i'll keep throwing rocks at your window

in the past few years or so, i've come to realize that i have difficulty with moral/ethical (i'm just going to use these as synonymous, so read with that in mind but correct me if need be) everyday decisions.

the difficulty lies not only in the picking of what i believe to be right, but, equally important, in the discernment of what is right and what is not.

and so, through the comments of some of my peers, i've come to think that my standards for and acceptance of various things are kinda different from the typical person's, but that's really subjective and not so important.

i hope that my questions will make you rethink why you feel the way you do about your standards of morals and ethics, and blur the lines between what you stick to and what you might want to consider. i like thinking.

is it okay to..

borrow a music cd from a friend?

rip the tracks off of a music cd from a friend and keep them?

send mp3s to a friend that i ripped off of a music cd that i own?

how much can i sell someone a pristine condition textbook for?

does it matter if i've owned it for a day, or a month, or a year?

what if it's brand new and still sealed in the shrink wrap?

how about a used textbook?

is there a limit to how much i can sell it for?

what if it's brand new and still sealed in the shrink wrap?

would it still be worth the same as a newly purchased textbook, since they are both in the pristine condition of "literally plucked off the bookstore shelf"?

is it okay to..

borrow cd's?

borrow dvd's?

borrow eric's psp, play through his games, and return it all to him later?

borrow a textbook for a semester?

(does the "fairness" play any role in all of this? the borrower is clearly having the advantage with being able to experience all of the material, but with no price to pay.)

ebay:

is it okay to rip tracks off a cd, and sell the cd as like new (the only thing causing it not to be brand new is the lack of a shrink wrap)?

is it okay to play through a video game, and sell the game?

how about..

spending time in bookstores reading books, but not buying them?

what if i bought the book, read it, kept it in super condition, and returned it?

is it okay to listen to recordings of sermons? (if the speaker is paid to speak somewhere, wouldn't the recordings of what he says be worth something as well?)

if a cashier accidentally gave me a coupon back that was supposed to be relinquished at time of use, is it alright to use it again?

is it okay to walk on a crosswalk with the intention of getting hit by a car, and getting mad moneys in the following lawsuit or whatever?

what if i don't have the "intention" to get hit by a car, but instead don't look both ways as i walk across the crosswalk?

what if i close my eyes walking across the crosswalk?

is it okay to hit the brakes if a car is tailgating me in such a way so that they cause an accident that is entirely their fault, thus getting me some money?

how about buying clothes, wearing them with the tags still on, and returning them?

what if i go into gamestop, buy a used game, play some of it, and return it for a full refund?

what if i play through the whole game?

does it matter whether my original intent was to purchase the game forever, or just to try it out, knowing there was a risk-free full refund?

recently, i got a free trial issue of playstation magazine. inside that playstation magazine, there was another offer for "free issue of playstation magazine"! i sent that in, and two months later, i got another playstation magazine! going with this..

since i can keep sending in the "free issue" request, is it okay to?

is it okay to use different mailboxes to prevent them finding out (if they even check)?

what if i get various friends of mine to be the ones that literally physically send in the "free issue" offers, and then have them give the magazines to me?

(note that theoretically, this would actually result in a free bi-monthly (though PSmagazine is monthly) "subscription". and if i staggered the "free issue" offers, and had two going at the same time, i could have a free annual subscription that wouldn't end as long as they kept including the "free issue" offers! yeah, i thought it out already.)

is it alright for me to eat leftover food off restaurant tables of people who already left?

what if the food was in the garbage?

what if the food was in the garbage outside the restaurant?

what if nobody was looking?

surely, you've split the price of some bottomless nachos at a restaurant with some friends.

that's okay, right?

what about sharing and splitting the price of refill-able soft drinks?

does the same apply to sharing and splitting the price of a refill-able jumbo tub of popcorn?

what if everyone brought their own container to pour the popcorn in, which would enable each person to have their own container from which to eat popcorn, all the while being constantly refilled by the official tub of popcorn, so that each person would pay just a fraction of the cost of the official tub of popcorn?

i would really like to know what you guys think about some of these things, so i can get a better idea of the kinds of standards that other people have. i know you guys have thoughts in your mind as you considered these questions, so please do share, as little to and much as you want. i'm really interested in hearing about it. :D

comments would be very helpful to me, and much appreciated.

[rRr]

-i went to chinese school for seven years, but i don't know how to read or write chinese. i can understand and speak mandarin. i can only understand taiwanese, i can't speak it. i also took italian for five years from middle school through high school, but i don't know how to speak any of it. oh well.

-i've never broken any bone in my body, or even fractured anything. no stitches either. the worst that's happened to me was a snowboarding fall in which i popped some blood vessels in my right eye and i had to get an MRI. other than that, a few rolled ankles and jammed fingers. luls.

