Tribute to my fellow employee
I got called in early for work today because one of the checkers wasn't feeling well and had to go home. I got an 8 hour shift instead of my scheduled 4 hour one, which I guess is good and bad. Good because I get more money. Bad because today had very nice weather and some of my old friends had come over for dinner and I didn't get to see them for very long after I got back from work at 9. Another bad thing that happened today, is that I learned that one cool girl named Carolyn had decided to quit working at my QFC (today was her second to last day, last day of my working with her) >_< I guess it would've happened eventually to anyone who wants to do something special in life... that is quitting QFC for a better job =X. It is very unfortunate because she was one of the few people who I got to know well and became good friends with. Yeah, she was a very good asset to QFC and it's unfortunate to have lost her. I hope her good luck in her future endeavors. Oh yea, she's a senior going to college next year and when I asked where she was going to attend school... She said she was deciding between Whitman and UW, but was leaning toward Whitman... U_U;; what??? you don't even need to think about that decision! Nor should anyone even consider Whitman =P UW all the way!!!
Random update on my own UW life... Classes are alrite. Math is still boring as hell though. Chem seems to be getting harder... I'm starting to learn to deal/maybe even like, the prof. Bio lectures are fun, but I'm starting to think that the material is a lot harder than it seems. I'll need to review more for my midterm... Man, I have 3 bloody midterms next week!! >_< not even a weekend to split them. Oh well, I should be off now.
Blogworthy =D
Ok, I can't believe William Hung's - She Bangs is #1 on the music charts... @_@;; But I think it's on AIM Music's music charts and not the "real music charts" so yeah. Go here to listen to his
inspirations
So today I had bio lab. It was much longer than I expected and a bit more boring b/c all we did was look at stoned fruit flies and make punnett squares. Good fun.. Because I didn't get out early, I didn't get to go study for my Chem quiz later in the day, as I had planned... So I just tired to squeeze in studying everywhere I could, during lunch, during math, and in the hallways. I'm good at cramming like that =P I didn't cram the night before, b/c I'm just starting to sleep later and later... I had goals to sleep earlier and get my schedule straight this quarter, and had it going pretty well during the first week, but that has just about fallen to pieces now. I've got to find a way to make myself fall asleep earlier when I want to =X Also, because my bio TA didn't manage her time very well, I have two extra worksheets that were supposed to be done today in lab, due on friday >_<.
So after my short but scary chem quiz, I took the bus home like usual. The bus was hella packed and I stood at the front of the bus with a mass of bodies behind me almost pushing me into the front windshield... Yes, there was actually a bus behind it (metro's 90% guarantee to be off schedule never fails) but I wanted to get on the first one so I would get to the downtown tunnels sooner to catch the 550 back home.
Well, on the bus I met this Taiwanese visitor who was trying to make her way to chinatown. The driver wasn't chinese and as you suspected, there was a langauge barrier that was only making the situation more confusing. So, being the nice guy I am I ask her what dialect of chinese she speaks. (I said this in Cantonese and when she looked at me with an akward eye, I took the hint and changed to Mandarin) So there I am, busting out all the mandarin that fat old white guy in high school tried to teach me and mid way through the bus ride I realize that my Mandarin really blows. I mean yea, I was making decent conversation by squeezing some chinglish here and there, but I am really out of practice... I think I'm gonna have to try to get some of my Mandarin speaking friends to practice with me more =D
I learned that she had just come over to visit her friend from Taiwan and was a graduate student from Taiwan. Listening to me struggling to speak with this girl must have been funny to some other riders since at times I would just stop and have to think about what to say. Well, I managed to help the girl get in the direction she wanted to go, by getting off at international district station and telling her that chinatown was right above. I may have missed the 550 bus and had to wait 20 minutes for the next one, but it felt good to help someone around and learn something. OK, I only learned that I need to work on my mandarin, but that's insignificant =P. Eh, now I know a bunch of you are wondering, "was she hot/cute/attractive/the bomb??" Alas, she was not... u_u; But even if she was, and I did manage to get her # or something, just the fact that she lives in Taiwan would have brought any hopes crashing down. Not only that fact, but the also the simple fact that I had a hard enough time with my crap mandarin trying to tell her where to go.
O, I also learned that in Taiwan, bubble tea is like only like $0.75 US... @_@; She had asked me how much it was here and was stunned to hear how expensive it was. Aye, I should go to Taiwan =D I can do some electronics shopping too, hehehe, then jump over to HK and Japan while I'm at it XD. That would be a great vacation now...
