Happy Fun Time

Saturday, March 11, 2006

March babies

Come to Silkies tonight to celebrate the bdays of everyone thats born in march!!!!

Tammy
Bryan
Jimmy
Chieu
KC

If i forgot anyone else, I apologize.

Friday, March 10, 2006

GARBAGE DAY! Hahahah....

Why is this so funny? Because it doesn't make any sense.

Thursday, March 09, 2006

Well, it's happened.

Here. I was kind of wondering when it would. I'm sure it happens all over the world all the time, but this is the most public retort I've seen so far. Basically there was a time where we could've kept to the moral highroad and still had somewhat of a straight face, you know "America, the leader of human rights, huzzaaah." But now, it's the "somewhat higher road" where parties have to start arguing over relative numbers. "You had lots and lots of torture, and we only had 10% more torture compared to last year, so ha!" Then there's "collateral damage." I'm not going to get into that much here, but it's amazing how willing some people are to accept it. The hypocrisy is astounding.

What's the point of this rant? I think I'm just annoyed with the morons who make these grand decisions stateside and think there will be no consequences. "Let's lock up these people indefinitely!" In my opinion, in order to remain "good" and "better", a country has to stick to the highground morally and legally. These people think that we can dip down, curb some civil rights, torture a little bit on the side, bomb anything that moves, and everything will be OK. Maybe more lives will be saved (ours), but now we have more bullshit comparisons coming up (which are just the beginning of potentially crappy, long-term international effects), and sadly, they're gaining credibility. Hopefully it gets no further than the "gaining" stage. I should also note that, regarding blacks, compared to some other modernized countries, we're not the worst. Japan, as far as I know, still hasn't reinstated citizenship/suffrage to Korean war-slaves they brought over from World War 2. Basically, once the San Francisco treaty was signed, it was, "Get the fuck out."

But anyway I'll end my rambling with the Ben Franklin quote that's becoming cliche:
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

So I Was On My Way to the Supermarket...

I was going to use the CoinStar machine to convert my loose change into cash. With my jug of change, I was strolled towards the entrance of the Ralphs. Then from the corner of my eye, I saw the man in the white suit soliciting donations for charity. As he rattled his near-empty donation can, I tried not to make eye contact with him while I carried my jug of change past him. I converted about $24 worth of change. When I left, I reached into my pocket and took out the leftover change from the machine. I dropped it in can and left feeling good.

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Canada Upsets Team USA

So the World Baseball Classic--the "World Cup" of Baseball, if you will--is underway and in 1st round-robin tournament, Team USA lost against Canada. The US invented baseball!

It was a really good game, though. Canada was hitting aggressively early in the game. USA made a few mistakes defensively, but there were no official errors in the game. The mistakes kept building up and by the fifth inning, Canada was winning 8 to zero. USA came back with six runs later, but that was it.

Anyway, this is the first year that they're doing this kind of world tournament and a lot of people were unsure how this would work out or if it was going to be popular enough. But I was falling for the hype. I was rooting for players I usually wouldn't root for, like Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter. Hopefully, Team USA can come back and make it to Round 2. Round 2 will start this upcoming Sunday. Korea and Japan will play against the top 2 teams from Pool B (which USA is in) at Angels Stadium.

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Barry Bonds Jumps the Shark

Sports Illustrated magazine is featuring a story about a new book exposing Barry Bonds and his doping scandal (here is a detailed article from SI.com). Many have already speculated Bonds usage of steroids and other performance enhancing drugs, but this is the first book that chronicals his extensive use with great detail. Written by two journalists for the San Francisco Chronicle, the book's sources include grand jury testamony, classified FBI memos, interviews, and other court documents (more about the book's sources).

This looks like the final nail in the coffin for Bonds. Even if Bonds decides to continue playing, his reputation is dead. Nobody is going to look at his recent accomplishments with awe, but just with digust. Henry Aaron, the current all-time home run leader, was half the size of Bonds when he finished his career. He took the title with only his natural talent. He was also the target of hate letters and death threats because he was black. Aaron never complained and never stopped. For me, Bonds' talent and attitude never measured up to Aaron's, even when Bonds hit 73 home runs in one season.

I don't know what the league is going to do. I'm pretty sure they knew about this for quite a while and didn't do anything about it. Now, the only thing the league can save is its own image. They surely can't save Bonds' image. That has been ruined forever. The league's problem now is will they continue to support somebody who injected himself with "trenbolone, a steroid created to improve the muscle quality of cattle?" What kind of message will that give to other players? "Eh, we don't care about you did in the past. As long as you bring in the crowds, you're immune to discipline."

Don't Touch Yourself

Along Kumar's lines...

Everytime you touch yourself, God kills a kitten, or a Chinese woman crushes one with her fashionable stiletto heel.

Butchers Of Beijing


"...The Chinese government, by its own admission, is struggling with widespread corruption. It disciplined more than 115,000 party members for this in 2005 alone. The effects of this corruption cut through Chinese society - a significant number of the 5,000 Chinese miners killed in accidents last year, for example, worked for mines partly owned by government officials who ignored safety regulations.

Unfortunately, the government's response to citizens who protest this corruption has been to fight the protesters, not the problem.

In the West, the attacks suggest a government that, ironically, may be less in control than it appears. Indeed, China's economic gains have only partly disguised increasing political repression.

Even foreign institutions are not immune; a Chinese researcher for The New York Times, Zhao Yan, is in detention and faces as many as 10 years in prison for allegedly sharing state secrets.

