Tasty

An interesting observation lately - my tastes have changed. This might not sound like a huge deal, or it may be obvious to others, but I always thought that my tastes would stay the same, more or less.

But I've found that now, for example, different things are fun to me. I used to looooove Six Flags and Disney World. Now, they are not so exciting. In fact, they can be a chore. I used to looooove candy. Now I rarely, eat candy. I used to looooove cartoons. Now most cartoons bore me. I also used to find certain girls attractive. Now I'm finding very different looking girls attractive - even ones I would have previously considered unattractive. It seems that either I'm maturing, or I'm simply changing. Hopefully it's the former.

So while I imagined myself listening to my "The Chronic" album and going to raves when I am 65, maybe, instead, I will be listening to oldies and classical music, and wearing a bowtie and brimmed hat.

What I really want...

is... Actually, I have no idea what I really want. I have a vague idea, some perception of what I want. But I have a feeling that this perception is based largely on societal expectations. In many ways, that's fine. It makes life a lot easier if you know what you're supposed to do. You don't have to be original.

I've been thinking about this more and more lately, as I don't want to conform to societal norms but there's a certain comfort in it. I'd feel like I belonged more if I liked the same things other guys like, if I ended up marrying in my own race, if I had two kids, a stable, well-paying job and a two car garage. I should also have a backyard barbecue pit, live in a tree-lined subdivision and have a dog.

Would I feel as OK if I didn't do all that? I think that this post is evidence that I might not be, even if it's all in my head. Just because it's something imposed on me by myself doesn't make it any less real.

Veggie tales

I like vegetables. Really, I do. I mean, I like meat more, but I also like my vegetables. Not to mention that they help to keep me just a "regular" guy.

However, since I've lived on my own, it's been hard to eat my vegetables. In fact, it's become a real chore. See, I can rarely eat my vegetables before they go bad.

I guess it's mostly because I can be lazy about things. I don't like shopping for groceries all the time; I like to shop once or twice a month and be done with it. Unfortunately, veggies seem to go bad after just a few days in the fridge - and it's been worse since I've moved to NYC. It seems like everything in NYC arrives in the city just before its expiration. So we get vegetables and fruit that look fresh, but are really just a day or two from starting to go bad.

Milk, though I've always been able to have it last at least a few days past the "Sell By" date, always goes sour ON the "Sell By" date. In NYC, the "Sell By" date is also the "Last possible day you can drink this milk" date.

So every time, I buy vegetables because I know I need to eat my vegetables. Then I spend the next week frantically eating them because they will go bad. It's takes what little enjoyment there is in eating vegetables out.

Circadian Rythm

I have just realized that I follow a particular cyclical pattern. Every few months, I'll get really, really lazy. I'll stop exercising and just lay there watching TV and eating potato chips. Then, as I get sick of myself, I'll snap out of it, and go crazy exercising and generally getting myself together.

Right now, I'm coming off of a lazy cycle and heading into a getting myself together cycle. I wonder if one day, I'll be able to sustain the got together version of me. I assume it will be useful if I ever want to grow up.

Vices and spices

Dave's post on making burnt rice for dinner made me realize something. I am incapable of eating at home without watching TV.

Let me repeat that. I am incapable of eating at home without watching TV. I have to, have to, have to have the tube on, or I feel like I'm wasting time, especially since I can't do anything else while I'm eating (too messy to eat and do paperwork, etc).

It's kind of a bad thing, because what is typically a 10-15 minute meal (when I'm eating alone), turns into at least a 30 minute "meal", or perhaps a 60 minute meal, depending on how long the show is. And sometimes, one show turns into two, turns into three...

Babytalk

I am not good at talking to children - for any extended period of time, anyway. I simply have nothing to say to them, usually.

This may seem counterintuitive, as I taught elementary school just a year and a half ago. But, thinking back, I don't think I did much conversational talking to my students or any of the kids in my school. When I did talk to them, it was about school related things.

Of course, I ended up learning a lot about my students lives: their likes, dislikes, interests, family, etc. But this was over weeks and months of teaching.

I discovered my inability, or, more accurately, my disinterest in shooting the breeze with children today while I was attending my Power Lunch session. Most of the time, I just nod and say, "That's a good idea..." or something similar. And the child keeps on talking, so I guess I'm not all that important to the conversation anyway.

This is possibly connected to my disinterest in talking to people I don't know in general, but I can't be certain.

