Appreciation

So kids, time for a lesson on how to appreciate what you have.

It is common to see that many people in today's society forget to stop and realize the things in life that need to be thanked. ex. I never thanked my dad for the million and one things he has ever done for me, only because there was never an urgency to believe he will stop one day. Until this very day i still haven't appreciated him much or at least portrayed it..
Funny thing is though, many never start their acts of gratitude until they lose what they cherish.

And today was MY first day of showing gratefulness.

So... a week or so prior, I was on the phone with Lilian, contemplating on what in the world i should do for the Shinmei's before i leave for the big city of Seattle.
"Maybe i'll treat them to a nice big fancy dinner! I mean they've been feeding me for about half my life, so I think its time to repay them with some grub."
Lilian thought about it, and decided
"Yeah, that's a good idea"
You have to understand, not only was Rob one of my best friends, I also spent a good quarter of my life residing at his house. His mom's cooking was also the only refuge I could take from my grandmas usual fried rice surprise or boot-leg dumplings... Mr. Shinmei would always be the one taking us to different places to experience different activities. Thinking about it now, he had actually taken my boating, wake-boarding, tubing, and fishing virginity. Trisha was always giving me advice just because she overheard our conversations in Rob's room and decided to butt in. Cookie Shinmei, the dog that i've wished i always had.
Shoot.. I could've been their third son. Hell, they probably already consider me their third son. I mean, showing thanks is the least i could do for all their amiable and hospitable acts towards me.
--ring ring ring--
So.. what do ya noe, Kevin was also thinking the same exact thoughts and called me the weekend he came back from SC.
"Hey, wanna pitch in for a big screen tv for the Shinmei's?"
"Uhh..sure"
BUT, complications arose and the TV was not bought, so instead we went with my idea. DINNER. mm. The place we decided upon was probably one of the fanciest restaurants I have ever been to, Lawry's. Chiga-Chiga-Yeaaaa. I am MC'lovin'. Anywho, dinner was great, and conversation was lively with the whole family(minus trish,grant,cookie). After dinner, kevin and I handled the tab, like big boys and then we sent off the Shinmei's. They gave us their "thanks" and we returned with our "no prob' bitchess."

It felt good knowing that I could return some minuscule portion of recognition to the family for what they've done for me. That you see, my audience, made my day. You will never get a better feeling within you until you've actually given back to the ones that give you so much. Feels good.
So when you get the chance, do something nice for your family, your friends, or your loved ones to show you really do appreciate them. How else are they supposed to know?
It's funny.. the first time i actually treat a family, and its not even my own. ironic.
Maybe i'll do this for my actual family sometime. Maybe..
___________________________________

Anyway, so much for that.

After dinner I sent Kevin back to his dorm at the Raddison Hotel. FUCK, obviously paying so much god damn money for USC gets you some perks. His room is a hotel room transformed into a dorm. Nice big beds--might i add--UNBUNKED. Since there are two students living in the room, they provide one dresser for one student, and the other gets to use the hotel closet. And last but not least, a FUCKING BATHROOM WITH SHOWERS.
Damn...

Now..........as for my dorm, let me describe the LUXURIOUS triple I live in. There are two bunk beds set on both sides of the room. The left bunk has a bed on top and a workstation on bottom. Convenient. The other bunk has beds on both top and bottom. Then towards the head of the bunks there is a desk on either side. One for each of the fools in the beds. Then there are two dressers. One is designated fully for one student, and the other one is split in half for the others. I figure UW gets a kick out of it just to see who gets the shit kicked out of them for the full dresser. One window. Did i forget to mention that the person who designed my dorm, also designed prison cells?