Another random thing, (today was full of interesting things) at the bus station as I was waiting for the 550, I noticed this old man across the station stretching and doing some exercises. So I thought he was gonna start to do some Tai Chi, cuz that's the old asian man thing to do, right? Hahaha not in this guys book, he started to jump up and down as if he were at a rock concert and guess what? I just happened to be listening to Nirvana at that moment so it couldn't have been better timing =)
Yea, I think that's a wrap. I have bio midterm coming up next week already >_< and then soon after math, and then chem... it's going to be crazy!!!!! but for now I should take a nap =X
Feeling compelled? Not really =P
I'm only really updating b/c some people are complaining that other people aside from them don't do it often enough... u_u;; So yesterday I went to canada with family; typical trip, although I feel that every successive trip has less accomplished... Like we do less... I dunno if it's just that we get lazy and drive up later than we plan to, or that we just sort of end up doing similar things and really don't do anything new... Well I guess I'll just go through the day and see. So we left around 930, which to me, seems a little reasonable, maybe a little earlier would have been smarter, but we still managed to get there around 1230 for lunch.
My mom always wants to go to the same dim sum place in richmond (where we spend most of our time when up there) called Fisherman's Terrace, but surprise! it had closed down in it's previous location to move somewhere else. They spent a while trying to figure out whether or not it had reopened yet b/c my mom was adamant about eating her dim sum b/c she feels that it's special up here in canada, at that specific restaurant. Personally I like to change it up every now and then and eat something different, but as long as I have food, all will be peaceful. So after figuring that it hadn't reopened, we drove around looking for a place to eat.
Now call me crazy, but I was really annoyed by this "just driving around." Why? I'll tell you why; I really don't think my dad should be trying to think about food when he's driving, b/c it really affects his already whacked driving habits. He'll stop at a green light to contemplate what my mom's yelling at him from the back (i don't know why yelling but it's for real) and switch between turning left or right, maybe twice. He'll drive into a parking lot and just park randomly across several spaces. (Now I know that even though the lot may be pretty empty, it's just a little annoying that you can't even park into *one* of the spaces provided... it's all the little things that add up) Stack this up with his growing anger for the crappy Canadian drivers that dont' know how to drive, sitting in this car isn't a very pleasant feeling.
Anyway, moving on, we went into the newly built, but not nearly complete, Aberdeen Center that has been under construction for quite some time now. There was a food court on the third floor that had like 4 restaurants open. We ate udon, which was not bad, although I would have to say the portions were kinda small. After lunch we found a VCD store in the mall and shopped there for a while. I got the HK movie "Men Suddenly in Black", don't as me what the hell that means, I haven't watched it. I just read good reviews about it saying it was funny and that it was recommended viewing by this site I tend to agree with, review-wise.
Then we headed over to a 2 floor store called the Daiso, a japanese $2 store that was filled with almost every single item worth $2 imaginable. I didn't find anything appealing to me, but the store was pretty packed. There were lots of stuff varying from toys to simple house appliances to cosmetics to simple snacks. Random trinkets galore and cheap make-up that little girls would hound over. I'd like to say we wasted a good hour there... We went to another medicinal herb store until we finally left. Then my sister went to go get a hair cut b/c she's been wanting one forever, but did she really have to choose a time like this... u_u;; I mean we only have one day, and simple haircuts can really be gotten anywhere. I wouldn't have minded if it only took 30minutes and no more, but did it? No. It ended up taking roughly an hour and a half. Crazy. I couldn't stand it, but i did =/
After that, my parents make an ingenious decision to go to downtown Vancouver at 430pm... Let's think about this... 430pm, going to downtown. Hello? Can anyone say traffic? By the time we get there, the malls will be closed! *sigh* So I reminded them to use common sense and then took a detour to go to a mall half way there instead (Oakridge). I used to like this mall, but after closing down the one store I liked there, I never wanted to go back. My sister bought some clothes and that was about it. We headed back to richmond for dinner at Deer Garden (a good restaurant next to Hon's, or at least in the same shopping complex lot) Ate some good food, then yet again headed to another VCD store. This time I got an old Stephen Chou movie as well as another old Leslie Cheung movie. ::takes a moment of silence for the second mentioned:: I have yet to watch them, but I hope to do so in the next few weeks. Yeup, and that pretty much concludes the trip. Today (Easter) was a slow day. I couldn't hold myself down to do study even though I didn't study the previous 2 days >_< So terrible of me. I'll have to do some cramming tonite before I bed.