Recent distractions

I haven't posted much lately because I've noticed that most of my posts are either close to or exactly repeating prior posts, or that they are all along the same themes (e.g. relationships and stupid human behavior), which, frankly, I am tiring of. Thus, I can't think of anything to write about except the banal "Today, I got up. Then I brushed my teeth. Then I got dressed..." posts.

Oh, and I'm also distracted by a few projects right now:

Organizing my finances
This one is the killer. I've decided I want to use Quicken to help me with taxes and managing/tracking my expenses. This means that I need to categorize everything. This means that I need to think of categories for everything I spend money on (how do you categorize batteries?). I actually decided I would do this last year, around this time. Only I didn't really do a good job. So now I have 1+ years of data to go through and fix.

I'm finding that I've not received several rebates also, now 6+ months after the fact. GRR. I hate rebates. They are evil.

Investing
I am determined to learn how to be an informed investor. Previously, most of my money was in "high performance" money market accounts, which made something like 1% interest. THAT'S PIDDLY. Then, I moved it into an Orange Savings account (ask me for an invite, and you will get $25 for signing up and I will get $10). A little better - 2.60%. But long term, the best returns will be in mutual/index funds and potentially stocks, especially when you start young. Seeing as I had no life in my first three years of working, I have quite a bit saved up.

So I finally set up a trading account with Freetrade. It's a subsidiary of Ameritrade and offers 20 free trades a month, then a small fee per trade after that, like $3. Much better than any other deal out there. Only catch is you have to wire money in the first time.

Anyway, now that I have some stocks, I can't help but watch the market every day - even though I know that I won't be selling since I am going for long term growth.

Oh well. Back to watching the Dow. TiVo just closed a deal with Comcast. They're up 50%. Awesome.

Receipts, what are they good for?

Seriously. What are receipts good for besides:

1) Letting you return stuff
2) Helping you track things for tax purposes
3) Expense reports
4) Reminding you how much money you waste

?

I'll admit it - I'm a receipt-addict. I have to keep all receipts that I get. Even when there are no receipts to give (like the guys on the corner carts in NYC selling bagels for $1.00), I ask for one, usually resulting in the guy in the cart cursing me under his breath as he scribbles something unintelligible on a scrap piece of paper. It makes me feel better, though, to have that scrap piece of paper. It's a receipt goddammit.

That being said, I'm trying to streamline my life. I want to eliminate clutter and excess. That means paring down my wardrobe, throwing away or donating items I don't use anymore. It means trying to keep my paper records to a minimum - only the important docs stay (usually meaning things related to taxes or anything else that can get you fined or thrown in jail).

So something has to be done with my receipt collection. I still have boxes of receipts from 1992, back when my big spending consisted of a bucket of popcorn on my once-monthly movie outing.

My current plans are to, moving forward:

1) Throw away all credit card receipts related to food or services received after matching to my credit card statement
2) Keep all receipts that may have tax implications (e.g. medical bills, moving expenses, unreimbursed job related expenses)

But I have a feeling that I might be missing something. There must be a reason why Roy Rogers gives you a receipt for a combo meal, other than the off chance you are on business, right? Or is that the sole reason why so many places have the "if you don't get a receipt with this order, your meal is free" policy?

Presidential duties

A New York Times/CBS poll shows that Americans are increasingly disagreeing with Bush's policy decisions, especially around Social Security.

It seems evident that Bush, in his second term, is following a path that he believes will secure his "legacy", one of Social Security reform.

The question is, should he continue down that path to the extent of his power even if the majority (and we're talking 70%-ish) of Americans don't agree?

I think that depends in part on how you view the role of an elected official. Do we elect them on the basis that we trust them to operate in our best interests? Or do we elect them to do what we specifically want him to do? Obviously there are pressures from all directions - the "average" American, special interest groups, members of the political establishment, and, hopefully, conscience.

So what should Bush do? Should he do what he feels is right in his "gut", as he did in his previous term? Arguably, that is what the American public who made up the 51% majority that narrowly won him a 2nd term likes about him and so he should use that "mandate" to do what his "gut" tells him to do. Or, should he do what Americans are now asking of him?

I've actually always fancied myself to be the former type of elected official, if I were ever to become one. I would never want to be a elected official that bends and sways to whatever whims the public currently presents - I would be someone that operates in the long term good of my constituency, even if they don't know what's good for them. Idealistic, I suppose.

Across the pond

Just got back from a trip to London. A few notes:

Hostels are fun - if you are there with a group of friends. Not so fun if you are staying with strangers who all have different schedules. (On the plus side, you have to opportunity to get a peek at cute girls in panties at sunrise)

Most British food seemed to center around fried meat and fried potatoes, with a side of peas.

