Photos Blah

Since we brought a digital camera, I have been taking photos everywhere. These photos were taken outside of my home, and I'll just put it here to let loose a copy of it on the web, just in case I go nuts one day and delete it all, and I'll still be able to find a copy on the site.

Arms Raised



The Mystic Channel


Looks Like a Cigar

What I Learned While Having A Summer Job

The planets aligned, the stars lined up, and I finally got a job this summer at the beginning of July. Yes, it’s over now, and I got my money, I got my experience, I got realism.

I got a job at my Housing Projects’ office (that’s right, I live in the ghetto, the ‘hood), and my boss was a social worker. People often come to her, and she knew who was on heroin and who was in jail. There’s more messed-up people in my area than I thought I knew.

From her, I knew a lot more tragedies and screw up kids on the block, she even pointed out the drug dealers to me, just across the street.

I met a bunch of kids that was pretty wild. You know, even if they’re loud-mouthed and belligerent, there was intelligence and care in them.

One of the little girl had a BIG attitude, and she was like ten. She had a MySpace and pretended she was fourteen (seems like all of them have a fascination with MySpace), and she had a big family and her siblings aren’t that close, I’d guess. Another little girl’s mother was a heroin addict who was pregnant, and considering giving the baby once he was born. A boy’s father was in jail, and he was screwing his girlfriend while humping another. Jeez.

I wonder if some of these kids are going to repeat the fate of their parents, and become heroin addicts and whatnots. Does family and childhood life make them want to turn away to an alternate path, or does it twist them into an inevitable fate like their parents?

I hope it’s not the latter. But I guess there’s more of the latter than not.

RANDOM RAMBLINGS TO FILL THE SPACE

So we tried to get Verizon DSL for our home again, for the third time, and it still doesn’t work! So now for the third time, I have to wait for them to mail me the returning label and have the mail the modem back. I don’t think I’ll ever get the luxury of fast internet.

Applied for a summer job and supposedly to start on July 9th, but have not got the call about where I’m going to work. I don’t expect things to go smoothly anyway.

If I have a dog, I would name him Cerberus.

DW from Arthur is a bitch. By the way, what is Arthur? A mouse?

My mind is completely blank these days. Apathy has washed upon me and I found I lost the past passion on a number of things. I guess I have one of these “apathetic phrase” every once in a while. With that said, even in my “interested phrase”, I sometimes cannot fathom why some people are so dedicated and passionate about certain things, and why they cared so much.

But perhaps these passions fill a void. Now that I’m in the “apathetic phrase” and have no commitments (as of today), I do fill a certain empty spot. At times. And now that I think about it, I didn’t really ponder on life like I use to anymore, I didn’t think about the “meaning of life”, religion, purpose of life or whatnot like I used to . Did I found answers to these, or am I just being apathetic?

The above bulletin is rather pretentious.

Finals, Music Chart, and Summer Reading!

It’s been busy as hell in school, with all the final testing coming at you at once. But you got to take it as it is. We just got through the biology final, which was okay, and I'm pretty sure I fucked up on at least serveral questions. Then next week is the English, then next next week is algebra, Latin, and whatever else, woot!

Anyway, with all of this whirlwind, I still managed to find some time to keep an eye on the music chart. I’m always baffled at what’s on top of the charts, I don’t even know why I care anymore. I don’t know if people really want to be force-fed Daughtry and Nickelback, or that they really believe that the album deserves their buying. Ahhhhhh, who am I to judge?

Commercial success is not about quality, it’s about status and promotion.

As the summer approaches, so is all sorts of exciting summer activities. And because the school hates its students, we have summer reading to do. And seriously, most of the students are just going to read it the two weeks before school starts, and write some half-assed report on it. At least this year’s format is more interesting, and breaks away from the “summary-character-comments” format. “original writing” of the students, as they put it.

God, I hope it’s going to rain.

Collective Thoughts

www.myxertones.com is awesome.

Now that the school year is almost over, all the final tests are coming in. YEE-HAW.

A Call From the Grave of Cho Seung Hui

Many are disgusted by the footage of Cho that NBC played. I wasn’t disgusted, but certainly disturbed. I’m sure the footage is on YouTube somewhere right now, but I didn’t bother to look.

Cho’s call from the grave is now going to live a everlasting life (or until the Internet disappears, or until human extinction). This is a call for attention, and NBC granted him that. Is it “clues to the reason of the killing” or a bad step that only fulfills the killer’s goal? Both, I would say, but more of the latter.

The only thing that we got from (or at least me) the video is that Cho is angry. Angry at the world, angry at society, but angry at no one at particular. What triggers this? Is it society’s mistreatment (and what exactly is that?) or his brain chemical imbalance?

I wonder how many people share the same feeling of mistreatment like him.
And switching gears, will this have a negative effect on Asians? I’m Chinese myself, and I just have to wonder. But I haven’t heard anything yet, but again, I didn’t bother to look.

