Facebook Voyeurism

I'm not a big fan of social networks---especially MySpace. Perhaps my dislike of social networking sites is stemmed from my hatred of MySpace, because MySpace have always seem idiotic and ugly to me since I first saw it. And no, I don't have a MySpace, and I would probably never have one, unless it's for business usage.

But, I was more tolerant of Facebook, who is now on par with, if not exceeded, MySpace in popularity. And I would say that Facebook is better stylistically and it's more "safe" than MySpace. At least you don't have to see inane usernames splatter across your screen.

I'm sort of a late comer in Facebook, I signed up several months ago to see what the fuzz is all about, and didn't even edit my profile. I felt like a dummy seeing all the applications and whatnot, and I didn't even try to find friends. It wasn't until a friend asked me to be a friend that I actually did some work on my Facebook profile.

As I "friended" more people, one thing struck me: I was able to see my friends' every move on the news feed.

"__________ wrote something on _________'s wall:
'lol, _____, i haven't c u in a long time!'"

"_____ and ________are now friends."

"____ took the IQ test!"

Okay. That's a little voyeuristic to me, seeing my friends' every move on Facebook being reported to me. While it wasn't anything explicit, but I got the feeling that I was peeping too much at their lives. When I update my profile, the same thought pop into my mind: they're going to see what I did with my Facebook too.


Facebook implemented this feature so we can keep in touch with friends, and surely we want to know their every move, and that we can immediately write witty comments on their recently uploaded photos. But, I found myself hesitating now to post anything dramatic or private,* seeing that everyone will know.And that's the reason that my profile still only includes my birthdate, my school, and almost nothing more.

Perhaps I'm getting old and getting paranoid.

*Of course, you should never post anything too private (like your mating habits) on any social networking sties.

OMG, A Woman as Vice-President?

I just got back from my adventure outside, hit the net, and found out that McCain chose Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska, as his running mate.

It's obvious why McCain chose a female as his running mate: to get the votes of those disenchanted Hilary supporters, as well as any other potential female voters. McCain has been trying to get the Hilary-votes over to him, and this may actually close the deal.

I will be paying attention to the Republican National Convention next week. After watching the speeches of the Democrats, it's time to see the Republicans got up their sleeves.

BIden is Obama's Running Mate!

So I checked my cell phone this morning, and as expected, I got a text message.

It was a neat little message that reads: "Barack has chosen Senator Joe Biden to be our VP nominee. Watch the first Obama-Biden rally live at 3PM ET on www.BarackObama.com. Spread the word! [03:28:11 AM]".

Great time to send a text message, guys! Maybe they're trying to be sneaky. I personally think that's kind of hilarious.

The senator of Illinois teaming up with the senator of Delaware. I can't say much about Biden yet, but I'm certain that I will be more familiar with him as November approaches. Now, McCain, please announce your running mate soon.

And You Can Be the First to Know!

After hearing that Obama is expected reveal who his running mate is today, I signed up for his vice president text-alert (just text "VP to 62262). Though I'm not an Obama fanatic, that desire for immediate knowledge drove me to do it.

Maybe that's why I'm tensed up all day.

The way that Obama embrace technology is certainly giving him more connection to the younger, can't-live-without-my-cellphone crowd, and a large group of his supporters are indeed young voters. This ploy also gives the media more reasons to cover him, I mean, the coming reveal of Obama's running mate seems more publicized than McCain's. In the age of the Internet and technology, you can't just stick to TV ads and newspaper anymore.

Of course, this "first to know" text message plan is already boiling some hoaxes for giggles. Come on, Elliot Spitzer ain't a bad choice.

Reality Doesn't Always End in Happiness

That's it, the most anticipated race will not happen. Liu Xiang pulled out of the 110 hurdles because of his injury.

We missed the live footage of his preliminary race, but when we switched back to NBC to see what's up, they were already showing Liu Xiang walking out of the stadium. Confusion soon turned into disappointment, then disappointment soon turned into sadness as we realized what happened: Liu Xiang's leg hurt so much that he didn't even finish the race.

My father and I were shocked, even though I had my irrational worries that something was going to happen in the preliminary, I didn't expect it to actually come true. A press conference quickly started about Liu Xiang, but no explanation was needed to feel the pain of Liu Xiang, his coaches, and us, the Chinese who waited four years to see this athlete soar. But fate's a bitch.

