Asiania

Back To Wordpress

2009-12-20T15:36:00.002-06:00

Hey all. So I found a free host that had decent bandwidth and disk space, and decided to move over there. The main reason though, is that they also allow me to install Wordpress and use my own domain, and all for free. So from now on, www.asiania.net will bring you to the newer one. I'll be posting on there from now on. I hope you guys will continue to follow me!

Days Like These...

2009-12-15T20:35:00.000-06:00

You know, sometimes, I read about how politicians are pushing for longer school days. I'm pretty sure that politicians are supposed to represent the people's needs. So have they lost it? I wake up at 6:30 every morning, go through 7 classes (and no, that's not counting lunch!) and get out of school at 3:30. Then I have to take care of whatever school business I have, go to my locker, pack up.

After the one hour long commute home, it's about 5:00 already. Add in some socializing, and all of a sudden, I get home at 5:30. Let's say dinner and a shower take an hour total. That's 6:30. I work on homework for 3 hours (which really isn't enough), and it's 9:30. If I go to sleep then, without tossing around until 11 like I usually do, then I get 9 hours of sleep. Not too shabby, right?

But this is based on an ideal world. Guess what? I'm a teenager, so I have a social life. Then there's other things that get in the way, like a Physics unit due, an AP Chem lab due, a Guitar concert to play in... And I can't fall asleep right away either. So maybe I get 7 hours of sleep every night, and some days, I have to skip certain homework assignments to make it work. This juggling act doesn't work... I wake up every morning, my body already beat. Then I tear it through 7 and a half hours of school.

By the way, to any politicians out there, all teachers like to make their big assignments due around the same time. It's the week before winter break, and I have a test/quiz/unit due/concert in EVERY class I take. I'm not exaggerating. I have a test in AP Chem, a unit due in Physics (Hon), a concert to play in for Guitar 2, a quiz in Pre Calc (Hon), a quiz in Mandarin 3 (Hon), a quiz in Brit Lit (Hon), and a quiz in Driver's Ed. I'm only a sophomore.. God damn it, the system is so fucked up already. And these retarded politicians want to extend the school day? I dare them to do it. I dare them, because they won't be elected once my generation is allowed to vote.

Seriously, these politicians need to get more in touch with their people.

Just Keep Coming Back

2009-11-21T18:27:00.002-06:00

I tried starting a more personal blog yesterday, and I looked through a bunch of places that I could blog at. Eventually, I started one (won't say where), but no matter how much I tried to like it, I couldn't. It felt so dead. I keep feeling drawn back to Asiania. Even though hardly a soul visits the blog (I get something like 300 visits a month), I feel compelled to share my story here instead of elsewhere.

Ugh, I don't even know what I want to say. The past weeks have taken their toll on me. There's been too much work. It's also winter now. Combine a cold world with a bunch of work and throw that on a teen that's probably going through emotional changes (it's who we are). Life just isn't as cool as it used to be. I feel like I'm slipping from society. There are a few anchors holding me down, but for the most part, I am oblivious to others. How can I go through another 2 years of high school? Something better change.

Gary M.

Wading Through Memories

2009-10-31T23:37:00.002-05:00

I went to Chinatown to get my braces tightened, like I do every month. And every time I go, I hope that I might make it through my appointment and be back home without running into anyone I used to know. It's not that I hate them, but that I don't feel any connections with them anymore. When I talk to most of them it is a conversation born out of politeness.

After I left Haines, the elementary school I went to, to go to WY for 7th grade, things changed. 7th and 8th grade are the two years that kids change the most. Those moments that I missed out on are memories they share that I will never have the privilege of knowing. But it's not even just that. Those years I had at WY changed me in such a way that I don't think people from Haines can understand.

Sometimes, I feel like I've matured so much at WY, and when I revisit my old friends, it feels as if they haven't matured at all. I marvel at how they could still talk the way they did, the way their minds still thought about the same things. When I see them, I wonder how they can continue to do it their way, when the rest of the world does it a different way. Here's a bunch of people that are still into anime, that are geeky around girls, and listen to Korean music like all Chinese people do. But in the four years I've been separated from them, I feel as if I've grown enough to begin my life.

I want to start doing things with my life. I want to start a company, or manage others, or just take on responsibilities in general. But these guys that I grew up with are still kids in my eyes. The way they act, it doesn't look like they think the same way I do. They don't want to grow up and become adults. So while we may share a past, I'm already looking towards the future.

-Gary Mei

To Find That Source

2009-10-29T20:00:00.002-05:00

I've joined a couple sites that pay for writing, and the pay is pretty meager. That's why I've submitted about 20 unique articles in 2 (ish) years, and most of them weren't even any good. But today, I finally got the courage to join Constant Content.

Constant Content is a bit more professional than other sites such as AC, Helium, Triond, Bukisa, etc. Instead of getting paid per page view (ok, AC has Upfront Payments but it's mostly meager), you write an article and you set the price you want and how much rights the customer gets.

When the other sites pay out anywhere from $1 to $10 (there are some that go above that, but that's rarer) per article over the course of its life, you might think that's good. "Hey, $10 for an article I can write in an hour? That's over minimum wage!". Sorry to burst your bubble, but a writer demands much more than $10 for an hour's work... Word smithing is a skill that isn't easily attained and when writing for pay, a writer pushes all their skills and their soul into the piece. To be paid slightly above minimum wage is an insult.

That's why Constant Content seemed like a good bet. They pay what you ask for, so it feels a bit more professional. The only problem is that I can't ever think of anything to write. Constant Content lists requests from people looking to buy, but I'm not interested in any of them. I either have no experience with it (how do I write about what it's life to live in California when I live in Chicago?), or the requests don't meet my tastes. Coming up with an article for a vaguely worded request, that doesn't pay too well, and I don't have a guarantee that it'll be bought doesn't appeal to me.

When I write, I let the words flow out of me. But every flow has a source, and I can't tap that source that my writing comes from unless I know exactly what I'm writing. Even when I blog I can't find that source. Compare my blogging to the writing I produce when it's commisioned. There's a huge difference in tone, style, and overall quality. But if I ever want to succeed as a writer, I have to be able to access that Source whenever I want to.

-Gary M.

Oh the Irony

2009-10-29T18:38:00.002-05:00

Okay, so it's been a while since the Asiania Team has posted stuff but here's a funny story i have to tell.

Okay, so i bought this racquet online, the Wilson kfactor kzen, for those of you who play tennis, or who has some tennis knowledge, it's a pretty good racquet. I got it like 75% off and got free stringing and free overgrip and every thing for only 75$! It's a great deal. I even got free shipping!

But then my dad was being so asian! He was like "75$? WTF why so much? you can go to Target and get some racquet for 30$. It's still a racquet right?"

I aruged with him and he got mad so he like started hitting me. WITH MY NEW TENNIS RACQUET I BOUGHT.

so for about 2 days i couldn't sit on my thighs/butt. Oh the irony, i got spanked by the tennis racquet i got for 75% off. Guess it was the compensation. LOL

WHY MUST MY PARENTS BE SO ASIAN!?

War, A Necessary Evil

2009-10-23T21:21:00.004-05:00

Pakistan's launched a huge offensive against one of the main Taliban strongholds, and I applaud them for that. War isn't a pleasant thing, but someone's got to do it.

Here in the U.S., there are plenty of people calling for the American troops to come back home, for the war to end. But who's going to fight if we don't? Yes, Iraq and Afghanistan are far away from American soil. But that doesn't mean it's not our problem. Take a look anywhere in the news. African countries are being invaded by Al-Qaeda ideals, Iraq still has militants, Pakistan's trying to control the Taliban, Hamas (a terrorist group) runs Gaza, and this is all just the tip of the iceberg.

There are radicals all over the world attempting to spread their hateful ideology and wrest power from the free, democratic governments. There are people out there that want to strip women of all their rights and turn them into inferior beings that men control. There are people out there that want to tell you what to do, when to do it, and how to do it.