Nighttime activities appear to close very early, unlike NYC.

Dave and I are now masters of the London public transportation system.

Poor exchange rate = spendthrifts (that's me and Dave)

The best place to exchange money is at these tiny no-commission shops in Bayswater, near Queensway station and Notting Hill.

You can make pigeons fly by tossing a red or orange colored object up in the air (according to a resident guru)

Virus infection

I've been a touch sick lately. It was one of those where you could feel it coming on, then you thought it was going away, then it gets tons worse before it feels like it's going away again.

I went to work yesterday even though I was feeling icky. I went to the cafeteria for lunch. For some reason, I touched way more surfaces than necessary to grab my fork and napkin. Maybe it was the virus that made me do it? After all, it wants to spread.

Oh, and I heard my neighbor this morning with the same cough I did. Poor guy.

Fine, fine line...

Edited: 2/22/05

I saw Avenue Q with Zelda a few weeks ago. I will admit that it was one of the better Broadway shows I've seen, with a very witty and memorable score. So much so, that I even bought the soundtrack on iTunes.

One of the musical numbers was called There's a Fine, Fine Line (audio clip). Even though the show was supposed to be funny, it hit on a lot of deep emotions and ideas.

Here's a snippet from the lyrics:

There's a fine, fine line between a lover and a friend;
There's a fine, fine line between reality and pretend;
And you never know 'til you reach the top if it was worth the uphill climb.

There's a fine, fine line between love
And a waste of time.

I guess this is just my thought when people were responding to my post about dating to "see where things go" - you run the risk of it all being for naught.

However, I think if you are enjoying your current time, then it should depend on your perspective whether it was a waste of time when you look back.

For example, if I had an awesome dinner, but later got food poisoning, true, the food poisoning sucked - but the dinner was still awesome. Am I the only one that thinks this way?

My missed connection & redux

My first posting to Craigslist's "Missed Connections" section:

You had me at "Buffet" - m4w - 25
Reply to: anon-59041523@craigslist.org
Date: 2005-02-09, 12:33PM EST


It was a serendipitous encounter to be certain. You sat there, alone, with the overhead light gently caressing your flaxen hair, as you dined in your dark sweater, red sneakers and green bag. There was a slight glint from your complementary spectacles. I could not believe my eyes at first. Could it be true?

I watched, as you slowly, yet methodically consumed piece after piece of all-you-can-eat sushi. I shivered, each time you stood up from your table, disappeared for what seemed like eons, and returned, always with another bulging plate of sushi. You dispatched at least five plates of sushi with ease, and finished with a heaping plate of dessert. It was at that moment that I knew I was falling for you.

I was the Asian man sitting adjacent, jaw agape, consuming less than half your fare. Thank you for the privilege of dining with you from afar. I will always remember how you showed me what it means to love.


this is in or around Herald Square
it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

Redux: A chance encounter with two fetching maidens exploring each other's mouths with their tongues in a phone booth adjacent to a Circuit City. What a night.

Dead chocolate mouse

If you go to Boston, there's a place that called L.A. Burdick that serves excellent hot chocolate. They have these little chocolate mice. While there this past weekend (on a visit to see friends Sandra, Wayne, and Paul, and also Todd who was in town), on a whim, I decided to buy a chocolate mouse. Some may have thought to keep it to look at, since it's cute. My only thought was to devour said cute chocolate mouse.

Unfortunately, my cute chocolate mouse came to a gory demise before I could chew it to bits.


Before


After

Endgame

As Eddy once remarked to me, people in Chicago date to marry. Not so, it seems, in New York City. I have been giving the casual dating thing a try since I've moved here, but something about it seems not quite right.

My main question is, how is it possible to date someone and not have any thoughts about where it might lead? Everyone says to just go out, have fun, get to know them, etc. But to invest any time beyond the first or second date means there must be some payoff (hopefully beyond booty).

There must be some sort of goal. And the ultimate goal should be marriage (or a similar arrangement), shouldn't it? I suppose there is always the playboy lifestyle, but that doesn't involve as much feeling and time invested.

I think people delude themselves when they say they are in a relationship and aren't thinking about where it's going or "just seeing where things lead". There's no such thing. If you're just seeing where things lead, you already know where you want it to go.

So this begs the question: if your gut is already saying that the road probably won't lead anywhere, should you break it off? Or can you really just enjoy the present?