::sigh::

Green light

Coming back home from Kara's going away bbq.
37 mph. 40 mph.
I drove down Huntington Drive and Gainsborough Drive...Mmm a green light, what a treat. Passing the intersection, I think about going to college.
A much anticipated moment isn't it? The everlasting freedom that all of us have only dreamt about since our parents bestowed our first punishment...mah-jong stick to the ass.. Finally, we can do whatever we want. Sleeping at 5am without our parent's peeping their head into our rooms telling us we are ruining our cycles. Playing video games until our eyes turn bloodshot and hygiene dribbles down the drain. Dating whomever our heart desires, whether it be a punk rocker with metal ten inch spikes for hair or a nerd who cannot breath properly without his asthma medicine. The list is endless. In college, there are no such things as restrictions or rules. You live your life the way you want it, because college is your key to the city of self-indulgence.
40 mph. 43mph.
Now cruising past Tony's pizza...Another green light!!
Opportunity!
"Hey, so where are you from?"
"What do you like to do in your spare time?"
"Do you like...?"
"Did it hurt.........................when you fell from heaven?"
A million and one ways to meet your new peers and potential friends. Imagine how many individuals out there have similar if not almost exactly the same personality, lifestyle, outlooks on life as you. Imagine the chance to meet people and experience new things with them. Maybe you get well acquainted with an avid skier. The next thing you know, you'll be finding ways to tackle the most grueling slope you've ever seen while just a winter ago, you've never even witnessed snow.
50 mph. Now speeding past S. Oak knoll Ave. Yet another green light!
Time to make your own decisions! I know what you're thinking...
"YES! Dad is not going to tell me which ap classes to take this year. FUCK THAT!"
At least thats what my situation is. I get to chose the classes this year. ME ME ME! I want to take sociology of sexuality, I want to take criminology! I want to take a class on volcanoes damn it. Everybody... college is time to do what you want, experience things for yourself and nobody else.
45mph....35mph.....25....15....10...5..0 mph. Red light
I'm not ready to leave what I have known for 18 years. I'm not ready to leave my peers...my family.. my friends. When has anything ever prepared us for such a quick physical and emotional detachment? San Marino High School? Fuck no. Nothing has ever strengthened us to handle that final good bye with our best friends..

Going into the unknown. What if nobody wants to make friends with me? What if my roommate is an asshole and smells like garbage 24/7? What if I fail my classes and get kicked out of my university? What if.. What if... What if...
These questions are the ones that scare us, the ones that are unanswered. We don't know whats coming, so we worry and we become anxious.

Green light, finally.
We need to drop these anxieties and begin realizing that we are entering a new situation as are thousands of other students. You are not alone.. Believe me when I say, everyone wants to be your friend, because we are all thrown into the same barrel . Freshman is a category all in itself meaning frightened, naive and newbie. All that you have to do is be open minded and put yourself out there. Give the ones who run up to you and excitedly stammer

"HEY HEY HEY!! WHATS YOUR NAME?!?!? WHAT DO YOU LIKE DOING?!?!"

a chance. Because if you retain your high school thoughts of

"dude.. this guy is such a goober..."

you'll never make a friend, and it signals that your mind is still trapped in a state of immaturity. Also, don't always expect people to come up to you, you're also going to have to put in the work to put yourself out there. Switch roles and sometimes go up to a random person in attempts to make friends with him or her. No harm. If they reject your act of kindness, fuck it, there are 50,000 (at least in my situation) other students who will appreciate your friendship. Grow up people, this is a time to evolve, not regress.

Homesick? It is okay, that just means you aren't experiencing college life to the fullest. But even if you aren't there are those holidays and those get togethers, where everyone will be exchanging their new experiences.

Don't be pessimistic, think of this as a new high school. We were all scared, transitioning into highschool, but we made it something we've come to know and love. College will be exactly the same.
Don't even trip.
Because there will always be a green light for you to speed through.


So.. anyway that was my little tidbit about THAT.
But what i'd really like to do is wish Kara Wong the best in luck to New York. You're not alone Kara, there will be plenty of us in the same situation. And also even though we haven't gotten to know each other well at all, theres always time to change that.

And to all of those who have already gone or are about to leave for college, good luck, keep in touch, have fun, consider my words of semi-wisdom, and take care.

As for me. I'm leaving Sept 19. So anyone who wants to catch up on old times, give me a call.

Mammoth

Okay. Let me start off by saying, i've grown very fond of the world of fishing.