These radicals aren't on American soil yet, but if we let them have free reign over the East, it's only a matter of time before they set their eyes toward us. Instead of calling our warriors back home, we should be thanking them for defending not only the sovereignity of our country, but also that of countries that they have no allegiance to. These warriors are heroes.

-Gary M.

Back From Vacation

2009-10-22T23:57:00.002-05:00

My last post was almost 3 months ago, and I apologize for taking such a long leave. I just lost the appetite to blog, because this blog gets viewed by 5-ish people a day. Not too impressive, or inspiring.

But hey, my friend (shoutout to Theresa!) that lives in Kentucky found my blog online the other day, and that's all the inspiration I need to get motivated. The fact that what I write changes something in the world makes me happy.

A speaker came in for Career Day today, and he said that what we do in life doesn't matter, as long as we love it. We can't waste our life chasing money, because it's ridiculous. If we do what we love long enough, the money will manage to find us. And you know what? He's right. What I love to do is tell the world what I think about it. Who cares if no one reads this now? What I write stays in the history of the Internet forever, and maybe, just maybe, what I have to say will be important to someone else one day far in the future.

I'm glad to be back. Thoughts are incoherent, eyelids are drooping, but I'm feeling warm in the midst of such horrendous weather. The old template got messed up, so I chose a new one. Time to go through it and work out the kinks and see if it has problems. Then I'll hit the sack. G'night!

-Gary M.

Oh my god!

2009-09-09T19:31:00.002-05:00

So I got on asiania.net to day to see how the blog was going, and OMG. I saw the WORST THING!

It was a million little things saying our blog was inactive.

I wanna say sorry about that guys, but I'm probably gonna try to write every other day or so from now on. This summer I know I said I would post, and never did, but I actually wanna start posting now :O Prolly since it'll get me away from my homework. Haha.

School's started now, today was the second day. I'm already hit with tons of homework, not to mention I need to get a good start on the year so I don't fall behind. Talk about stress. Right now, I am looking at Physics, AP Chemistry, and Precalc homework...along with some Chinese and maybe Brit lit, but I can't remember. Haha. It'll take me a solid hour or two to do...I should get started.

Meanwhile, I'm probably gonna update you guys on what's up in my life, just so this might be a little more intersting to read. A while ago when I was in 3rd grade, I was a crazy fan of Yu-Gi-Oh, and now I'm getting back into it. I hear there are tourny's you can enter to win some money and some cool cards, and the game is always fun. Call me a nerd, but the game is awesome. :] I'm also playing that game Metroid Prime right now, since I got the trilogy I've been hooked, but school started so I can't really play as often as I'd like.

I'll keep this short and sweet, but I really felt the need to post something. :O I'll probably post tomorrow. Till then, have a happy 09-09-09!!!

-Jeikei

P.S. I WILL nag Gary and the rest of them to start posting on this blog again. Why kill it after we've already started it? I'd like to keep this alive since I think it's fun, so check back soon for more updates!

Absolute Justice

2009-08-01T23:08:00.004-05:00

Well, I didn't get in much trouble with my parents. They yelled at me for something else, but I just agreed with them and they stopped in the end. But I just watched Watchmen, and wow, that movie really made me think...

First of all, my favorite character was Rorshach. None of the other characters even came close. It felt like he was the only one with any real depth to him. He had principles he kept to and he died for them.

But he was a vigilante that wasn't afraid to kill. A vigilante that wasn't afraid to torture someone for information. He did this in the name of absolute justice. Even at the end of the film, when there was only one plausible way for the world to be saved, he still kept to his beliefs. Absolute justice.

A man who commits a crime deserves to be punished, but sometimes, absolute justice gets in the way of the greater good. Adrian kills millions to save billions and gets away with it in the end. Absolute justice was halted in the name of the greater good, but how can one man decide the fate of millions? Playing god is something that humans would be better off not doing, but if Adrian didn't do it, the whole world could have been destroyed.

If the whole world was destroyed, there'd be no one to criticize Adrian. But how could Adrian have known the whole world would be destroyed? There was only the chance it would be, but he still killed millions in the hopes that it would save the world from an event that was never certain. What justifies it?

I'm so confused on this that I can't even gather my thoughts to make this post sound like it has a purpose... But it does, to me.

-Gary M.

I'm Screwed

2009-07-30T21:25:00.002-05:00

No time to explain why, but it involves my parents having to pay an extra $77. Will post about it later if I can. But dunno when that is. They might take my laptop and phone away again if they get mad enough.

-Gary M.

Cops Are Stupid

2009-07-29T23:58:00.003-05:00

I respect people that work to make the world a better place. Cops aren't exempt from that. They keep the peace, and they dole out justice. Sometimes. But sometimes, cops are just way too stupid.

My dad was delivering an order to someone at a hotel, and it was charged to the guy's credit card. The order was heavy and hot, so my dad put it on the ground while the man signed the receipt. Because we are supposed to, my dad asked to see the ID to make sure it matched with the credit card. This is to ensure that it's not theft. Reasonable?

The other guy didn't think so. He kept saying he didn't have his ID, which is so unrealistic because who travels so far away from home without their ID? And because it's required of him, my dad said that he can't give the order to him unless he sees an ID.

And it's here that I assume my dad bent down to grab the order, because next thing he knows, there's sauce all over his shirt. The man (by the way, he's black. My mom thinks that's important for some reason. Maybe.) had KICKED the order into my dad's front. The whole order. And the thing was over $40, so it wasn't a small order either.

My dad decided not to lose his temper, and instead went downstairs to call the cops. An officer arrived, and he asked both men to tell what happened. The black man goes first. Everything is true except for the part when my dad gets the stuff splattered on him. The guy says that my dad had tried to take it back, and accidentally spilled it on himself.

In the end, the stupid cop decided that he couldn't tell who was telling the truth, so the guy didn't get in trouble. In fact, my dad has to PAY the guy the amount charged to the guy's card if the transaction goes through. Why? Because the guy payed for his meal and didn't get it. Well, whose fault was that? Who kicked their meal??

But I know my dad told the truth, because there's no reason to lie to me about it. I'm not the stupid cop. But even if I didn't know him, I'd still believe him. There's too many clues to ignore. Let's analyze it.

First of all, the guy doesn't have his ID. If he's staying at a hotel, he's clearly far enough away from home that he can't go home to spend the night. And if you're going that far, you've already planned it out that far enough in advance to bring your ID. Who is stupid enough to leave their house for that long, to go that distance, and not bring an ID?

Second, there's the way that the guy described how the order fell on my dad. If the order was on the ground and my dad picked it up, there's no way the order would have fallen on his shirt. Think about it. My dad bends down to pick it up, meaning his torso is ABOVE the order. So that means that the order was taken off the guy's hands. But if he's using his hands to sign the thing, how can he hold the order, which requires 2 hands to hold?

And then if the order falls on my dad's front, that means there was some sort of struggle for it. There's no way my dad's hands slipped and it just fell on him, because he's been doing stuff like this for FIVE years at the current restaurant, and working like this has been his career since forever. Besides, it's not something that slips easily. Believe me.

Also, if my dad just had it slip, the order would have fallen straight down, onto his pants, not his shirt. For an order to move horizontally onto the shirt (because bigger orders like that requires the order to be held two-handedly at stomach level), there needs to be momentum. Duh! So if there was a struggle for it, then that means the guy was trying to keep the order, which means it's HIS fault. Right?

And then lastly, there's the "Pay the other guy the $40 if the transaction goes through" thing. Why should we have to pay it? If the card legally belonged to that man, he can give the credit card company a call, explain his situation, and they will cancel the transaction and he loses no money at all.

If we are in a situation where the transaction goes through, and we have to pay, then that means the guy didn't cancel it. Why wouldn't you cancel a transaction when you didn't get the goods? Because you're stupid or you can't, because the card doesn't belong to you (Which explains the no ID thing).