-i had a knack for taking stuff from chemistry class in school. while i despise chemistry (and love physics!), i will admit that chemistry has probably the coolest stuff, like erlenmeyer flasks (i have a cute 125 mL one), the wooden ball-and-stick molecule structures (i have NH4), and thermometers (i have two .. broken ones)!

--MINI RANDOM FACT!-- the tap water in my house gets as hot as 160 F and as cold as 36 F. nifty, huh.

beautiful is my picture

i got infamous. it is AWESOME.

it's funny, cause the game is based around a karma system, where you can either be good or evil (derr), with three ranks for each side. i had already decided before playing the game that i would be good for the first playthrough, and evil for the second playthrough, since each one has different side missions, different powers, as well as a different storyline. in the first mission, a "karma moment" came up: food crates were dropped in the park. i had the choice either to let the starving civilians eat, or to fry them and take the food for my friend and myself. i, being the goody good person that i am, let them have at it, and i felt good about myself. but then, some dood on tv was badmouthing me and saying i was trying to steal their food, so all the twenty or so civilians start STONING me. i'm like, what the heck!

so i killed them. eheheh. [it didn't have major negative karma in relation to the mission-based "karma moment"]

but yo, i'm really looking forward to the evil playthrough, cause if you know me, i just like to kill and destroy and blow up stuff, like my allies and innocent civilians. ahh, so good. it's hard to resist the urge while i'm on my nice-guy playthrough.

johnny also loves the game and has his own save file. i think he's going to play through it all.. which.. i guess isn't a big shock since it's summer anyway.

now, for my other hobby, i'm looking to head down to rutgers pretty often this summer to play BADMINTON, so if anyone would like to come along and play, just lemme know. LIKE WITH WORDS.

[randumzz]

-i don't wear jeans. the last time i recall wearing a pair of jeans was back in middle school, 6th grade or something. but after that, not at all. i'm considering getting a pair because my favorite pair of khakis got inked in the wash, and i had to go to RCCC with sweatpants, which looked super bum. and i'm not doing that again. plus, sometimes you need jeans for stuff, and i'm like .. i don't have jeans.

-i think for all of high school, i only wore shorts, even through the winter. (well, minus snowboarding.) i love my khakis! then i wisened up. but that was after my legs grew like mad cold resistance. eheh.

-after my first year at college, i've become more of a finger food eater. i try to eat everything i can with my hands, and when i can, also pick food that i can eat with my hands (but not at the expense of yummies, of course). i dunno, utensils are just hasslesome. and i really dislike that feeling/sound when metal slides against my teeth.

ps. also, for those of you not in the know: whether you have a blog or not, you CAN add comments.

august evenings bring solemn warnings

i love movie theatre popcorn!

there is nothing quite like the taste of that popcorn which only comes from those glorious popcorn-kernel-popping machines behind that crazy-expensive snack bar.

however, over the years, i've seen clearview cinema 12's jumbo tub of popcorn rise in price from $5.50 to a whopping $7.50 (i think, the figures might be a bit off, but it was at least a two dollar difference). but with free refills and that undeniable yummy popcorn taste, i still kept going back for more. FREE REFILLS. UNLIMITED. i would always get a whole refill after the movie on the way out, even if i was sick of it, because i knew that the next day, i would get to indulge in the yummy popcorn goodness AGAIN. love it. oh, and only the jumbo tubs are refill-able.

[wow, i realize that when i want to write an entry on one specific idea i have in mind, i end up (voluntarily) explaining all the details of the other topics related to the idea.]

however, i later realized that going to the movies with a group of friends who all want popcorn is the way to go, since you can split the cost, and simply get more refills! even better, if each person has a container to hold popcorn in (like a big ziploc bag), there's none of that pesky need to share!

tonight, i went to see terminator salvation with johnny.

man, i really dig that optimum rewards benefit, now that i'm home again to be able to use it. [for those of you who don't live in this area, optimum rewards members are granted a special offer at clearview cinemas each tuesday, in the form of two free movie tickets, or four discounted ($6) tickets. which basically results in the parsippany clearview theatre selling out and being uber crowded in the parking lot, as all the asians and indians (and oh, there are so many) of p-town go to the movies. delightful.]

as i was in my car waiting for johnny to check which showtimes weren't sold out, i witnessed two interesting sights.

the first, was a bunch of indian people getting out of a car to walk into the theatres, and one man was holding a bag of popcorn popped straight out of the microwave. i actually laughed out loud. man, those indians.

the second incident, was a little [caucasian] kid who was carrying an empty jumbo popcorn tub, clearly purchased from clearview cinemas on a previous visit.

the second incident was the one that made me think. can i do that? i'd save myself $8 every time if i just brought in my old tub.

i mentioned my two sights to johnny, and he brought up an idea, the likes of which i had heard numerous many times in my head, but never from another source.