There are few avenues that serve as safety valves for dissent in China. Unsanctioned public demonstrations are punishable by prison terms. Ordinary people have been sentenced to 10 years in prison for merely posting their views on their Web sites or in email.

The tradition of "petitioning" public officials often ends in a beating by government-paid thugs or worse.

Freedom of the press is severely curtailed, especially when a newspaper covers an issue close to home. Some of the journalists who first uncovered the SARS epidemic are now serving prison terms...."


So a lot of countries in the world have shit, corrupt governments. But here's Red China's deal. They want to be a player on the world stage, nothing less than a superpower. And the shitty aspect of it all is that the rest of the world is bending over backward to let it happen. Domestically, the Chinese value system everyone hears about is as good as dead. Just a couple years ago I was taught in an East Asian politics class about how China is more about the community than the individual, that people look out for each other before themselves. Utter bullshit. People here would stab their family members in the back for some extra yuan.

My personal experience is with the teachers at my school. The headmaster cleary started this school two years ago as a business institution, not an educational institution. That means not the ethics of education but the ethics of business. Did someone say Enron? Teachers live three to a room and work from dawn until dusk and rarely get a day off. Even during holidays, they are forced to attend meetings that teach them to be better teachers. They were once told at one of these meetings that they were machines meant to serve their gods, who were the children. Over and over I hear about how important it is to please the children's parents, who pay the big bucks to have their kids taught English by unqualified dopes like me. These are the same parents who see their children only on the weekends, sometimes even less than that, yet complain when the teachers, who take care of them for five days a week, try to discipline their children. In China, you have little emperors and empresses, only-children of the nouveau riche who are spoiled rotten. Additionally, Chinese have certain papers that they need to get jobs and move around. The headmaster has these papers locked up in his office. If a teacher wants to leave, he or she must ask the headmaster. This is usually denied and now the headmaster knows the teacher is unhappy. The headmaster is also involved somehow with the local board of education. This means that he probably is in charge of whatever government oversight there is. The kicker is that this school has a beautiful soccer stadium that could seat a couple thousand. It has never been used. And what it doesn't have is the second teachers' apartment building, which is on the plans but not on the ground. They built this useless stadium instead of something that would actually bring enormous benefits. All for show and grandness. A side note, I do not fall under the same rules as the Chinese teachers. Life for me is actually pretty cushy and work easy and enjoyable. Which actually makes it so much worse in my mind.

My only hope is China's 900 million strong rural farmer and peasant population, which is getting increasingly disenchanted. Last year, the government dealt with 79,000 rural protests, including violent and fatal ones. The situtation now is the opposite of what it was in 1989, when Tiannanmen Square went down. Then, the urban population was mad and the rurals were happy. The urban population was able to organize and protest, while the rurals were unable to organize to show their satisfaction. Now they are unable to organize and show their disaffection, while urban dwellers continue to get rich. I really hope there's a rural revolt, organized and massive, in time for the 2008 Olympics, which Beijing sees as an event to showcase to the world how advanced and great China has become. What happened to spreading democracy, Bushies? This place needs it most. Instead, money is just being poured in by greedy capitalists too blind to see the suffering.

So in closing, free Tibet, Xinjiang, the revolution will not be televised, and see you ten years from now when I get released from a Chinese prison.

Monday, March 06, 2006

The Joys of Indian Food

For some reason, I've never had Indian food until a few months ago at a Diamond Bar restaurant and I regret not experiencing it earlier. I instantly fell in love with the spices, sauces, and naan. Unfortunately, in the OC (don't call it that), Indian restaurants aren't as numerous as Mexican restaurants, but they still exist, at least.

I went to the nearest mid-priced Indian restaurant by my home: Mother India. Indian restaurants in general are known for the lunch buffets. It's the best buy. For under $20, you get unlimited portions of the most popular Indian dishes: Chicken Tikka Masala, various curries, lentil soup, creamed spinach, Tandoori Chicken, and others. Mother India's lunch buffet was especially inexpensive: about $8. But you get what you pay for, which isn't much. The selection was meek, especially the curries. The Tandoori Chicken was decent, but not good enough for me to come back.

I went to Chakra for dinner with Linh, Robert, and Tony. This Irvine restaurant was definitely more high-end. Each entree was around $20. Expensive, but wonderfully delicious. Naan, a pita-type flatbread, cost extra though ($4 per serving), but it was perfectly crispy and soft at the same time. Our high-end dinner was topped off nicely with a good bottle of sweet, white Riesling wine that was picked by Linh, resident wine expert.

Still, I have to find a good Indian lunch buffet. My next try is Punjab in Fountain Valley. Yes, the name is slightly offensive, but not as offensive as that Thai restaurant on Beach Blvd. (Phuket). There's also a place somewhere near Magnolia and Talbert (Ashoka) that one website recommended.

Lastly, Kumar updated his own blog with a good, detailed review of his vacation to Sri Lanka and India. His reminiscing on the South Indian food got me hungry. Maybe he can cook for all of us when he comes back.

Sunday, March 05, 2006

ok everyone...


i have to admit that i am drunk off my ass. I have had way to much to drink but its my birthday and thats ok, the time now is 920 aqND ITS CLOSE ENOUGH TO MY BIRTHDAY and i just shut down the caps lock.


either way i know this makes no sence and this is judt a stream of fucken words in order, but either way good night everyone, and happy fun time.