Now, if a fifteen year old kid can spot so many holes, you gotta know something's up. How can the cop be that stupid as to not think of it? Granted, he wasn't as passionate. But it's his job to think about things other than donuts. Seriously, cops should have an IQ test before they're allowed into the force.

If it turns out we have to pay that $40, I'm personally going down there to talk to the cops to straighten some things out.

Little Things In Life

2009-07-29T09:31:00.003-05:00

I just got back from a morning run. I've been meaning to go out running every day now, but I've only been able to make myself get up 4 times in three weeks...

But after my run, and I was walking to cool down, I passed by a lady walking her dog and we began talking. She had noticed me running before and asked if I was today too. The conversation was very pleasant, and I think it's these little things in life that keep us going.

When your life seems boring, go out and meet some people. A good way to do that is through sports or other common interests. It's not always about doing incredible things, but rather about meeting the normal people and getting to know them. Little surprises in life like that conversation I had is why we live. Or that's just what I think.

Anyways, the lady looked like she was in her late 20's, and she also said that she had just graduated nurse school, so I'd say she's around there. I wonder if she realizes I'm fifteen... Recently, older women seem to think I'm a lot older than I am. I sure as heck feel like it. Fifteen sounds so young, but when I talk to older people, I feel like I can hold an equal conversation with them. I wonder if they'd talk to me the same way if they knew I was so young?

-Gary M.

Jews Being Racist?

2009-07-24T14:03:00.002-05:00

BBC has an interesting article here about reports that Israel is being unfair towards Israeli Arabs.

What's interesting is that Israel was born out of the need for a Jewish homeland after WWII. There had been too much racism towards Jews and they took (some would call it stealing) land and turned it into the Jewish homeland we now call Israel.

Some Arabs living in that area decided not to leave, and now, they face discrimination from the Jewish government. Their towns have been surrounded by military bases and industrial zones, so there are no places for Arab towns to expand. An Israeli government commission admits it as well.

But the government does nothing to help. Land was taken from Arabs after it was declared "deserted", but how could it be deserted if there were Arabs living there? The Arabs were pushed onto other lands, but their houses are illegal because the government won't give them permits. But when it comes to Jews, permits seem to fly out of the government.

Israel's Housing Minister, Ariel Atias, even calls for Jews and Arabs to live separately. This is starting to sound a lot like racial discrimination... But guess what? No new towns have been built for Arabs since 1948, and Arabs make up 20% of the population. But they only live on 3% of Israel's land. What's with that??

I admit that Jews were attacked aggressively in the past, and there needed to be a permanent solution to it. Yes, they stole the land. You can argue it, but they stole it. If it wasn't their land, and they carved out a huge chunk to turn into a nation, it's stealing. But perhaps it was the best solution. Perhaps it was the only solution. Jews needed their own homeland so they could avoid the prosecution they've faced over the centuries.

But when a group of people have been discriminated against, what gives them the right to discriminate against others? Have they not learned anything? Have the Jews not learned what it must feel like to be attacked just because of your ethinicity or your religious beliefs?

I used to respect Israel. Even when they invaded the Gaza Strip and began laying waste, I respected them. I thought that they were right to fight Hamas for constantly shooting missiles at Israel. But now that reports come up showing Israel's recklessness, it is hard to defend them. They have done so many wrong things recently, and they need to admit it.

-Gary M.

Little Chinese Workers...

2009-07-21T17:13:00.003-05:00

Some lady ordered at my parents' restaurant the other day, and then later, she leaned her head forward and whispered to my mom, "That little girl doesn't do the cooking, does she??" referring to my TEN year old sister. That made me mad. What is this? Just because she's Chinese we're going to make her work?? What we were white huh? Then maybe the lady would have assumed my sister was just visiting. But it was because we're Chinese...

Alright, I think that 4 posts in one day is too much. I'll stop posting for today... But damn, that was so maddening!

-Gary M.

McDonalds and Burger King Make Me Mad...

2009-07-21T17:09:00.003-05:00

I gotta post this before the anger wears away...

At the fair, I got two coupons for a free Happy Meal at McDonalds. My friends got some coupons too. So we all decided to walk to McDonalds and you know what happened? The lady at the register told us that they can't accept the coupons because only kids 12 and under can use it. But the coupons don't even say that!!

And then I had some coupons for some free stuff at Burger King too. I walked all the way over there yesterday, and then they rejected me too by saying that they could only be used in the mornings. This one was semi-reasonable, because Croissant Wiches are only sold in the morning, but hey, they should still have that on the coupon. It isn't up for me, the customer, to wonder when the coupons might work.

I guess Burger King could be excused... But McDonalds was wrong for not putting that 12 and under thing on their coupon. And there wasn't even a phone number for me to call to complain to! I ended up giving the coupons to my little sister. =/

-Gary M.

Chinatown Summer Fair

2009-07-21T17:00:00.003-05:00

The Chinatown Summer Fair was two days ago, and it was lots of fun. Every year, it's the same. There's a whole street lined up with stalls selling bootlegged merchandise (come on, Gucci bags aren't supposed to go for $10...) and a HUUUGE bunch of tourists walking around. Combine that with the fact that they almost always choose the hottest day (I swear it's intentional. It has to be...) and you'll be wondering why anyone bothers to go at all.

But there's always a few things about the Chinatown Summer Fair that pulls me back. There's the McDonald's stand where they hand out free stuff, there's the restaurants, there's the activities, and then there's the friends. I would never go to the Summer Fair if none of my friends went. But when you're with your friends, you can turn nothing into something. I'd have to say that even though we didn't do that much, Sunday was one of the highlights of my summer.

It's not the material things that matter, but things like friends. More people should stop spending their days at home playing video games, but go back to the days when summer nights were spent outside, playing games like Red Light, Green Light.

-Gary M.

Chinese People Are Perverted!

2009-07-21T16:54:00.004-05:00

I haven't posted anything for a while now, but that's because I've been so busy! I was at my cousin's wedding the other day, and it was the first time I was at a wedding for about 5 years... What I never noticed back then was how perverted Chinese people are.

I was just a kid when I went to my uncle's wedding, so I didn't understand anything. I was only 10 at my other cousin's (that was my last wedding until the recent one) wedding, and I didn't pay attention then either. But now that I'm older, I notice that Chinese people are dirty as heck!

According to the lady doing all the announcing, Chinese people used to have arranged marriages, so at the wedding, they would play "doot games" (she was trying to bleep it) so that when they had "S-E-X" (man, she was hilarious!), they wouldn't be so awkward.

They did that traditional "put eggs in his pants and get it to the other side by going through his crotch area" game, and then a few more. I even joined in on two! One of them involved a cup strapped to my waist, with a string taped to the cup and a tangerine taped to the end of the string. I had to get it into the cup... without using hands. We had to do pelvic thrusts...

Haha, I made a fool of myself in front of 20 tables full of people (my parents were there...!) but it was worth it! Chinese people are so perverted. =p

-Gary M.

Chinese People Have Too Much Pride

2009-07-14T21:19:00.003-05:00

I got my phone and laptop back yesterday. My dad had argued on my behalf and the next morning, she told me that I'd get my stuff back.

But of course, she had too much pride to admit that I was right, so she made me show some pictures from Facebook. I let her look at 4 or 5, and I take my laptop back, and she doesn't say anything about it again.

Man, why are Chinese people like that? Why can't they just admit that sometimes, I show more sense than they do? But no, Chinese people will never admit that they are wrong. They'll do anything they can to avoid admitting. It's that pride that we have. And I'm proud of it too.

-Gary M.

If you have Chinese Parents Owning a Chinese Restuarant

2009-07-13T01:22:00.002-05:00

If you are chinese and your dad or mom owns/manages a chinese reautrant, you are like super, super lucky if you don't need to work there.

Every summer since 5th grade, i have been working at my dad's restaurant for 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, no break. I don't even get paid. Even if i get 5$ an hour, i would have like a few grand right now.

