the London Heathrow Airport.


The leading lady, Tang Wei, did a pretty amazing job and I have to say that despite the NC-17 rating, the film was really thoughtful and excellent. There were maybe 3 graphic sex scenes and they were very integral to the plot-- definitely not smutty or excessive at all. Very purposeful and telling scenes.

Tang Wei looked to be about 5'7'' in person, and I'm really regretting that I didn't get to talk more to her. I shoulda taken the chance to ask for her #!

Oh well... Another lost opportunity, I guess (as if I honestly had a chance!). =P

Watching the All American Rejects now.

I think the band name pretty much describes how I'm feeling...

Grasshopping Around the World...

So after posting my entry a few nights ago, I decided to upload photos from my solitary bike trip across the Golden Gate Bridge, along with a bunch of other photos taken in San Francisco.

Here I am, at Fisherman's Warf-- in front of the sea lions!!

I pose, as I jump off a trolley at San Francisco's Union Square.

Grasshopper starts his journey across the Golden Gate Bridge (and back), smiling...

The heat was killer and so grasshopper must remove his shirt and pose in front of the bridge. (Many thanks to the Japanese tourist who took this pic for me!)

And finally, here I am in Sausalito, ready to bike back over the bridge. The older woman who took this photo for me said that "obviously [I] do this (i.e. exercise) a lot". I couldn't tell her how wrong she was-- or how flattered I was. ;-)

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And in my global adventures, I went to LONDON two weeks ago.

Here is the back of my head at Trafalgar Square:

"How come everytime you come around, my Tower Tower Bridge wanna go down!?!?"

(Hmm... Tower Bridge really is nicer than London Bridge, but it just doesn't have the same ring for a Fergalicious song...)



I kept blinking in all these photos taken on the digital camera, so I finally forced my eyes open as I stood in front of the London Eye, Big Ben AND Parliament. I look like a stunned deer. =P


And finally, I flap my arms in front of the Elizabeth II Memorial at the corner of Hyde Park...

Cherio, all!!

This weekend, it's off to Ohio for an old friend's wedding!!