Happy Turkey Day!

Hey guys!

I'm sure you're all just about ready to dig into those turkeys! But before that, I'd just like to wish you all a HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

In the spirit of Korean fobbiness :P

I also wanted to give you all a heads up that I have reunited with an old friend...Kdramas! Until recently, I hadn't watched one this entire school year yet :O That's saying a lot for someone who survived on them my entire Junior year!

Good news: we are both very very much in love and happy :D Bad news: I'm putting blogging on pause until I make up for the previous dry spell. Think of like how Mrs. Cisnero put grading papers and emailing notes on pause while she read Twilight :P

Don't worry. I will be back and blogging just as soon as I get my fix, and after last year, I've learned how to superspeed through a drama (with the help of dramabeans :] ). Maybe I'll even come back with a blog on the dramas I've watched.

Anyhow, for the time being

Happy Turkey Day!

Bless You!!!

The last time I came home from Yearbook past 9:00, I posted Screw You!!! This time, though I'm not in a particularly good mood, neither am I in a bad mood. I was feeling so foul last time, not only because of the hours I had just spent in the media center, but mostly because people were being so unhelpful. This time, though there are still a few people's necks I'd like to snap, so many people were so helpful that they made up for it.

To show my gratitude, I'd like to personally thank them. In no particular order, here goes (sorry if I forget anyone):

Alex Elkin

Elsa Chen

Sirui Ma

Sam Nadler

Vipa Patel

Jason Sumbaly 

Arun Punjabi

Sydney Sachs

Jordana Rosenberg

Mr. McEvoy

Aaron Himelman

Dean Granot

Taran Sayal

Karen Nan

You all deserve cake!

Bless You!!! 

Just remember there's some funny sh!t out there!

Two things happened today that especially stood as being just downright funny (at least in my opinion)! 

1. In band today, Mr. P, as he often will, whipped out his iPhone and plugged it into these speakers so that we could listen to "a professional recording." Well, today his recording stopped midway for seemingly no reason. Perplexed, we wait a moment, and then after maybe 30 seconds, the recording starts playing again. I didn't think much of it until I got home and saw person X's status. It basically described how he made a private call to Mr. P during class in hopes that he could stop us from hearing the song! LOL

2. This video was on Amy's status today; she seems to think it's a waste of time, but it honestly cracked me up so badly I choked on the water I was drinking.



I think the moral of today's post is that when life gets you down,

Just remember there's some funny sh!t out there!

Thanks for the birthday wishes ya'll!

I remember sitting in Julie's living room last year responding to my many birthday wishes (I think it was around 80). I come home today and check Facebook. I see 22 new notifications and decide that I can respond to all these no probs. My original intention was to just set my status as "Thanks for the birthday wishes ya'll!" but thinking that 22 would be really simple, I opted to write personal thank yous instead.


One by one, I clicked on each notification and thanked people. That is, until I got to notification #3:

"Frank Jankowski, Jared Greenspan, and 145 other friends posted on your wall." (sorry Natesh!)

I think I'm just going to have to go back to plan A. Here goes:

Thanks for the birthday wishes ya'll!

I just noticed that today's the 1 month anniversary of my blog! Double birthday! Thanks guys! It's come so far since that first awkward post :P I never thought I'd have over even 100 views, much less over 3000! (which just happened today, so I guess it's a triple birthday!) THANKS!

Birthdays are a blast :)

I was wrong. I thought my birthday would suck, but it didn't (at least not today) :P

I had thought it would be very lame because my parents planned for us to watch...a fish cutting demonstration...for my birthday. I know, wtf?!?! But it turned out to be super different and really fun!

I remember how after watching way too many kdramas and jdoramas last year, I wondered where all the Japanese peoples are at (no mystery where the Koreans are). Did you notice how despite all the Asians in our school, there aren't any Japanese people (at least not that I know of; if you're Japanese, say hi to me sometime :P) Well, I found out today. Turns out there're 4 Japanese hotspots in America. One in Bergen County and three in Cali. It was so cool being there - like the time I went to Little India for the first time. I felt transported. Everything there was Japanese; the bookstore had books in Japanese only! 