What I Brought Yesterday (or at least some of it)

I was planning to buy this album after "Smile" really grew on me.

Usually, when I buy albums base on the single I heard (I'm one of few who still buy the whole album instead of downloading the song), the album just have a few good songs. But not this one, I can say the whole album is great.

It's full of melodic clashes, the poppy atmosphere dominates the record, and there's the beat that keeps you moving. In other words, it's like one of those Top 40 hits, except it's better and not make you want to tear your hair out.



Also brought: Saul William's self tiltled sophmore album.


It's hip-hop, except with less profanity,less bragging and more meaning. The music itself it's not really what hip hop now sounds like: it's simplistic, a blend of electronics with a little (just a little) rock edge.

His lyrical intentions is much better than the usual "I got my hos and bitches line up, and my blings are thicker than your neck" kind of boo-hah. It's about life, proverty, politics and society.

Of course, he won't blow up because he didn't talk about his hos and bitches.

Children.Org

While I was walking to the bus stop to go home, someone from Children International stopped me and asked me to pledge for a child. But the only problem is, I'm not old enough (I looked old, I know, I know).

But he did told me their website, it is Children.org.

Too bad I'm too young.

What is On My Radio (Or Yours)?

I have heard it several times already, people saying "radio is going to die", maybe it is, I don't know. On a Saturaday night, I listened to the radio station WFNX , and I decided to write down their playlist, and then determine if the playlist (the music)is killing radio or not, so here we go:

January thirteenth, two thousand and seven
6:12PM
Steady As She Goes by the Raconteurs
I heard this song for 1,456 times already (I tallied them up and counted it)for the last few months. And really, I'm getting sick of it, I don't care if Jack White is awesome or not.

6:14PM
The Sweater Song by Weezer
I always wonder why the hell would someone want to destroy River Cuomos' sweater. This song always makes me imagine a bunch of guys singing drunkingly while the others smokes weed.

6:16PM
Unknown song
Appearently a 80s tune. Nostalgia.

6:20PM
Shine On by Jet
Whew, that song ended, and Jet came on!All I really noticed about this song was that this is the exact formula for their other song, Look What You Have Done. Oh my gosh, maybe this will be on Top 40 too!

6:25PM
All Apologies by Nirvana
Wonder if Courtney Love sold the right of this sont to some company yet.

6:28PM
Don't Look Back In Anger by Oasis
1. Is Oasis going to release anything this year?
2. Who is Noel Gallagher going to talk shit about next?

6:32PM
DJ talking about some show

6:33PM
Commercials (including McDonalds, skiing, 24, Donkin Donuts and more)

6:39PM
Le Disco Shinny Toy Guns
Another hispter dance/disco rock band! Yee haw.

6:42PM
Date Rape by Sublime
My favorite kind of story in a song form.

6:45PM
Holiday by Green Day
Green Day is everywhere. In fact, they're just outside my windows.

6:50PM
Never There by Cake
Cake, hmmm

6:53PM
DJ talking about Shinny Toy Guns sounding like Peaches.

So, judging from the playlist, I think the current state of radio is sdjofupksdfjek;slfijk.

Global Warming is Upon Us!

Today is January sixth, and it is 68 degrees out there in Boston.
If this does not prove that global warming is in effect, I don't know what is.

X-Mas

It doesn't even feel like X-mas here.
It's rainning,of all things.



I WANT A BLIZZARD.

Retrospective: September 11

For older people, maybe they have been asked the following question: “where were you when you heard Kennedy got shot?”, or, “where were you when you heard Lennon got shot?”. For people my generation, the question of equivalence is certainly “where were you when you heard the Twin Towers got hit by terrorists?”.

I remember clearly where I was when that happened. I was quiet young at the time, and was on the other side of the ocean. And I t seems not so long ago.

Typical fall day, and like everyday, I walked with my friends from school back to my grandmother’s house. It was about 4:30 in the afternoon, and the television was on in the living room.

Expecting the usual programming of cartoons, I was surprised when all I saw was a ruin of some building, with the news reporter reporting something. I sat down, and there, they showed the footage of the plane struck the Twin Towers over and over again. I soon realized that the terrorist attacked New York City, and the US was under attack.

That was the first time I heard of the word “terrorist.”

During these five years, I had moved to America, and hear the word “terrorists” at least few times a month. “The war on terrorism” is heard every time Bush speaks.

America’s not safe, I don’t even know if it will ever be safe from terrorists. It’s pretty lucky that the British uncovered the terror plot in London last month, but just how many more can we bust? How long can we continue this?

Terrorists aren’t idiots. Their selfless will to do revenge is something that is almost indestructible. As long there’s conflicts between the US and the Middle East, there will be grudge and vengeance. But it seems like the government had made no effort to resolve this. Instead, there’s wars and yapping when a country wants to develop “weapon of mass destruction” (nuclear weapons).

It all seems distant away, yet it is all so near.