Oscar Pick'em

Thanks for calling me out, Andy. I didn't really feel like posting just yet, or perhaps ever. But here it is:

Join my Oscar Pick'em Team

The group is "Skittles" and the PW is the famous Skittles slogan. If you can't figure it out, you don't deserve to join.

I picked winners in every category even though I have seen like, a total of, like, one (1) of the movies that have been nominated. I have terrific (or terrible, depending on the situation) intuition. So I think I'll do ok.

The trouble with bubbles

Like many Asian households, soft drinks, cookies, and candy were expressly forbidden when I was a child. Well, forbidden, except for Halloween, when we could have up to ten pieces of the candy that we collected that night, while the remainder went into a very poor hiding spot in my mother's closet.

I don't know about you, but I have been punished for whining about drinking Coke in public. That promptly ended my public Coke "requests". I suspect that has something to do with my current general aversion to soft drinks, but I can't be certain.

Even to this day, I'm not a huge sweets person. And I certainly cannot drink soda every day, or even once a week. I mean, the flavors are good and all, but I just cannot stand the carbonation. The carbonation does something weird in my throat, and I end up feeling like I swallowed a bunch of air (surprise, surprise), I get the hiccups, or both. I HATE the hiccups. I HATE feeling bloated.

I don't quite understand why people prefer drinks that are carbonated - besides the novelty of bubbles in your drink, what's the point? It doesn't add flavor, although it does tickle your tongue. I find tongue tickling to be tiresome and annoying.

I say, "Down with carbonation!" Anyone else want to join my new 501(c)(3), People Against The Sipping, Ingesting or Eating of Sodas (PATSIES)?

Sez who?

I'm currently reading Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller. It's a so-called classic written in the early 1930's and was initially banned by all English speaking countries due to its subject matter and vulgar depiction of said subject matter.

This book is supposed to be critically acclaimed and touted as a fine example of literature by many a great author and critic. Although I'm only a few pages in, I am not impressed.

I wonder how many things in life we take others' word for because we are too lazy to form an opinion for ourselves. For that matter, I wonder how much of my experience has been biased by others' opinions or offhand remarks. Take movies, for example. Critics are saying now that "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" was a terrible movie. I rather enjoyed it. It was no "Forrest Gump", but it wasn't "Mars Attacks!" either. However, when I read that review, I began to doubt myself. 'Did I really like it that much? Yeah, it really wasn't that good I suppose...'

Other things are subject to our inexperience or lack of knowledge. I'll take a plumber's opinion on which brand of toilet flap is best, simply because I don't know any better. I just have to trust that plumber's expert opinion - but he could be dead wrong. Just like some of my computer-savvy friends still tout Windows and PCs, even though Apple, Macs, and Mac OS X are far superior to anything in the PC world. But so-called "experts" in IT will still promote Windows up the wazoo.

I have a feeling that we don't really want to know how many things in our lives are dictated by a body of questionable knowledge and expertise. Kind of like why people categorize and generalize/stereotype. It's easier on the ol' noggin that way.

A REAL shower

I installed a Waterpik Cascadia showerhead today. It's designed to let you shower like you're in the rain, since the spray comes straight down. And I have to say, it's simply marvelous. I've never been so excited to shower in my life.

Anyone who loves me must love my pet, Peeve.

Is it OK to let a seemingly innocuous and silly pet peeve derail a relationship? Some of my pet peeves are non-negotiables: I cannot live with someone who is filthy (not necessarily messy, but filthy; although I get frustrated easily with constant mess); I can't stand people who have protracted cell phone conversations when they are out with someone; I despise people who have long, personal cell phone conversations while sitting or standing right next to strangers (e.g. on a plane) who can't get away; and I look down on people who don't appreciate the genius that is Britney Spears.

But some of my pet peeves are less important to me. Even so, they really get on my nerves. The biggest of these is spelling. I can't stand people who can't spell. I'm not talking a typo here or there, or a word that is understandably difficult to spell. I'm talking about routinely mispelling words like "arduous", "mistaken" or "tonight". I also don't like it when people use abbreviations like "l8r" in IM when you could easily type it out, or "lol" in email, when you have the time to write that out too.

Another point: apostrophes. Use them ONLY when they are replacing a letter (e.g. "nothin'","o'er") or in a contraction (e.g. "I'd" = "I would", "she'll" = "she will").

Don't get me started on "quotation marks". I hate when they are overused or misused. GRRR.

Sometimes it gets to the point when I wonder if I could ever be in a relationship with a poor speller. Even worse is someone who uses worse grammar than I do.

Spelling isn't that hard people! Work on it!!