Oh, this is out of order, but I figure i'll just mention it. Friday, David, Kevin, Taisuke, and later Trevor and I enjoyed the nice weather at homestead field, which is finally open, playing some sports. That weather was great, not too hot, but nice and sunny! Today was a tad on the warm side. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted, b/c I looked onto weather.com and supposedly this week is full of showers... ack. No good, but I can deal. At least allergies will be lower with the rain to hold the pollen down. Ok, I'm off now~!
A time for review
So I said I'd review the previous two movies and I will, but I also just finished watching Princess Mononoke so I'll review that one too. =D Starting off, we have one of the first romantic comedies that rocketed the genre into the hundreds of wanna-be's out there. "Needing You," starring Andy Lau as Sammi Cheng's boss in an office building, the two start off with a rocky relationship but eventually grow to become something special, in a weird way. Sammi is the new employee who is amidst akward relationship with her boyfriend, in need of "love" and not just the repetitive verbal "i love you" kind. Andy is a womanizer who is known for his playboy-ish ways who finds interest in Sammi after trying to help her in her relationship. So that's the skinny; the movie starts off alright with it's expected silly antics that come with all HK films. The characters deliver great performances as expected from seasoned actors of Andy and Sammi. The supporting cast is somewhat insignificant but if you're into HK celeb's, you'll find a nice range of cameo's. The movie tries to end smoothly, but it kinda hits a few bumps along the way. Yes, like in all of these movies the two characters get back together but that's not the point of these movies. The reason why so many are made is because it's the journey the two characters go through that is enjoyable. Don't get me wrong though, I dunno if I'm sounding like I'm giving this movie high regards, but it's no My Sassy Girl. I would recommend this movie to all fans of the romantic-comedy genre, Andy Lau fans, Sammi Cheng fans, and just any fans of HK cinema. If you're not any of the above, you probably won't enjoy the movie as much. I personally am just a fan of HK cinema, so it satisfied my longing for a decent HK movie, even though a little dated, amongst all the horrible ones that are coming out now. It's good to see or rewatch an older, but much better, film once in a while.
Movie #2 is "Hail the Judge" starring the notorious comedian Stephen Chou. This is a movie that comes from Stephen's earlier days and can be regarded as a classic of his. The movie takes place back in the day when China had emperor's and flying swordsmen (yes, flying swordsmen but not in this movie), and is a parody of the popular stories about a judge who was hated for being a corrupt official. Stephen takes the role as the judge with a great supporting cast to back him up almost every step of the way. (some character's are just plain freaky) Stephen, a corrupted official, decides to take a turn for the better and become a great, honest official after hearing the case of one attractive young lady (played by Cheung Man, a hottie in her day). Stephen tries and tries, but he is surrounded by corrupt people all around him, from the lawyers to the government officials. The storyline, gets bounced in different directions as much as Stephen exchanges verbal diatribes with different people. One underlying storyline is Stephen's development of his verbal assault skills) However, it all does come winding back with an ending that surprisingly wraps it all up. The comedy is pretty much trademarked Stephen Chou, although more on his fast talking skills this time. People who aren't normal Stephen Chou movie watchers may find the comedy either very strange or just the thing to make you laugh your socks off. This is a must see for all Stephen Chou fans, director Wong Jing fans (as this is probably his better works), and any viewer who is looking for something different in a comedy who hasn't before heard of Stephen Chou. Warning for those who are looking for clean humor, this isn't it. Stephen Chou tends to be crude so if that's not what you're looking for, I wouldn't recommend any of his movies. There may be one or two that may work, but you'd have to ask me personally.