We spent a while shopping around in stores like JapanUSA and Shiseido. Then we spent a loooooooonnnnngggg time gorging ourselves in the Food Courts of Mitsuwa. We had considered going to the Mitsushima Steak House, but decided instead to just eat a little bit of that and a little bit of this at the Food Court. We ate udon, soba, gyoza, tempura, a beef rice bowl, green tea soft serve ice cream, bubble tea, etc

Then at 2 we watched the Bluefin Tuna cutting. It was interesting, and this fish was huge! 402 lbs with the head and tail already removed! With them it was somewhere around 500 lbs!

The Sword with which the "samurai" was cutting with is worth over $8000! Fish people are intense :O

Afterwards, in a completely spontaneous decision, we went and played some...golf? It was my first time playing legit fun, and while it was mostly a big failure, I got better at it. Also, I will now be giving golf people some more credit; it's hard!

Since golf was a little too intense for us noobs, we opted instead to play some...minigolf!

At first it was like switching from a flute to piccolo; discomforting and fail! I was swinging too hard after having acclimated to golf somewhat. But then, we picked up the pace, and ultimately, all three of us scored our own respective hole-in-ones! YAY!

Afterwards we returned to Mitsuwa where we resumed gorging ourselves with food :D They had these wrapped mochi that looked just like real food. I didn't buy one, but I'm adding a picture because I found them awesome!

*side note: It's just a coincidence, but when we got home, my mom had bought all these persimmons today, and they were super yummy!

Before leaving, my dad got me a pair of orchids! I love them soooooo much and they will reside in my room until they die!

All in all, I had a great day. It was nothing like I expected it would be and it was 100% unconventional, but then again that's exactly what my family is!

 Birthdays are a blast :)

Food for thought:
Have you ever been to Edgewater or maybe the legit Japan, like the one in the ocean Japan?
What do you think of Japanese food? Asides from sushi? (p.s. I'm going to Makkoli's for lunch with my family tomorrow :)
How does your family celebrate birthdays?
Don't you just love orchids?

Waffles!!!

In statistics class today, we had to get into groups of 6 and in groups pick 3 topics that we believe would make good survey topics for a class project. People nominated such ideas as music preference, hairstyles, and Harry Potter. My group nominated what had been my idea of a joke, WAFFLES! The class voted and lo and behold, our project survey topic will be waffles. I suppose it'll have to be about types of waffles, toppings, whether it's homemade or store bought, etc. In any case, you should have seen Mrs. Yoselevich's face! She said that in all her years teaching, this was the most ridiculous topic she had ever encountered :P

*drool*

*side note: For a good 4-6 years I used to think that Yoshi said "waffles!" Don't ask why...I really don't know why I thought that's what he was saying, but I did. I've been corrected :P

Waffles!!!

Food for thought:
What do you think about our topic?
Aren't waffles freaking awesome!?
How has anyone not heard this song?!? (<- new period 12 statistics theme song! Why? Because I said so)

Birthdays are blech :(

I'm almost 18. I kind of just want to forget that it's happening. I don't know why, but the thought of my birthday mostly just makes me really sad.

My birthday plans:
1 go to church
2 meet my new tutorees -> tutor for 2 hours
3 take a nap
4 do IPLE
5 maybe watch HP7 with my IPLE unit -> most likely excluding Armaan because he'll have seen it by then; actually same for Jared and Amy except Amy will probably be nice and watch it again. idk.
(somewhere along there I'll eat noodles)

My parents left my presents up to me to decide, and I couldn't really think of anything I want, so I'm not getting birthday presents LOL. I don't know man,

Birthdays are blech :(

Food for thought:
Have you ever just really not looked forward to your birthday?
Unless it's elaborate, aren't parties nowadays just kind of lame?
What present would you ask for?

Note: This is the second to last post that I will be advertising on my Facebook (Mr. Husar calls it "The Facebook" :P) status. From now on, I will be announcing new posts exclusively on the wall of a group I made (<- so join if you want to follow my blog). This is to minimize my Facebook spamming of people's newsfeeds. We'll see how it goes...