This sucks. I keep getting yelled at by my dad if I do something wrong. he yells at me for being slow (literally, not mentally). It's cuz imma so effing tired. I get 6 hours of sleep every night now! Dx

Every night when i come home, i need to catch up with my social life on facebook and AIM and such. i go to sleep at 2 and wake up at 8. it's pretty brutal!

-HaoX-

I Hate My Parents

2009-07-12T13:50:00.004-05:00

God, I swear that as soon as I am 18 and can support myself financially, I am leaving the house. I hate my mom so much at times. I won't intentionally try to start anything, but at times, she can be the most annoying person in the world and I would give anything to leave now.

I was washing the dishes yesterday, and my mom comes home, and then she starts trying to use my laptop. Now, she doesn't know how to use a computer, so I wasn't so worried. But then, I remember that my laptop was open to a Facebook page of a wall-to-wall conversation with a friend... She begins clicking around randomly and manages to get into Pictures of Me.

I quickly run upstairs and close the page, because what's worse than your mom looking at your personal stuff? But she threatens to take away my laptop if I don't open it up, and I decide that since I have nothing inappropriate up there, there's no harm showing her.

So she begins browsing through my pictures, and begins admonishing me. Uh-oh. I had forgotten that my idea of inappropriate isn't the same has her idea of inappropriate... I close the window again, and she begins yelling at me. Then she takes my phone! Of course I'm not going to let her take it without a fight, so an argument starts. My dad had been showering when this was happening, and I guess he didn't want to put up with it, so he was upstairs pretending to fix something...

After a while, I'm just ignoring her and she's still yelling at me, and my dad finally has to come down. He has this stressed, angry look on his face and asks what's wrong. I explain it to him, and he stands there thinking. I can tell he thinks this is ridiculous and that I should show my mom the pictures if she wants to see them, but he also thinks my mom is stupid for arguing over something so small. In the end, he decides he'd rather go blowdry his hair than talk about it.

My argument to my mom is that I have my own life and that if I wanted her to know about it, I'd bring her along whenever I went out. But she says that it's not even about the pictures anymore, but that I'm too stubborn. What the fuck? Too stubborn? Well, it takes two stubborn people for an argument to work. But noooooooo, she can can call me stubborn, but I can't call her that. And I know she's lying about it not being the pictures because she won't shut up about it!

So right now, she has my phone and the laptop is still lying on the couch. She had taken my phone when I wasn't looking, and there's no way I was going to let her take my laptop. When she tried, I just stood up and told her that she wasn't going to take it. Well, she didn't take it, but she said I couldn't use it either. For fear of making my dad angrier (he's hard to anger, but when he gets angry... let's just say that I wouldn't want to get in his way, even with a height advantage), I decided that I won't irritate her further today. I'll keep demanding it, and I know I'll get it in the end. But I won't let her win.

She claims that I don't listen to her now. And that's true, because I've decided I'd rather listen to reason than mindless orders. And the shit that comes out of her mouth is not 'reason'.

-Gary M.

Hey guys!

2009-07-11T23:07:00.001-05:00

Hey guys, Imma new here. :]

~HaoX~

DEATH BERRIES!!

2009-07-11T12:47:00.005-05:00

So I'm on the computer talking to stupid big head gary. And my little sister Karen shouts "OPEN THE DOOR!" I'm like Ok, I walk up to the door and shes there holding up black berries. I'm like "Where did you get these?" She replies, "Outside, from a bush. Eat some!" What am I, a hamster? Those berries could be poisonous!!! I squished the berry and yellow seeds started squirting out and it was so gross... I washed my hands and now they smell like milk. Damn Black Milk Berries. Those berries aren't even ours. They are our neighbor's but it just so happens to be on our property and they aren't even tending to them. So basically its a weed, kinda. My sister is now complaining on how her fingers are black and they smell. Well duh its the death berries. Its her fault. You shouldn't eat random things in the garden.. Which reminds me, theres fungus growing in our front yard. It looks like "LingZhi" which is this asian herbal mushroom thats really expensive and healthy.. My parents are like "We're soo lucky!! It looks like LingZhi! We should eat it or sell it!!"

Now we are eating berries.. Oh dear.

Yesterday I went to YTF, Young Teen Fellowship?? I met some new friends like Karen Lee (her older sister is named Michelle. WTF) and some old friends like Mr. Woo. Preston! It's been soo long too. I haven't seen him in 4 years or so. His reaction was like "WOAH, you're Michelle?? You're soo tall now!!" He helped me out a lot in the summer of 5th or 6th grade in math which kinda helped me in the test for WY. haha Lucky me. Anyways I learned how to ride a RipStik in half an hour. Yes I am bragging. They are sooo cool though!! They come in 4 colors and I want a green or hot pink one. Too bad they are $69-$129 dollars. :( All the little asian kids wanted to ride it.. And I couldn't help but say yes. They were soo good at it!! I then found out that they have one of their own at home. But they just wanted to show off at YTF. But thats ok :D I also found out Mr. Set got married! Congrats to him. We ate watermelon, hamburgers, hotdogs, chips, cookies, and fruit punch. I will definetly come back to YTF because theres a talent show! I might just recite Pi to be stupid or something haha!! Next week however, I have a Startalk end of the program performance so I can't make it to the next YTF meeting. Oh wellers. Ivan and I will be singing Ai De Zhu Xuan Lu. Its really great to meet new people and learn new things. It makes summer less boring and meaningless.

This morning I also started playing Mybrute. Its a pretty fun and addicting game! Try it! I even made Gary start playing it for a while.

http://nicolex33.mybrute.com

I named this character after my baby sister.

Well I wanna play tennis later. Hopefully my mom can drive me :]

See youu!!

-Michelle Z.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDBpQVhCMb8

i love this song.

i want it played on my wedding.

GARY AND BRIAN AND JOHNNY should play it..

"When we slide together we generate sparks.. in our wheels and our hearts.."

The Quirks of Job Hunting

2009-07-09T18:22:00.003-05:00

I've been interested in finding a job for a while now. There's this site that I really want to set up, but for it to be successful, I need a lot of money to start it up. Anyways, I've been searching online for a bit and most job postings are really... quirky.

The first thing that caught my attention is the sheer number of companies or restaurants looking for managers. When you think about the regular worker to manager ratio, shouldn't there be more postings looking for manual labor workers?? I have to skip so many of the job postings simply because I have no experience (but I learn fast. Too bad people still won't accept me) to be a manager, and even if I did, who would like having a 15 year old kid bossing people around?

And that's another thing. There are a couple jobs that ask if I can legally work in America. That makes me hesitate a little bit. I'm not an illegal immigrant or anything, and in America, as long as you have a worker's permit or you are of age, you can legally work.

But the thing is, to get a worker's permit, you need to have a Letter of Intent to Hire from an employer. So unless I get the job, I can't get the worker's permit. And until I get the worker's permit, I can't (technically) legally work. So if I checked 'No', I don't get the job or worker's permit. But if I check 'Yes', that's basically lying...

Can you guys see the problems I face trying to find a job?? I'd go find a job in Chinatown if I had to, but my Chinese is pretty broken up, so I might not even get accepted there!

-Gary M.

So... Japanese People Aren't Asian?

2009-07-08T12:37:00.003-05:00

That's what one retard basically thinks. I found a site today that sells guitars and the guy who runs it also has a whole bunch of rants on guitar related things. One of them is Japanese and Asian Guitars and when I saw that, I immediately knew the guy was a retard. He hates Gibson guitars (which I love!) but hey, that's his opinion (and it is valid in many cases...) but what bothered me was his stereotypical view of Asians.

First of all, Japanese people are Asian, so yeah... someone needs to take a look at the map occasionally.

Second, he wrote "Our children will be working in factories mass producing teen age ninja mutant turtle lunchboxes. Our children will be eating rice & raw fish heads...."...

Ok, how many politically incorrect things did he just say in two sentences? There's the working in factory thing... implying that all Asians do is work in sweatshops. That's not true, because Asians are extremely smart (I think 48% of us get a Bachelor's Degree... compared with the national average of like 20 something) and we invent so many of the things the world uses today.