The past three days i've been cut from reality up in the city of mammoth with Mr. Shinmei, Robert and Kevin. --As you could've read from my last post-- We resided in a small cabin, which was very accommodating. The amenities of the house included two bedrooms, kitchen, wireless internet, TV, small facial soaps, toilet paper, carpet, salsa....everything you could ever ask for!! now just some lube and.. :ahem:

So as for fishing.

We climbed over rocks and ridges just to find the perfect fishing spots, and we even rented a rutty ol' boat to cruise over an unworthy swampy mess of algae that people refer to as a lake. All in all it was fun, besides the fact that there was barely any fishing action for the four of us. For some odd reason, i had been referred to as the jinx of the group because the last time the four of them came, every time they casted their rods into the lake a fish would bite. As for us this time, we casted a rod into the lake and waited several hours before catching something that looked similar to a sardine. Aw well... But what made me love the sport of fishing the best was just the anticipation that you might be rewarded with a whopper of a fish for waiting so patiently. Even though we hadn't much luck, I still managed to hold my own.

What i did luckily come across were
1 miniature trout (killed)
2 small brook trout (killed/released)
1 medium trout (kept)
(The medium sized one was from Mr. Shinmei's rod which i reeled in after he had done all of the dirty work, but that's besides the point.)

Which means i caught FOUR fish! Two of which i had killed because i had yanked on my line way too hard. Oh well, i'm sure the seagulls will appreciate my benevolent gesture.

Some would say..
"Fishing is BORING... You have wait for SO long!"
Well that is exactly correct....IF you don't have friends to pass the time with. suckers.. It indeed began to bore us when the fish didn't bite at ALL. There were many of these dull moments. But you can cure this situation easily in 5 easy steps.
1. Find a rock
2. Pick it up
3. Setup a target
4. Make a wager with your friends
5. Throw your rock

Basically that is what we had came up with as a game to play as the fish refused to bite. The three of us (excluding Mr. Shinmei because his rods magically attract fishes) began to play. Our target was an empty Arizona bottle about 15 yards away. The bet was whoever was last to hit the bottle directly would have to eat a portion of a worm. So, initially i voiced out
"Man, i don't want to eat a worm."
But i picked up a rock and threw it anyway. HALLELUJAH!! I hit the bottle.
"HAHA WOO! Okay, so which one of you is going to have to eat the worm?"

heh heh.

GUESS WHO?!?! Yes. Kevin. You loser. Anyway, Kevin reluctantly slurped up the 1/5th of the worm and swallowed it. Telling us in a couple of hours that his stomach felt weird. I wonder.

But i had been victim to round 2, where I had to stand in the freezing cold water for ten seconds. Meh.

So at night, Mr. Shinmei would treat us to some local restaurants (Roberto's and Grumpy's). Both were ideal and proper meals. I ordered myself a fatty burrito which robert ended up gulping down because i couldn't handle it. He..also handled kevin's unfinished portions too.

Exhibit A
The victim Exhibit B
The culprit

So.. Just one more traumatizing tidbit. Last post I had mentioned that i feel bad for the fish. Well, fuck that. The one that should receive my sympathy are the worms. These bugs are given the worst sort of unusual and cruel punishment out of anything. In order to bait these suckers, you first have to pinch them in half. The only thing that is running through my mind is the worm screaming in bug language,
"WHY?!?! WHAT THE HELL DID I EVER DO TO DESERVE THIS?"
And the second step is to weave the hook through the pinched end and out of the side of the worm. THEN re-weaving the sharp tool of pain back into the opposite side of the worm. The whole time, the dieing ...thing is just squirming on your hand bleeding its guts out--sometimes shitting itself--.
Hell, if i were pinched in half and had a hook shoved up my ass and out through my legs, the least i'd be doing is squirming.
And lastly you throw the grub into some garlic paste and toss it into the water..

Feel bad for the fish? Hell no.

Anyways, all in all, this trip had been pretty amazing. Just chillin with the friends, and escaping the world for three days. Everyone should try it. Maybe you'll come home with some fish, or maybe just traumatizing thoughts about worms.

Fishes

SO. i'm back again with my nocturnal-ness..