Finally, I get to Princess Mononoke. (I always wonder if I typed enough "no" 's in there) Another great film from Hayao Miyazaki (director of other famous/popular films as My Neighbor Totoro, Naussica from the Valley of the Wind, Sprited Away, and Castle's in the Sky) that, like usual, is a very powerful film. The film takes place roughly in feudal Japan, with samurai galore and villages of people producing iron. Prince Ashitaka, who comes from remote small village, falls under a curse after saving his people from a demon possessed boar. He learns that the curse will eventually spread through his body and kill him. The prince goes on a journey to find a cure to lift his curse from the Forest God who is rumored to be the only one who may be able to save him. Along the way he goes through "Iron Town", a large iron-producing village who has most of the women making iron while the men get the food, and finds that they are waging a war against the forest and are also trying kill the Forest God. Humans have been cutting down the forest to make room for their expanding iron enterprise and obviously the Forest God isn't happy about this. (this is where I picked up the next day, sorry if I repeat some stuff) I've forgotten many of the character's names except for the two main ones so sorry about that. Now enter Princess Mononoke, a human raised by the wolf clan of the forest. The head wolf is also a God, but a lesser one than that of the Forest God. She is one of the few weapons used by the forest to try and take out humans who are destroying the forest. Ashitaka and Princess Mononoke meet initially during an assassination attempt by Mononoke on the head of Iron Town. Ashitaka follows Princess Mononoke at first only to try to get closer to the Forest God, but eventually for another reason that will not be disclosed by me. Similiar to many of Miyazaki's other movies, an underlying theme that seems consistant is that individuals can make a difference. A great message to send to kids watching this movie =). Ashitaka is a persistant and strong willed character who appears to fight because his life is ending soon and his hopes for finding a cure for himself dwindle. He is the main mast for the movie while all other characters are more supplementary masts in this movie. Princess Mononoke's character is not really gone in depth, but for her role in the movie, I think the amount of detail on her was fine. (So really this movie is more about Ashitaka, but what has a better ring to it, Prince Ashitaka or Princess Mononoke? eh, there was a direct translation of the japanese name, but I don't remember it now) Now the version I watched was dubbed, a little poorly I might add. The dialogue was recorded at a lower volume than the sound effects and music so it was a little annoying changing the volume while watching it with my sister next door sleeping. Oh, I might also note that the musical score in the movie was amazing. I loved the music that came with each scene. The Japanese opera song that I guess could be noted as the theme song for the movie fits perfectly whenever it is played. Certainly the lyrics are different, but when people see an opera, they don't always understand what the performer is singing anyway. It's the whole piece of music that makes you feel the emotions and intensity in the film that just can't be presented in any other way at a movie. I can't think of many things bad about this movie. I guess the way that heads and appendages seem to fly off with one arrow in a surprising yet cartoonish way was a little awkward. I guess I initially thought this movie to be aimed for a slightly younger audience like some of his other movies, but it was a bit different. I don't think any average 15 y/o would get everything out of this movie. I think the movie is a bit more profound than initially perceived so I may end up watching it again some time to watch for other things. That's one of the great things about good movies, you find something new everytime you watch the movie again. Well aside from the weird violence portrayed and the bad dubbing job, I would have to say that I'd recommend this movie to just about anyone. Anyone in their teens that is. I think even middle aged adults would find this movie interesting near the end, since the beginning is like many other cartoon movies. Oh, one last thing I want to mention. One other way that I wasn't quite satisfied with the movie, was there were not any very intense scenes that got me really worked up. That's one thing I usually look for in a movie. Not very much so in this movie unfortunately. I usually rate movies, but I'm gonna recommend to all of you out there, who haven't seen this movie, to go check it out and stop reading here before I rate it. ::Go away!! ok, you're probably still reading, so whatever:: I'd like to think that this movie ranks quite high now on my all time fav anime movies up there in roughly top 5ish. If you're not a fan of Hayao Miyazaki, you will be after watching any one of his movies. =D Rating time, I'll give it a 9/10, which is pretty damn good for my scale. (you can see my older movie reviews for reference to what my taste is like to compare) Okey, well that was a lot longer than I had intended so I think I'm going to end it here after some final random notes.
If you're dying to know how I would rate the previous 2 movies (I know some of you are!! =P yea right~!) I'll give "Needing You" a 5/10 for being one of the first romantic comedies out there in HK cinema and decent acting. For "Hail the Judge," I'll give a 5.5/10 for good old Stephen Chou humor, even though it is sometimes crude and weird, it's classic for HK cinema.