Then there's the eating rice and raw fish heads statement. Yeah, I admit we eat a lot of rice. But what's wrong with that?? He's acting like rice is bad or something. And raw fish heads? There's raw fish in sushi, but that doesn't mean we eat raw fish often (and we don't) and we aren't so primitive as to eat fish heads... The mere thought of it grosses me out.

The whole article was about how people should "Buy American!!!" instead of "giving credibility to Asian guitars etc". What's wrong with Asian merchandise? I say, if something superior can be found for cheaper, BUY IT! That keeps the market competitive, which is the whole idea of American capitalism anyways. Buying only American just for the sake of American brinks dangerously on the edge of Communism, which negates the whole American patriotic feeling.

The guy who wrote that article is a retard and while he may be better at guitar than me (he'd better be, to repair guitars), he doesn't seem to be able to think too much.

Note: Some Asians do eat fish heads... But not how you think they do. It's more like sucking the meat out (that still grosses me out... but I'm ABC!) and not actually consuming the head.

-Gary M.

Cheating At Life

2009-07-07T23:46:00.004-05:00

Mmm, nothing beats ice cream on a hot summer day! I saw a huge jug in the freezer today, and immediately scooped some for myself.

But whenever I get ice cream, I get a nice, decent amount in a bowl (cones annoy me with the slow loading time and small amount they can hold) and then I scoop some and eat it straight from the ice cream scooper (or whatever it's called...) because somehow, it feels like I'm eating less ice cream than I really am. Putting that extra scoop in the bowl makes it feel like I'm eating more. It's my little way of cheating.

By the way, it turned out that that ice cream wasn't for me. It was my uncle's ice cream...

-Gary M.

Just a trend?

2009-07-07T21:19:00.004-05:00

I am so out of it today. I haven't been paying attention in class and I haven't been myself lately. I feel sad. I feel depressed. Its some reason I'm not quite sure yet. I feel like I'm missing out on something. Maybe the real reason is that avocado I ate. You know the movie "Super Size Me" and the guy felt really depressed for no reason and eating McDonalds made him feel better? That is sort of how I feel. Yet the past week I haven't been eating. At least not too much. I usually eat 1 or 2 bowls of rice. But this whole week, I've only been eating 1/4 of a bowl. My parents have been wondering why I'm eating so little am home. My excuse was that I ate a lot at school and I wasn't hungry. Which is true, but at night I get these PANGS between my rib cage. Then I run downstairs and chow down on some shrimp ramen or some leftover ricebox to feel better. I know this isn't healthy and I know it will result to an "unbalanced diet" or even an eating disorder but just so you know, I'm very secure about my weight and body. But why do I still feel so sad. Theres nothing dramatic going on either.. This is so silly and stupid. I also haven't been sleeping. I've been going to sleep at around 12 or 1am. I usually sleep at 10! I wake up so exhausted in the morning.. Luckily my alarm isn't one of those really loud, scary ones. Anyways, whats wrong with me?! I feel really sad. I'm not even sure why. Is it just the teenage trend? I hope it isn't long term. Bye.

-Michelle Z.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1HAazRvDP4

Replay - Shinee

Michael Jackson's daughter made me cry when she said "I love you"

Watch itt.

A World Apart

2009-07-07T00:21:00.003-05:00

As technology advances, the world gets smaller, and the people grow further apart. The invention of the cellphone, television, and Internet have allowed people to get information so much faster, but the amount of face to face conversation also decreases.

Two weeks ago, I was at a cousin's house. We had had a small conversation going on in Facebook, and she decided to reply to me on Facebook... while I was in the same room as her, no more than 7 feet away.

I worry about what the future will be like, when technology renders actual talking obsolete.

-Gary M.

Asian Eyes Are Good

2009-07-05T22:35:00.003-05:00

Yesterday was the best July 4th ever. The weather was horrible, but by night, it started getting better. The rain had stopped, and we got the grill out. But even with lighter fluid and charcoal, our fire kept dying. My dad and uncles came out and used some old method and got the fire going.

And with that, the celebrations started! Man, there's nothing better than food you cook yourself. We spent at least an hour just cooking and eating and yelling at retards who were playing with fireworks. I mean, if you're in a field of rocks, why would you choose to put the fireworks next to the few plants there? It's not rocket science, kids.

I didn't think our family bought fireworks this year, but it turns out my cousin's husband had a whole box full and my cousin (Brian) and I wasted no time in lighting them up. We put a Killer Bee and a Saturn Missile next to each other, and the combination was amazing. We did it again, and this time, the Saturn Missiles (I lit them...) began shooting sideways towards Brian.

I screamed at him to run, but he clutches his face all of a sudden and stumbles behind a car. We rush inside, and he begins washing his face with cold water as I go and get the ice.

The Saturn Missile had just missed his eye and hit the part under it. There was a very noticeable mark, and if his eyes were anything but Asian, he might have gotten hit in the eye.

Ironic thing: When we were BBQing, I turned around to look at fireworks and a small part (hot too!) fell out of the sky and went in my eye. My left eye, and it was his left eye that got hit.

-Gary M.

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: ACCOMPLISHED

2009-07-05T17:34:00.003-05:00

WHOA!

Today, we (yeah, all three of us) were at a friend's house for a birthday party/bbq and we went to play Ultimate Frisbee. Me being the smart one threw it too high and it went to the neighbor's yard. There was a VICIOUS dog on the other side, and we were all like "CRAP!". None of us knew what to do, but MICHELLE said that we should feed it bacon! For some strange reason, our friend had bacon at his bbq....and I was like HEY GET BACON!!!

Our friend went to get the bacon, and we fed all of it to the dog. It stopped barking and kept eating. Everyone was crowding around the gate and was giving the dog all the attention. Brian, my crazy cousin, went out and said "I'm gonna go get it!". He was already hurt, and Gary said not to go. Brian went anyways, and our friend came back with more food. They (actually, they as in one of our friends Bianca was the one who was feeding the dog) kept feeding him, and I decided to jump after him. I went before Brian could to get the firsbee. I got it, and ran back!!! :O

Everyone was like "WHOA!" I got a bunch of high fives because I saved frisbee from an angry hungry dog!

I SAVED THE DAY! :]
No, seriously. No one believed we would get it back. Hahaha.

"That was totally badass" - Michelle

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE, ACCOMPLISHED!
Jeikei

The Gift of Dreams

2009-07-04T18:19:00.011-05:00

I realized I'm the happiest when I first wake up in the morning. Despite the alarm, nightmare, mom's yelling, sisters' screaming, or the day ahead. Other than that waking up is awesome. I love starting a new day because I can forget the things the day before. I can't even remember what happened yesterday after a good night's rest. Meaning I'm the most nicest person in the morning. Daily events just push my ego down and leave me self concious. I wonder if it happens to everyone else. Like if I say something that leaves someone thinking about it the whole day. Of course the person who said it wouldn't know it ment so much to that person. Does this happen to any of you guys?

[Back to dreams] Don't you just like being ruler of this small world in your head? Being omniprescient and having all this power? I wonder how the brain comes up with dreams. Sometimes they relate to real life, like an event that happened and sometimes they have nothing to do with anything. Just pure randomness.

Just a few days ago (June 30, 2009) I had this dream about Anna and I talking outside and then you know who* stalked us. So I was like "Anna lets go inside." We went inside this hospital school thing. I told Anna I had to go to the bathroom and when I opened the door, 2 girls I know in real life (anomy.) were fighting. One was trying to drug the other because the other girl killed her sister. So I was like "Oh shit." I was at the wrong place at the wrong time. One of the girls said "If you go out that door, I'll kill you too." Then I forgot what happened next xD. I remember feeling really sad afterwards because another person died. Either I killed her or the other girl did. I have no idea. I was walking to Anna, for some reason I knew she was in THAT certain classroom (omniprescient powers). I walked in the middle of the hallway, I saw Chris and Stephanie pass by just back from prom. I waved hello and behind them was him. (anomy, lets call him S though) I was crying still and he was there to comfort me. He hugged me and let me cry on his shoulders. He kept repeating the words "Its okay, everything will be alright." THEN I WOKE UP at the sound of my mom's voice.