1:45 am..

Sitting in front of Rob's computer..

"Why are you there?" Well that's a stupid question. Because i'm going to Mammoth in about 4 hours to do some epic fishing.

Before i get into details about the fish world, lets recap on my dinner date.
VIA PICTURES.. ::yay
So here, is a picture of... can you guess? BINGO.. 5 mushrooms stuffed PHAT with crabmeat. Delicious. See the little specks of green? That is attention to detail son, don't get much better than that.


Now here is a big bowl of female elephant discharge... Very exquisite. haha just playin'. It's just clamchowder. They gave me a nice shiny spoon to drink the concoction with and some crispy hexagonal soup cookies. Again.. detail detail detail!

Here, we have my prime rib.. Which was pretty much ideal for the occasion. A slab of pure 10 oz. ....rib.. + auju? + horseradish.. ohh lord. It doesn't get much better than this.. Actually those vegetables could've been a little bit better. But i still scarfed them down in hopes they'll fight any sort of ...................constipation.


So... how much?
Shrooms... $8.75
Elephant discharge... $3.00
Rib...$22.00

Dinner with the girlfriend at a restaurant overlooking the San Gabriel Valley... Priceless..

Actually.. $74.00
But aside from that.. priceless.. HAHA.

Anyway.. fishing is going to be fun. Right? Catching all those little Nemos in the water.
Hey, just thought of a cool analogy.
Me. Taking/Catching a fish away from his school of fish, is kind of like going to college. Eh? Eh? Just looking at it, makes me feel like i've always been in a comfortable zone, with all my little fish buddies. And ::BAM:: one day a hook --or in my case a UA 747-- lifts me and flings me out of everything i once knew.

Now. I'm above water.. in a whole new world. Unable to breathe.

Maybe tomorrow.. I'll throw a fish back into the lake....................................................
...................................NAH.. time to eat that s.o.b.
Yadda?

comfortable bitch?

so.. as my thoughts about humans flutter through my mind at 3:48am in the morning, theres a new episode of The Drew Carey Show that i don't really care for. Being comfortable in my bed with a pillow on my crotch and laptop on my pillow i begin my blog to you.

I had been watching something that sparked some controversial thoughts i have people and what is comfortable to them. But i've forgotten what it actually was. hah

I believe we as humans are so susceptible to being persuaded into one thing rather than another. This ed hardy shirt over a ten dollar pack of fruit of the loom white v-necks. I'm not saying i never buy brand names (guilty) rather than the cheaper salvation army junk. Heck no. I love fashion too. At least what i'm trying to get to is why many of us are floundering around the same fashion, the same designer, the same pair of 7s off the urban outfitters shelves? Why not try some flashy parachute pants? Neon hairspray?

"Well its not 'in' right now...."
Thats what you may be saying. BUT who the hell determines whats "in" or not? Fashion designers? Since when do they get to play the roll of god and decide what you should wear on a day to day basis.. Why do you have to be "in"? Wheres the glory in being "in" and foolishly spending $70 on clothing produced in China for $2 U.S dollars? and i'm going to dig a little further to properly assume that a hungry little 7 year old chinese boy named Bach Choy crafted that fine piece of denim currently hugging your ass. Feeling comfortable?

Is it because we're scared of rejection when we go out of the norm? --hell, i admit,i'm a little afraid--Or maybe it's because we're just so heavily exposed to similar products that we know nothing else. It is my thoughts of nurture that i bring this up. I believe an aspect in creating our NEED for those Ray bans are our peers. I'm not just talking about your friends and family, but even people you see taking a casual walk down Melrose Ave:

"Damn those jeans are bangin'."
or
"Shit, those green converse makes that foo' look fly!"
or
"What a slutty dress, maybe i''ll go get one for the next party."

Why?!

We live with such fear of being rebuked for being slightly out of the norm that it makes us look around to follow the trend. I mean its true, what is the point in going out of your way to try something new when theres something totally accepted by society already made for you?
I'm not just referring to curly hair when straight is in. What i'm saying is Jerry Curls in 2007.

Fuck the hype. Lets go to a swap meet.