• 
  

  Ana Die

  birthday present wishlist: Do one my college essays?

  2 minutes ago ·  ·  · Comment

Become a psychic o_o

First the Uggs scam and now this...
  

Susan Xiong ANNA THE NFS BOY IS GONE

they must have seen your blog

2 hours ago ·  · Comment · See Friendship

• 
  

  Natesh Sood likes this.

Then, just days after my complaint, No Fear has upgraded from:

...this

this...

to

Basically, if I don't end up making it big at whatever profession I choose to pursue, I could always just become a column writer / journalist extraordinaire. And if that fails, I suppose I could

Become a psychic o_o

Asians are just better!

Why are Asians just so much smarter than everyone else? Are they super geniuses? Do their parents feed them brain-inducing drugs? Are they really good at cheating? Or are they aliens from outer space?

I wish...

It is my personal opinion that this is nothing more than a simple matter of natural selection. During the post-Cultural Revolution period, everyone was trying to leave China and make a better life for themselves. But, do you think those Commies let just anyone leave the country? Do you think everyone had the fare for a plane ticket hidden away? I know a lot of people buried their possessions to keep them safe from the revolutionaries and Japs, but I hardly think they had $1000 USD tucked away in a jar. *side note: why did they all bury their possessions next to trees? If I was a Japanese, I would've just dug up every tree in China*  So, how did people leave China?

Only those who could get recruited by foreign universities were able to leave. The students and intellectuals left the country by the airfuls. For example, both my parents left the nation with scholarships from McGill University; the college paid my parents a stipend to receive their doctorates. Note that I said the students and intellectuals left. Not all Asians are smart; it's not a super gene we have. We're like every other race - there are intelligent (and not so intelligent) people. It's just that the smart ones are the ones here in the USA.

In nature, only the strongest, fastest, smartest survive; the same goes for real life. Only those most cunning or academically intelligent were able to leave the nation. In turn, the people with those ideals and aspirations for a brighter future are the ones raising children in the United States (and Canada :P). Why are the Asian kids in your classes smarter? Because their parents were smarter. Because their parents were the ones who fought for a brighter future. Because their parents took the initiatives. Because they were hardworking and had the strict ethics found in so many immigrants. In Macro class we learned that Asians are the least unemployed demographic group in America. This can be justified by the prior reasons (that and Asians' willingness to do almost any job).

Conclusion: It doesn't really matter because

Asians are just better! 

Food for thought:
What are your thoughts on the matter?
Do you that intelligence is an inherent right?
Would you like to know more about what inherent rights are? -> Then go to the ACLU meeting tomorrow in L7. Be there! They'll have food :)

Love you No Fear!

Rather than just going ahead and reading Hamlet, I usually print out a copy of No Fear Shakespeare from Sparknotes (my English, and occasionally British, savior). I feel bad always printing out so many unnecessary pictures, so today I took the time to place all the text from Act 3 Scene 1 into one neat Word doc (if you want, I can email you a copy).


Speaking of unnecessary pictures, though I love No Fear dearly (super dearly), they have got to develop a sense of artistic taste. I may not be an expert, but I know that this is terribly unflattering.

...poor kid (this is Kathy Wong without her beauty sleep)

In my opinion, their cover arts are also hideous. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love the No Fear books (sad I never got a Hamlet one), but their books are horribly unaesthetically appealing.

Seriously, these covers look like they were drawn by the kid above ><

Love you No Fear!

Sleeping their way up the ladder...

Today I watched the film Coco Before Chanel. The film was beautifully shot and had class that is so hard to find in recent television. Having watched too much cheesy Hollywood and corny Asian dramas, I had almost forgotten what a real quality movie was like.

For those that haven't heard of this movie, it surrounds the life of Coco Chanel (Audrey Tautou) before she became the brand - when she was just Gabrielle. The whole movie is very inspiring and moving, but what I found interesting, and will be today's topic of interest, is the matter of sleeping your way to success.

The movie is very straightforward about how Coco sleeps with Balsan in order to provide a living for herself. She dislikes him, but entertains him because of his connections and wealth. It is important to note however, that she never disillusions him as to why they're together; he even calls her his "geisha" at one point.