Then throughout the week, the people from my dream contacted me in real life unexpectedly. Of course I saw Anna but Stephanie also contacted me through Facebook and S appeared in real life 2 days in a row. My knight in shining armor.. Maybe they were all just a coincidence. Do you think dreams can predict the future? I also learned how to palm read yesterday! Anyways, last week was just really weird. I was kinda depressed but I feel all better now! (No i will not tell u why. Has to do with *) It feels like my dreams are trying to tell me to turn a new leaf on that exact day. How ironic. I believe it means I should be a better person, forget about the past, and pursue the new guy (S). I'm sure a big dreamer.

In conclusion, dreams are really special.. ♥

On another note, what do you get a guy for his birthday? Don't ask me. Tomorrow is Henry's Birthday Party and I have no idea what to give him. Its really difficult to find a present for someone because everything has meaning. For instance I can't give flowers or chocolate which I give to girls because else it means like love and shit. I can't get him YugiOh Cards or a Toy Truck because he's not a little boy anymore.. Or is he? Lastly, I can't even go outside to buy him a present. One its raining, two there are explosives everywhere, and three I don't even have that much money. I spent 30 dollars on my other friend's birthday present leaving me almost none for this one. I practically gave away all my birthday money back to the people xD! Oh the circle of presents... I want to like ask someone to buy a present and let me pay for half of it instead but almost no one else is giving him a REAL present. And I believe HongBaos (Red Envelopes) aren't personal enough. I didn't even know who gave me the hongbaos on my birthday.. So why should I repeat the same mistake. Its also really rude to demand a present.. Then again its also polite to give one. So what should I do? Arrive there with nothing? Should I just not go to escape being called rude? The host should just be polite and say "You don't need to get me a present, I just want you to come and celebrate my birthday with me." Then again I owe him for pitching in and getting me that tennis racket. Ahhhh what to do.. Someone help me. I don't wanna miss an awesome party with all my friends!! Sigh, lets just wait til tomorrow.. OH WAIT I HAVE AN IDEA. Maybe I can get him a late birthday gift? But I usually end up forgeting.. haha. The most difficult thing to do when getting ready for a party is buying the present.. Is just being there enough?

:'(

-Michelle Z.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBErRlk-upk

Two Worlds Collide

A Day of Disappointments

2009-07-03T19:18:00.006-05:00

Hey! It's Michelle again. This is a very girly week... So sorry if anything I say is uninteresting..

So I totally did not get enough sleep last night. I woke up at 1:00am because I felt extremely hungry and my stomach was hurting. So I ran downstairs and ate the cold rice box on the table. Then I was like "Oh my gosh I needa go to the bathroom." Yeah, it was a really long night of pain and sleepless-ness. (?)

In the morning, my dad woke up at 7:30am to garden and water the plants which everyone stepped on on the day of my birthday party. Which sucked cause he had to replant them. Boy was he mad. Anyways he woke up at 7:30am which made me wake up because he was really loud. So at that time I thought it was 8:30 am because I wasn't wearing my glasses so I couldn't read the time clearly. And I only slept a few hours. Since I thought it was 8:30am, I ran to the bathroom to brush my teeth and stuff. When I got back to my room, I put on my glasses and I saw it was only 7:45am. I missed an hour of sleep!!

At 8:30am we drove to Chinatown. My dad and I had breakfast and I was like "Eat more dad, you're too skinny!" He rebounded by saying "No you're just too fat." I was like "Oh my god. YOU'RE MY DAD. HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT?!" He said he was only kidding afterwards. Man my dad almost never makes jokes like that. Or was it a joke? I remember one time he did a dance behind my mom's back next to the refridgerator. It was soo retarded that I laughed really hard.. on the floor. Back to the story, we took the train to Monroe and I went shopping afterwards. I ran straight to Forever 21 to look for Xindi's Strawberry Necklace and it was all sold out. I searched for it for a good 15 minutes. The lady had to tell me the sad truth.. I then walked around for about an hour because no other stores were open at 9:00am. I wanted a lot of things today. Either it was too expensive or it was junk.

Finally it was 10 o'clock and Wet Seal was open. YES!! I wanted to get a couple more tops but when I got there this gay guy was like "No, the sale ended. The prices are back to normal." I'm like.. "What the heck. It was buy one get one for a cent few days ago and online they were even cheaper! But how did they go up?" in my head of course. I also wanted this dress-like top in the window because it was a size small but the girl was like "No, we'll take it down tomorrow for you if you want.." But I thought it would be too much of a bother. The security guard also kept eyeing me because he was afraid I was going to steal. It was so uncomfortable to shop when he was watching too! I think its because I walked in and out of the store several times. I am so indecisive today..

So I was disappointed. I even dreamt about going shopping last night and getting everything I wanted. Yet, it had to suck. So I ran back and forth between Wet Seal, Forever 21, Old Navy, Charlotte Rosse, Urban Outfitters, Payless, and New York and Co. Yes it took a very long time. AND THE SHOES I WANTED WERE A SIZE TOO SMALL. In the end, I bought 2 things at Forever 21. Even then I wasn't satisfied because the items were 10 dollars and the total was 30 dollars. So tax and other unknown fees were like 10 dollars! So this morning basically blows. My legs are tired from yesterday and today.. And I didn't really get anything I wanted. Such a materialistic blog. Sorry, I hope to give you some love advice or contradict Gary and Johnny sometime ;)

After all the fuss, I went to Dominicks and bought Daisy a dozen roses and a fruit cheesecake. Yumm. Then I went to her house to hang out. Her drawing tablet is pretty fun :D! I hope to relax more tomorrow. Like play tennis or go to a party or something.. AND I AM FINALLY HOME ALONE!! I love only being able to hear my own voice, the clock, and the fishtank. Have a good one.

-Michelle Z.

Awake-Secondhand Serenade

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TlEj-aBuiI

You Speak Real Good English!

2009-07-02T23:47:00.003-05:00

Wow, today really sucked. Woke up this morning and my mom was complaining about back pains and a headache, so I had to go up to the restaurant to help out. I was supposed to go to the Taste with some friends. It was something I was waiting a long time for, and I had to work instead. Well, I missed out on a lot, but here's what I did today:

Some nice guy tipped me $2. No one tips anymore!! Even for delivery guys. Man, that's pretty harsh, because a lot of people make their money from tips. And when people do tip, it's like a dollar... Cheap punks.

My uncle (let's call him Uncle #3) got yelled at a lot today... He's new to the job, and my dad and Uncle #1 were just criticizing him at every turn. I felt really bad for him because he was a real nice guy and to have his spirit crushed is harsh.

And at night, some lady was talking to my mom, and then she asked me something and when I replied, she said "Wow, you speak real good English! Good job!". What the freak... Just cause I'm Chinese I can't speak English?? And to make it worse, she then asked me what part of China I came from. Some people are just retarded...

There was also a question troubling me the whole time... If the Autobots keep getting the metal knocked out of them (Prime spit out something when he got kicked in the head. Like when people spit out teeth?), how do they regrow it?? Do metal parts just... spring (pardon the pun!) out??

Wow, when I was at the restaurant, I actually had a LOT more to write. But I don't seem to be in a writing mood at the moment, so that kind of explains the... erratic-ness of this post? Well, I'm going to sleep. Going to (hopefully) go to the Taste tomorrow.

-Gary M.

Sexy Adventures at the Taste of Chicago ツ

2009-07-02T20:16:00.010-05:00

Heyy!! Well I'm new here. My name is Michelle and I am going to start blogging.. I am the same age as Johnny and Gary and hopefully I will make fun of them on the site :) So please welcome me and I hope you enjoy my entrys. And no haha I did not pay for the site.