I've learned to appreciate Nirvana, after finally being able to download one of their songs XD. Smells like Teen Spirit, one of the more well known songs by them probably. That's definately going to be on my playlist for a long time... =D Ok, I'm out now, spent too much time here! >_<
First impressions aren't always a full mark
Spring quarter has started and I'm am very "scurrred". I'm taking Bio 180, Chem 162, and Math 126 all at once >_< Talk about intense schedule! So first impressions on my prof's and TA's... We'll start with Chem. He's got this Carolin-nian accent that when combined with his almost perpetual stuttering, makes for the most difficult lecture voice to listen to... On the first day he stuttered through pretty much 3/4 of the class time until he finally got a grip and I could bare listening. Too bad he still stuttered the 2nd day I listened to him... Man, I looked at student evaluations for him, and he got hella low grades... like 1-2's (out of 5). The only other Chem prof that teaches 162 this quarter, has his lecture at like 430 or 630 or something.... He's supposed to be a really good prof, but living off campus, I can't go to a late evening lecture >_< let alone a lab that ends at 930... I'm pretty scared of this class b/c it seems like a lot of people do pretty bad in it, not only b/c it's a tough class, but the prof probably sucks. My Chem TA is a spanish import... (not an euro hottie u_u;) and also has an accent that I guess is somewhat bare-able... I only listened to her for like 10 minutes cuz that was how long our first quiz section was... I guess I'll have to wait a few weeks to really judge her.
Time to move on to Bio... Bio is actually divided by two profs. Each lectures about half the material (i think). So the first prof seems like a really nice guy. Thing is about this class is I dunno how to take notes... Like the lecture is kinda odd b/c he talks about a lot of case studies type stuff, at least so far, and his slides are pretty much a lot like just the diagrams straight out of the text book... So I dunno, I feel pretty unaware as to how to approach this class so far... My lab TA for bio is really nice. Her first time teaching, and seems to be nervous, but knows what she should do. I can totally tell that this one guy i know from high school who happens to be in my lab period too, is sooo digging her... for those of you who know Chris Tung... Yea that kid. Well, I guess I'll just have to pray for God's graces in Bio...
Math... The prof's name is Zhang. Lemme say that again... the prof's name is ZHANG... Ok, so he's got an accent that at least I can deal with. When he tries to say "nth term" it comes out like "anthfk tem". Math will be interesting... Cool thing is that I know like 5 people in that class already! 4 from High school, and one guy that I had math 124 with. SOO cool~! I think I may know more, but I haven't really gotten a good look at everyone in the class... Math TA... his name is Krishnan. I can try to pronounce that, and I'll probably mutilate it, since I learned that the guy was Indian today. But his last name is irrelevant. He doesn't have that bad of an accent and I can live. He seems like a good guy albeit condescending when explaining material. He kinda makes you feel stupid when he explains something. o geez... my math quiz section has like literally 40 people in it >_< that's terrible. I disliked large classes and now even my quiz sections are huge... What is the world coming to.
I'll give further update on my classes in a few weeks after further observation and experience. I guess I can end on a better, actually an estatic note about my Soc grade from last quarter. So if you didn't know already, I actually took Soc S/NS b/c the class can suck my balls. Err, the class was really structured terribly. (You can read, i think 3/10, entry for my rantings on this class) So anyway, I went to go get my last test back from my TA today. I had learned when grades were out from last quarter, that I had NOT PASSED the class!!! I was like wtf, I owned that last test off the charts. I couldn't have pulled myself down that far from my other 3 tests... @_@ (eeh forget I mentioned that) anyway, so I was looking to give my TA a really heavy verbal smack down b/c of his terrible TA'ing skills and just how much the class sucked overall since I didn't pass the class. I was ready to lay down the law that I would never be shown down on such a petty class as Soc b/c they were lazy ass TA's and the prof just was plain stupid. I walked down the hall and my TA was already there, limping down my way (he had broken his foot walking down stairs near the beginning of the quarter... @_@), papers in hand ready for me. He handed me my test and low and behold... I GOT A F#$&*'n 96/100 on my last test!! He then gone on to tell me that that raised my grade point up by like 1 whole point, making me pass way above what I expected... (i'm still glad i took S/NS =X) But yea, he's lucky because I didn't lay the smackdown on him that I had prepared since it was only going to be given if I didn't pass. But yea, (man I lost my train of thought cuz my dad just came down and asked me to do something... u_u terrible) I'm just soo happy now that I owned that last test... I'm not normally one to brag (ehem, like my math grade =P x100 ) but this just really made my day. Ok, I've bragged and ranted enough. I think this is a good place to end... Wait~ I watched two chinese movies... eehhh.... that I'm too lazy to review now u_u;; At least it'll be something to look forward too. Ok, peace outs.