Then, perchance because of karma, when Coco falls in love with a man named Arthur, he marries another woman because of the connections and wealth the other woman can provide him with. These seem like very antiquated practices (or perhaps just hush hush office happenstances) but are they? Has society changed - become less acceptant of such practices? Are marriages no longer for societal convenience?

No? Well, it's more common than you may think. Take for example Wendi Deng. 

She managed to perfect the art of seduction for power. Proof: she is now the chief of strategy for MySpace's China operation, a position for which she left her job as Vice President of News Corporation's Star TV in Hong Kong. Clearly this is a modern woman who is extremely successful by most people's standards. Check out her background:

     "After schooling Deng attended Medical College and in 1987 at age 18, she met Jake Cherry a former UNICEF executive, and his wife, who started teaching Deng English. In 1988 Mr. and Mrs Cherry sponsored a student visa for Deng and she moved to America to live with the Cherry’s and to study at the California State University.

     In 1990 Jake Cherry left his wife to marry Deng after his wife found photos her husband had taken of Deng in a hotel room. Five months through their marriage, Deng started seeing another man, Cherry and Deng then divorced after two years and seven months of marriage. Wendi Deng went on to apply and was accepted by Yale University where she pursued her Master of business administration degree. 

     After receiving her degree in 1996, Wendi Deng moved to Hong Kong. On the flight over she met Bruce Churchill from Star TV and obtained a position as an intern through him. In 1998 Deng met Rupert Murdoch the managing director of Star TV's parent company News Corporation which led to Deng and Murdoch having an affair despite Deng being almost 40 years younger. In 1999 Murdoch divorced his wife of 31 years and married Deng 17 days later"

There's no clear guide on the logistics, but if you play your cards right, it sure is a convenient shortcut to success. But is it right? I suppose it all depends on the woman and what her aspirations are. If her definition of success is found in the home with a loving husband and well-raised children, then she should focus on finding a loyal, dependent, caring man. But, if her idea of success is defined by material wealth, then maybe it is permissible to break some hearts and play the femme fatal. As to whether or not she could do that and retain her personal dignity, that's up to the individual woman. I've been saying this in terms of "she", but this applies to men as well. Don't forget, Arthur also used the bed as a method of rising in the ranks. Then and now, these are only a few of many who are

Sleeping their way up the ladder... 

Food for thought:

Do you think this is ethical?

Or does a woman/man just have to do what a woman/man has to do?

If neither party is confused about the nature of their relationship, is it okay for one to take advantage of the other?

Would you begrudge someone who slept their way to success?

These made me LOL!

The following are a couple Papers of Interest!

My teacher appreciation card to Mrs. Cisnero!

My statistics lab that Mrs. Yoselevich returned today...

I decided to share these for no other reason than

These made me LOL!

It's a hard knock life :(

You know what I really hate? How no matter how much you try, your efforts are all in vain (<- DBSK) if you slip up even just that one time.

For example, you could wash all the plates in the entire city, and no one would care if you left that one dirty spoon in the sink and didn't bother cleaning the basket strainer. You may have written the perfect college essay, but one spelling error, and you get put in the reject pile. You could work overtime for years, but if you slip up in just one big project, you're still getting the boot. You could do your homework every single night for months, but if you happened to forget the day the teacher's checking homework, sorry, but you're still getting a zero. You could be the best Project Manager in the history of The Apprentice, but if by whatever unfortunate circumstances your team loses, you are still most likely going to be fired!

Doesn't it suck being held to such high standards all the time? The harder you try, the more it stands out when you fail to reach your usual level of excellence. Question: why try so hard? The bigger your reputation becomes, the harder you fall. Cut yourself some slack; don't do so much. You're only making life harder for yourself, and honestly, others don't care that much. Sure, they may appreciate it once in a while when it suits to benefit them, but after a while it becomes routine to them. They start taking you for granted and will only stop to notice your failures.

Rant though I may, in the end we all just have to suck it up; afterall,

It's a hard knock life :(

Food for thought:
Have you ever felt similarly? Maybe overworked and/or unappreciated?
What do you do to unwind?