Anyways, today after school, I met up with my friend Audrey at the University of Chicago Quad. We went to the basement and bought some awesome Izzes. She got Peach and I got Grapefruit. They were soo cheap there, $1.75! Its basically Sparkling Juice that don't suck. Well that sounded funny. Buy some and try it!

So we walked to the bus which was like one mile away from campus. When we got there, we saw Jeanne and all the other Startalk students. Everyone who said they were going ditched us to go home because they were afraid of a little rain or something just came up.. So the only people going was like Brian & Johnny to our understanding. It was quite difficult to meet up with everyone. Me and Audrey got a lot of free stuff like toothpaste, beach balls, FREE TICKETS*, and some free food. First person we saw that we recognized was Xindi. She was there with Sherry. First thing I said was "Why are you here?" It so happens that Sherry lied to Gary about them not going to be there. I laughed. Xindi and I talked about the Taste and she was wearing this cute strawberry necklace.. I wanted it!! Xindi also got me a birthday present but she didn't have it with her.. Her necklace looks like this.. And these are the shoes I'm trying to save up my money for.. I put these pictures to take up space :D

Boy do I feel girly.

Back to the story, Audrey and I met up with the group and we all just went around. Jeanne's sister and Brian's brother were able to give us some free Chinese food because they worked at one of the stands. I don't know why but I kept talking about Jimmy's facial hair and his looks. Sorry if I offended you Jimmy!! I was only joking :( Brian received a beach ball from the T-Mobile booth because he showed them that his phone was T-Mobile. *I went there and they were giving out beach balls AND free tickets if we were 18. Clever Audrey gave us all the idea to use our University Card as "proof" that we were 18 year old college students. So they believed us and gave each of us basically 10 dollars for having a T-Mobile plan. Finally.. this expensive company pays off. By the way, I was only able to buy Chips and Guac with those 12 tickets.. The food there is soo damn expensive. Afterwards we decided to go see Transformers at 6:00. I called my parents and they were ok with it. But I felt kinda dizzy and tired after some long walking and it would take like 30 minutes to walk to River East anyways. (We missed 15 minutes of the movie too) So I decided to bail out and just go home. Brian and Johnny tried dragging me there :P So Audrey used her pepper spray to defend my honor!!!

Anyways, today was a great day. I won a Chinese Contest, watched KungFu Panda, and learned some really cool Tai Chi moves involving pressure points and joint locks. This week will be hectic for me. Tomorrow - Daisy's house. Saturday - Shopping or Tennis. Sunday - Henry's Birthday Party. So I might not be posting too much. Someone buy me everything in the pictures :(!!! Well thanks for reading and I'm sorry if I bored you. It's my first time and I will do better the next blog. Stay tuned!

-Michelle Z.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8vulCY0GD4

Edelen - Replay (english version)

Her voice is really sweet sounding.

Comments Don't Work

2009-07-01T22:12:00.002-05:00

By the way, someone noticed that the comments button doesn't work on this template. So you can't post any comments until (or more like if) I figure out how to fix the problem. Sorry!

-Gary M.

Fox Fever

2009-07-01T21:57:00.003-05:00

Now that Revenge of the Fallen's out, there's no doubt that Fox Fever is going up again. Who can resist Megan Fox?? She enthralled millions of men in Transformers, and I'm no exception to that.

Anyways, I saw this and I'm so jealous of that kid! He'll get to find her one day, and she'll personally apologize to him and probably give him a souvenir too. What I wouldn't give to meet Megan Fox... It put me in a depressing mood today (haha, I'm not serious about that) and it was made even worse when I found out she was single (that should be a good thing) but she likes this Korean singer named Rain!

I thought that my chance had finally come, and then Rain rains on my parade (pun intended!).

But yeah, I realized that almost every man who has a crush on Megan Fox has no idea what kind of person she is. Everything we know about her is from movies, and that means that we are shallow people that are interested only in looks. Hmm, I believe that the inside matters more than the outside, but I would still give anything to date Megan Fox. If that makes me shallow, so be it.

-Gary M.

Don't Ask, Don't Tell

2009-07-01T18:42:00.003-05:00

That's the U.S. military's policy towards gay people. They don't ask about sexual orientation, and the soldiers aren't supposed to tell. Lt. Dan Choi did just that and he was kicked out of the army. Angry Asian Man (a blog) had a post about it, and while it didn't really take a stance on the issue, it got me to think about the whole thing more.

Now, I'm not against gay people at all. Far from that. I think the world is a bit retarded if it can't stand the thought of lovers just getting together. But maybe the military has a point in expelling soldiers that openly come out.

The military is composed mostly of men. Meaning that men probably sleep and change in the same room together. There's nothing weird about that, because no one gives a second thought about it. Unless they were gay. What if you had to change in front of someone you knew was gay? Wouldn't it bother you to know that they could be checking you out while you were naked?

I know that discrimination based on orientation is not the right answer, but something has to be done about it. There is a problem, and instead of kicking people out of the army, maybe we should be thinking about how to solve it.

-Gary M.

Partner Blogger: Jeikei

2009-07-01T18:41:00.002-05:00

Hey everyone! Or as the Chinese say, 大家好！I'm Johnny, and I'll be blogging with Gary too. I have a lot in common with him. ABC, living live in America from the Asian perspective. I won't be blogging as much as he will since I have school still (not the bad kind of summer school, lol) and it's definitely keeping me busy.

Unlike Gary, however, I'm native to Cantonese, although I've forgotten so much of it, I consider it broken Cantonese.

I'll put up a post every other day or so when I have time, but towards the end of July I should be posting daily.

Talk to you guys soon!

-Jeikei

Blogger's Shortcomings

2009-07-01T13:49:00.003-05:00

You guys might have noticed the template change to Creative Art (it used to be Welcome Autumn). I really liked Welcome Autumn, but the images just wouldn't load properly so I had to move to Creative Art. That's not to say that Creative Art doesn't have problems either.

I had to go through the CSS and edit it so that the Archive, Contact Us, and About links at the top would point to the right place. Then I had to create pages for those three, and find a way to fix the "Posted on undefined undefinied" problem. I fixed it to show the date, but it can't show the time I posted it at now.

And for the Flickr photostream at the very bottom, I still haven't made it show my own photos yet. I might eventually get rid of that part if I can't make it show my photos without having me update it all the time.

This template annoyed me a lot, but it was also one of the best ones (by that, I mean it looks the best) out there for Blogger. If only Blogger had all of Wordpress's features. I mean, there is a reason I still stick with Blogger, but I'd love it more if Blogger were as efficient as Wordpress. You'd think that for all the power that the Google empire holds, they might be able to surpass Wordpress.

-Gary M.

Transformers Is Never Bad

2009-06-30T20:28:00.004-05:00

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen has got to be the hottest movie out at the moment. The first one was incredible, and I've been waiting a long time for the second one to come out. But it was pretty disappointing to read that Revenge of the Fallen got negative reviews from critics.

But today, I saw a sample of a copy of it (totally legit of course... But I'm going to see it on Thursday anyways, so it doesn't matter does it??) and I thought it wasn't bad at all. In fact, the fighting looked even better than in the first one, and I'm curious to see how many people like films less because critics like it less. Our society is full of sheep, ready to be lead.

But anyways, I can't wait for Revenge of the Fallen! No matter what, I'm probably going to think it's amazing. Giant robots, U.S. military, and Megan Fox! What can go wrong?

-Gary M.

Isn't It Past Curfew?

2009-06-30T00:12:00.001-05:00

Just about every Monday night, my parents go out to the casino and they stay there really late. It's their way of having fun, but shouldn't they come back home after a while?

Sometimes they'll go in the afternoon, sometimes in the early evening. But after they go, I don't hear from them again until the next day. I sleep at 2 in the morning, and even at that time, I get no hint that they'll be back anytime soon.

The next morning, they'll complain about how tired they are from working and how I should go to their restaurant to help out. Whose fault is it for staying out so late??

