Entries for November, 2005
It has been nearly a month, and I have managed to crawl out of the abyss of the cyber world [in other words, the real world] to finally get down an entry before my head implodes with everything I've been meaning to write for the past lunar cycle. In my shoddy defense, every morning I'd promised myself to catalogue my adventures and misfortunes and blips of intellectual insight. Really. And every night I went to sleep feeling guilty about not keeping that promise. Right now I have a few hours to burn in the school library before my next class, so I can finally release.
I'd written a long, descriptive, poetic entry about my trip to Chicago a few months ago [only a few months?], but when I clicked the "Edit Entry" icon, tabulas decided to kick me in the balls and shut down on me. I'd never spent so much time and care on any other entry. Three hours' of carving the perfect denotations and connotations and resizing pictures and milking the last drops of inspiration from my poor brain - all down the drain. I was so angry I punched myself in the face.
I am now an avid listener of the local country music station. After years of being influenced by the pompous Southern-Californian contempt for country music, I decided to give it a try while I was stuck in a winding river of red taillights one evening. I actually enjoyed it - country music has a kind of simplicity and bare truth that you don't hear in modern hiphop or pop music. For the skeptics out there, I implore you to put aside your Starbucks venti double mocha latte crappucinos and turn your dials to 93.9 [for LA and OC residents, that is]. As my sister put it, you'll step out of your car in a pair of overalls and a straw hat. And you'll like it.
Speaking of traffic, morning radio shows are the absolute best in trvializing car accidents. The traffic updates last for about 30 seconds and go something like this:
And now, the KRZW morning traffic update brought to you by Chevrolet - An American Revolution: Chevrolet. We've got a bit of a stall on the southbound 405 just off of Sepulveda Blvd., and the two right lanes are backed up for about two miles. There's a bit of road construction going on the eastbound 118, that might be slowed down for quite a while. And finally, we've got a 341 car pile-up on the eastbound 101. All lanes are blocked off, there have been several car explosions, and a thick river of dark blood is slowly coagulating in the middle of the freeway. The death count is now up to 200, and it looks like you'll be a bit late if you take the 101 to work. Now, back to Joe for the MORNING TOP 40 COUNTDOWN and a chance to win a pair of tickets to watch Cher peform live! This traffic update was brought to you by Chevrolet - An American Revolution!
I understand you have a job to do, but must you downplay potential tragedies and deaths in such a blatantly commercializing manner? I mean, these people could probably have Armageddon knocking on their doors and they'd try to squeeze in another spot of commercial underwriting and give caller #74 a place in line to get a raffle ticket to have a chance to qualify for an opportunity to win two tickets to a concert.
So, Halloween just passed. Did you hear about that one woman in Delaware who committed suicide by hanging herself from a tree in her front yard? Her street was a busy one, with a small shopping mall across the way and cars and people passing by all the time. However, her death went unnoticed for almost a week. How?
Everyone passing by didn't notice the body of a dead woman swaying to and fro off a tree branch. However, they all did take the time to marvel at the extremely realistic Halloween decoration hanging from a tree in someone's front yard. People even brought their friends along and took pictures of the very lifelike dummy that looked like it was executed by hanging. What finally tipped them off to the fact that SHE WAS A REAL WOMAN was the smell. Yep, they finally figured it out after the street started reeking of rotting flesh. Poor woman - she couldn't even have an open-casket funeral because her body was so decomposed.
The next logical train of thought, at least for me, is that Halloween has got to be the worst time to piss someone off, right? I mean, a rabid axe murderer could be on the loose, and I could be running down the street with a hatchet stuck in my head, screaming like the end of the world and blood spurting everywhere, and the best I would get is, "Hey, NICE costume."
Lastly, on a serious topic, I'd like to remind myself to take the time to thank God for everything he's done for me. Thanksgiving is coming up, and isn't it about time we were actually thankful for something, rather than complaining about our ADHD symptoms or NASDAQ dropping 2 marble points? You can pretend to ignore your blessings all you want, but even when you shut your eyes, you can still feel the sunlight bathing you with light and warmth, can't you? Not everybody has an address on Easy Street, and you can sit there with years of bad decisions and poor luck running down your face, but when you sit down and count everything you've been blessed with, then things will slowly click into perspective. So this Thanksgiving season, wedged between the ghosts of Halloween and the little elves of Christmas, please, take the time and effort to give thanks.
Written by jihwan at 05:27 PM.
Again, a month goes by before I take the time to write a new entry. I'm surprised that I remember how to type at all, considering the only keys I've been using for the past month have been W, A, S, and D. Circle-strafe, circle-strafe. Cleanse, Cleanse, Cleanse, Bubble, Hearth.
If you understood that last part, then you are as deeply inflicted by the addiction as I am.
The new Harry Potter movie was a disappointment overall. The movie glazed over the small but colorful intricacies in the plot [such as Karkaroff's involvement with the Death Eaters or the various obstacles in the third task], didn't elaborate on the characters' relationships and developments, and [to my utter dismay] spent exactly 18 hours on the Yule Ball sequence while cutting out the entire Quiddich World Cup. Utter shame and bitter curses upon the screenwriters and director. Also, I was slightly [greatly] taken aback by the horrible mischaracterization of Albus Dumbledore. Instead of being the strong, dependable, kindly figure of power and goodness that Rowling portrays him to be, the Dumbledore in the film acted like a jittery, confused, short-tempered [how many times did he shriek at the kids to SHUT THE HELL UP?!] old fart. However, I enjoyed the great cinematography, the musical score, and the fact that Hermione Granger gets cuter with each movie. [Yeah, don't act like you don't agree.]
Thanksgiving
weekend was accompanied by a much-awaited precipitation of dear friends
from each of their prospective educational havens, and I, of course,
was there to soak in as much as I possibly could. I hadn't
realized how much I'd missed them, and it was a major lift and
encouragement to me to see their ugly faces. If I didn't have a chance
to see you this time around, then you owe me lunch next time we
meet. Stay well.
I suppose I am behind the times in this blog trend, but here goes. With friends and fond memories in mind:
If you read this, if your eyes are passing over this right now, even if we don't speak often, please post a comment with a memory of you and me. It can be anything you want - good or bad. When you're finished, post this little paragraph on your blog [everyone and their grandmother's gardener has a blog now, right?] and be surprised (or mortified) about what people remember about you.
Written by jihwan at 10:17 PM.