Blog

Short blog posts, journal entries, and random thoughts. Topics include a mix of personal and the world at large. 

Get your face off the phone

It used to not bother me at all, but lately I've been rather miffed when I'm amongst company and people are constantly on their mobile phones. I understand the need to check whether or not a message is important, verify a scoring alert for your favorite sports team, or looking up something on the web the relates to the topic at hand - otherwise, you really shouldn't be on your phone.

Speak; have a genuine conversation. 

That bad habit is made even more glaring when you see one friend who's never had a smartphone before and only recently (finally) transitioned to one. Yup, unfortunately, he has also joined the cult of screen staring. It's a virus.

Of course, I've been guilty about this too. These days I'm really trying to make a conscientious effort to not have my mobile strapped to my face when I'm hanging out with other people. 

Weird-Al is a legend. That parody of Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines", turning it into a song about proper grammar usage, is absolutely genius. I'm certainly not the staunchest of grammar nazis but I do appreciate well-constructed sentences that are free from blemishes. 

Plans to go to the Ramen Festival in Japan-town this past weekend were a bust. The festival was beyond crowded, and reportedly it took a good three hours of waiting in line before one gets the opportunity to savor a bowl of noodles. While I like to think I've more patience than most, waiting multiple hours for what ultimately boils to food just doesn't seem right to me. I don't care how awesome that specialized bowl of ramen is - there's but a finite amount of hours in a day. 

Besides, the San Francisco Bay Area has no shortage of ramen restaurants. Now that I think about it, not sure why there was a need for a ramen festival at all. At the very least, organizers should procure a (much) bigger venue next time.

Midsummer

It was an interesting weekend for the most part. It marked the final two days of the 2014 World Cup, which is a bit melancholic when you think about it. Granted, fours years will undoubtedly fly by in seemingly no time until the next world tournament. Unfortunately that is to be held in Russia, so only the most hardy of fans in the United States will be willing to essentially not sleep at all to catch games during the early hours of morning.

Pass the snacks, please. 

It was also a rare weekend where I went to two Giants games. Well, two if you only look at the ticket stubs. Due to the World Cup final I had to abort the Sunday game, having only entered the ballpark to receive the bobblehead giveaway. I didn't even pay for seats - it was a standing room ticket. Quite clever, if I do say so myself. The game on Friday that I actually did stay and watch was a good one, though. The team actually won, which is a rarity of the Giants this past month.

I am miffed that I missed seeing the two grand-slams hit by Posey and Bumgarner on Sunday. Damn you, World Cup! 

A Facebook acquaintance of mine flew to Spain this week to partake in the historic running with the bulls. Tick one off the bucket-list for that guy. Personally I don't think I'd be brave enough to risk getting impaled by an angry bull many times my size. But a lesson for the younger people out there: stuff like running with the bulls is proper "you only live once" type of shit, not getting hammered with alcohol and peeing on a police car (massive cookie points if you get this albeit obscure reference). 

EDC is not for me

Apparently EDC 2014 is this weekend in Las Vegas. How do i know? The sizable contingent of friends and acquaintances on various social media, with posts of heading towards Paradise Nevada, revealed it to me. As if the lot of them needed an excuse to make a trip to America's (adult) playground.

Dancing to electronic music with tens of thousands of people in alarmingly close proximity doesn't appear at all appealing to me, so it's a small wonder why so many people I know are making the yearly pilgrimage. Sure, Vegas provides the best mediums to abscond away from your mundane every day life, but as far as music goes, I much prefer sitting comfortably in a seat, plugging in a good set of cans to my preferred music device, and listening alone with a cup of coffee in hand.

Then there's the money issue too. Las Vegas isn't exactly cheap. From what I've experienced, being carefree with your money is the sort of mentality that is absolutely required to have fun in Vegas. Countless folded up twenties (or hundreds) slipped expertly can ensure a very good time indeed, but I rather slip them instead to my investment banker.

So it goes back to the people on my social media list that are going to EDC this weekend: just how many of you are mortgaging your future in order to have a bit of fun for three days? Basing on saving statistics of American demographics, very few of you are conserving money in general.

Not for me to criticize, simply food for thought.

Too many things

My maternal grandparents are moving, and as anyone that has ever moved will tell you, you quickly realize you've got way more possessions than originally thought. Most of it is made up of things that we haven't used in years, sometimes decades even. Nostalgia and general laziness is one heck of a hindrance to decluttering, isn't it. 

Of course, my grandparents had no choice but to discard as many items as possible so to not have to waste effort bringing them over to the new place. While I myself am not moving anytime soon, I think it'd be prudent for me to take a hard look at all the stuff I've got and throw away the things I simply don't use or need. You always think you'll need something later on, but years go by and that item is still in its original position, never been touched. 

Time for a bit of spring cleaning, then. 

Summer already

It was an unusual oppressively hot day in San Francisco, right up there into the 90s. Of course, being denizens more used to weather in the 50s, low 90s is practically apocalyptic on the hotness scale. My car's automatic climate control was going bonkers in its feeble attempt to normalize the temperature to a solid 70 when the car has been sitting outside in the blazing sun for a good five hours. Protest loudly, the fans did. 

Of course, it isn't all bad - far from it. Summer-like weather means the lovely ladies are in their gorgeous dresses and short outfits. The perks of working at a college campus: the views were specially lovely today. 

Drove 600 miles in a weekend

I'm still here thinking about what a blast this past weekend was. Traveling is really one of the best ways to spend your money and free time. It's such a huge world out there; it's almost a responsibility to go see it. 

Driving 600+ miles took a tole on the car, though this time I'm lucky to come out of it without needing to replace the windshield (I had to on the previous road trip). If there's one thing you should do for your beloved automobile, it's to keep it consistently waxed so that debris and gunk won't stick to the paint. After the trip north, the front end of my car met quite a lot of insect causalities but a single pass of the pressure washer wand took care of it easily.