But whenever I yell at them about this, they yell back at me about how I'm too young to criticize them, and how I don't know any better? Really? I'm the one who doesn't know better? They say they are adults, but when will they start acting like it?

I'm not old enough to judge them apparently, and since they're adults and they don't criticize themselves, then who will? Honestly, my parents need to get some common sense. As I'm writing this, my parents aren't home yet. I'm sleeping over at my cousin's house.

-Gary M.

Filipinos To Chinese Ratio

2009-06-29T20:26:00.001-05:00

I recently came across a blog post that said that there were about 2.4 million Filipinos in America, that Filipinos are the second largest Asian group in America, and that Filipinos have the potential to become the largest group by 2010. That really piqued my interest, because I had no idea that there were so many Filipinos living in America.

I decided to look it up, and apparently, there are only just 3.5 million Chinese people living in America. Compare that with 2.2 million... Look at that ratio. I know like a bajillion Chinese people, but only three Filipinos. Go figure.

-Gary M.

Template Change?

2009-06-29T19:46:00.002-05:00

Ok, so I don't know how many of you guys noticed this, but in the past 3 days, the current template didn't load properly. The bird didn't show up, the tan-ish background didn't appear on top of the brown, and the leaves were gone. I accidentally fixed it by going through the CSS and loading all the links that had pictures that were needed for this blog.

I don't know why it's doing this, but if it keeps doing this, I'm going to have to change the template. And a friend of mine said the colors were ugly, so I might change it for that reason too... But I like this template! It has a personal feel to it and finding another template like that is extremely hard...

But this is just to give you guys a heads up if you suddenly see the style of the blog change.

-Gary M.

Workers Are Human Too

2009-06-28T22:24:00.001-05:00

There's a saying that goes something like "Don't insult the waiter before your food gets to you". Why do you think that is? Because if the waiter is pissed enough at you, he can do whatever he wants to your food when he's out of sight. So give waiters and other workers the respect they deserve.

Yesterday, I was taking orders and stuff, and my mom was also there. Some lady was here to pick up some food, and she was a total *****. She'd block up the place where we take orders as she was waiting so other customers couldn't get to order; she'd point and comment on things going on in the kitchen; she even threw a credit card down instead of handing it to my mom. Who is she to throw her card in front of my mom? That's total disrespect and anyone over age 10 should have already had that lesson beat into them.

And later on, a customer called me and complained that his food wasn't "extra, extra, extra spicy". The chefs had already made it spicy, and he complained that it wasn't spicy enough. Well, complaining is one thing, but yelling at me is another. He was shouting at me in an angry tone, and all because it wasn't spicy enough for him. I told him that next time we would make it "extra, extra, extra spicy", but he just hung up on me. Some people...

Just never disrespect the workers. They might be working, but they're probably not being paid enough to put up with so much ****. By the way, Chinese people tend to swear at you in Chinese if they really don't like you. Right in front of you.

-Gary M.

Taylor Swift Is A Thug

2009-06-28T22:11:00.001-05:00

Yep, Taylor Swift raps. It's a Thug Story!

-Gary M.

Party Animals

2009-06-28T19:11:00.001-05:00

Two nights ago, I was at my friend's birthday party, and man, can Mexicans throw parties. I don't know if it's representative of the general Chinese population, but Asian parties I go to usually have something like food, video games, and more food. I got nothing against food, but Asian parties could be more exciting.

My friend Bianca (the Mexican) had a Moon Bounce and snow cone machine rented for her party! Ok, so I'm not 7 anymore, but hey, things like that never get old. Moon bounces should be a requirement for any party... What do Asians have? A Nintendo Wii or some other game system. But now that gaming and technology are a staple in society, it's nice to be outside jumping around. Good old fashioned fun!

It was also Bianca's fifteenth birthday, and in Mexican culture, that's a special one. I don't know if it was tradition or not, but instead of cutting the cake, she was made to bite it first. After some hesitation, she finally leaned over to bite it, and her good friend pushed her face right into it!

Oh man, I wish that us Asians have parties like that. Maybe we do, and I just don't know it. Or maybe we just don't like spending a little bit extra for better memories...

-Gary M.

Hi Stephanie!

2009-06-28T19:10:00.000-05:00

My name is Johnny, and I'm a friend of Gary's who will be blogging with him

This is my first post, but my cousin all the way in L.A. is bored as hell, so I'm gonna make a shoutout to her.

HI STEPHANIE!!! :]

Haha. More to come later tonight.

-Jeikei

Wood in Egg Roll??

2009-06-28T00:44:00.001-05:00

My parents dragged me up to work at their restaurant today, and it was a pretty interesting day. I picked up the phone, and a woman began telling me how she had found a piece of wood in her egg roll and ask what we would do about it. Well, I gave the phone to my mom and my mom began denying that there could be wood in there and implying the woman must be mistaken (their restaurant needs much better PR skills...) but I took the phone back and told her to come down.

Moments later, a woman was standing in front of me and showed me and my mom the piece of wood that she had found. She said that her boyfriend had already eaten a piece of wood and my mom said she'd give them something for free and reached out to take the egg roll and wood, when the lady pulled back and said that she can't give it because her boyfriend was going to take it and show the Health department.

Now here's a problem... Getting your restaurant closed by the Health department is a nightmare for any restaurant owner, and my mom started trying to bargain with the woman. In the end, the woman decided that she would (against her boyfriend's wishes. He was cursing at her over the phone...) just take my mom's offer.

But she didn't just take something small. Her order was around $30. She acted like she was all nice with us, but she wasn't above extorting us either. She got her way in the end, and we got the piece of wood back.

Apparently, the wood had broken off from a wooden spoon or something that they used to mix the stuff that egg rolls are filled with. It was an honest mistake, and there was a man who was willing to destroy several people's income over an honest mistake. Yes, mistakes can't go unpunished. But how far is too far? Can you destroy people's lives for revenge? Or do you let them slide by even if they did something wrong? American courts just can't protect against abuse. A woman is being sued by the RIAA for $1.92 million dollars for downloading 24 songs. Where does the madness end?

-Gary M.

On The Road of Progress!

2009-06-28T00:12:00.001-05:00

Hey guys! So I've been super busy these last few days and unable to post. Moon bounces, snow cone machines, and wood in egg rolls have occupied all my time... But more on that later!

Update on the site: Asiania.net finally works now, so go ahead and type that in if you don't like having a www every single time. I know I don't...

I was also thinking about how to change the template for the site, and I was thinking of something like black and white koi fish swimming around each other. Or maybe some pictures that depict Asians or something Asian, with the main thing like a close-up of Asian eyes. I really liked that one, but I'm afraid someone's going to call it racist... It's totally not racist, since I'm not making fun of it and face it, Asians do have unique eyes. But instead of shunning our uniqueness, we should embrace it. But I'm not going to rant about it today. I'm still thinking about how to change the site, so I'm just letting you guys know what I have in mind!

Oh yeah, Godaddy has domain names for $2.19 with the coupon 199BUYCOM. No idea when it ends, but if you want a domain name, I suggest you get it now. Godaddy is also super friendly and they called me the next day to ask if things were going smoothly with my new domain name.

I think I'm going to explain that wood in egg roll thing now...

-Gary M

Contact Us

2009-06-26T13:42:00.002-05:00

If you have any questions, please send them to asianinamerica@gmail.com!

-Gary M.

About Asiania

2009-06-26T13:27:00.002-05:00

Asiania is a term I came up with to stand for Asian in America. This blog is just a place for me to discuss anything Asian, and give an example of what Asians experience living in America.

-Gary M.

Asiania Launched!

2009-06-26T00:19:00.001-05:00

As of 12:19 AM (CST), I have gotten www.asiania.net pointing to this blog, and I have chosen a theme for it. There are still a few kinks to work out. Asiania.net doesn't point to the blog yet, and I'm trying to fix that. And the theme does not fit the topic of the blog, and I'm considering getting someone to work on that for me. More news in a few days! Getting sleepy, so it's off to bed for me!

-Gary M.