Disappointment aside, I respect and understand Liu Xiang's decision. It is my sincere wish, and I hope this is the wish of the majority of the Chinese---that Liu Xiang will heal completely, and that he will soar again.

Beijing Olympics: A Brief Retrospective

The Beginning
Seven years ago, a nation named China erupted into joyous celebration when it was announced that Beijing would be the city hosting the Olympics in 2008. To this day, the image of Samaranch announcing the victorious bid of Beijing is still iconic and fresh in people’s mind.

I was still on that other side of the globe when that happened. It was sort of a blurry memory for me, but one thing I remembered clearly was the mood of the nation. Everyone was [i]happy[/i], everyone was proud. There was a distinct feeling in the air that China, a country that suffered so much in the past, was beginning to step into the international map.
Of course, billboards, advertisements, and propaganda banners began to appear. Various products began printing logos relating to the Olympics. I remember wishing that 2008 would arrive soon, in my young mind, seven years seems like a long time.

The Liu Xiang Moment


Fast forward to the summer of 2004 when the Athens Olympics were happening. My parents and I were sitting on our couch watching the 110 meters hurdles final. Another moment that shaped what’s to come in 2008 happened in the most surprising way. And this time, I remembered it extremely clearly (must be because I was older).
We noticed that there was actually a Chinese athlete in the final race. We looked at each other, and I remembered one of us saying “well, if he can get a bronze metal, that would be awesome.” Of course, there was no hope whatsoever in that happening, because historically Chinese has no place on the racing track.

As the competition started, we noticed the Chinese athlete was beginning to come to the front. Our jaws dropped lower and lower as he was dashing to the finish line, and froze in surprise when we realized that he just won the gold metal. Then we cheered.

That was one of those "where were you when _______ happened?" moments, yes it was.

The next day, all the Chinese newspaper had the front page news of “Chinese Athlete Liu Xiang Won Gold in Hurdles”. Now all the Chinese are hoping for the same headline this year. It is said that Liu Xiang is bearing the hope of gold of 1.3 billion Chinese, and it’s no melodramatic statement. To be honest, I’m not over confident that he will win gold, I would certainly collapse from nervousness if I were Liu Xiang.

Back to the Present

For the past few months, the advertisement for the games were virtually nonstop on Chinese television, and everything was tied to this big game. At one point I just threw up my hands and declared that I just wanted the games to start already. Believe, watching the same ad on television twenty times a day will drive you insane.

But now, the games have started, and everything that China worked for, everything that the Chinese are waiting for, everything that meant so much to us are happening. As my cousin said, everyone’s happy because “we’ve finally arrived at this moment”.

I Haven't Updated in a Long Time, So I'm Just Going to Share a Story

Frankly, I didn't have anything interesting things to write about. But, I haven't write in my blog for almost two months now, so I guess I should write something so it doesn't feel like I abandoned this place.

I'm currently working in a community center in a housing development (yes, you can say that it's the projects) for the summer.The main job for me and the other co-workers are mainly to watch over the kids and do various small tasks. We all live in this housing development, so we know the people and the rules.

One day, a co-worker of mine saw a kid turning his computer monitor away from her whenever she approaches him, and there are other kids surrounding him. She suspects that the kid is watching porn. Maybe the kid was not cautious enough, he didn't delete his internet history. When we checked the computer, we immediately know that they were playing "sex games" on these computers.

Keep in mind that these computers are for public usage, and the people that uses these computers are mainly kids from 6-14.

Of course, we told our superior what happened. And guess what action was taken? Absolutely nothing was done.

There is a "board of directors" in this housing project, they were supposedly the representatives of all the residents living in the community. These board members were voted in by the residents, and they decide plans, improvements and such for the community. They are basically the aristocrats of the community, the management office and our superiors basically couldn't lift a finger on them.

It turns out that the kid that was watching porn was the son of a board member. Our superior didn't dare to do anything, even though the evidence is there and we all know that it's wrong what he did.

One of my co-worker was frustrated that the wrongdoer didn't get a consequence. The secretary was frustrated also. but he told her that this is the real world, and there's always a double standard.

Double standard indeed.