"we could just take a tub from the garbage"

YES JOHNNY. HOLY. WOW. YES. YESSSSSSS.

i never really brought it up because i didn't think anyone would want to do it with me, but can you imagine the joy to my ears when johnny said that? aw yeah.

we went in. we checked trash cans. we saw a tub in a trash can, filled with lots of miscellaneous waste. we debated pouring out all the crap in it and then using it. we checked some more trash cans. then, in one out-of-the-way trash can, we see an empty jumbo tub, face up in the garbage. VICTORY. i seize it. johnny gets the refill.

we watch terminator salvation, which is a decent movie. made all the better with popcorn. which, in itself, was made all the better because it was FREE.

that's right! let's see you tell me of someone who did something as smart(?) as we did!

i will say, though, we both did feel a little dirty while eating. but, i wisely told johnny, "hey, just like if you had to re-wear your underwear for a day: just don't think about it."

if you've known me for a while now, this is the kind of topic i've brought up and debated multiple times. the eating-stuff-off-the-ground kind of topics.

first example: i walk into a restaurant with some friends, get seated at a table, and on a nearby table, the guests had clearly left and there is food leftover in the form of some fries on a plate. i want to eat it. my friends, however, react as though i just said i wanted to eat my barf.

is it really that bad?!

ah, yes, johnny. finally, someone who understands me.

[rx3]

-when i was a kid, my parents said that i cried unbelievably much. over the smallest things, i just wouldn't stop crying, to the point where my parents brought me to see doctors because they thought there was something wrong with me. ... maybe there is. -sob-

-is it weird if i write something and actually find it humorous? kind of like, making a joke and actually being amused at it. ish. i find that i have a few moments of those whenever i blog. which makes me happy.

-choob is a name i came up with in 8th grade. it means chinky noob. or chinese noob, too, i guess, for those of you offended by the word chink. :x i also don't find that word to be offensive. rather, i find it humorous when someone calls me that. at one point in time, i tried to get some classmates to call me that, but my attempts were futile.

ps. poll on the right if you haven't yet. -->

you're my summer that fades to these cold autumn days

I JUST SAW AMBER PACIFIC LIVE IN CONCERT LAST NIGHT. SO SICK.

after listening to and loving amber pacific's albums for many years, i finally went with hanna and saw them in concert yesterday at the school of rock in south hackensack. there were about 50ish people or so, so it was a small little gathering. also there were fight fair, farewell, and houston calls, bands which i had never heard of before.

probably said many times before, but seeing a band play in concert is totaaaally different. EPIC, almost describes it well. i wish i had gone to see amber pacific's concerts in years past, when they still had their first lead singer, matt. it was an awesome feeling seeing them perform, but it had just a slight tinge of bittersweetness because i was thinking about what it would have been like if matt was there. sad sad.

i (as well as hanna, since she copied me :P) got a new(!) poster from them and got it signed too (as did hanna, since she copied me :P)!

now i just have to see anberlin in concert, and i'll have seen my two favorite bands!

AW YEAH. (that's dango, the sicknasty drummer.)

amber pacific is awesome. listen to them now. ask me for some songs!

on the other hand, i am like a poster fiend now. i have two amber pacific posters (not including the signed pre-order truth in sincerity one), one anberlin poster, and two other posters. i can't wait until i live in a suite next year when i can finally put these up.

[rrr]

-i love word games. prolific, scrabble, speed scrabble. i don't like vocabulary, because my vocabulary stinks, but i like making words with letters and manipulating words to make other words. fun stuff like that. yahimnerdy.

-water tubing at AYL has been the single most fun/exhilarating thing i've done in my life [and among the top funniest things].

-i am red-green colorblind. surprise! yes, most of you knew this already. to clarify, this means i SEE colors, but i have trouble differentiating colors, and also require large samples to better identify colors. typical mix-ups include.. light blue/purple/pink/gray/white. dark green/dark brown. charcoal/brown. yellow/green. blue/purple. you know, stuff like that.

a machine where your heart once was

kfc broke my heart. i remember when i was younger, eating at fast food places was always a treat for me because my parents didn't spoil me with that, and we ate at such places very sparingly, especially kfc. and so whenever the fried chicken-y goodness was brought home, i ate up that stuff like crazy!

skip ahead a buncha years. the next time i ate at kfc was sometime in early high school. first impressions: wait.. something's off.. this doesn't taste like the chicken i remember.. -looks at box- "Now with NO TRANS FAT!" (or something like that.)

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. -heart breaks-

it's still yummy, the only thing that was affected were the wings/drumsticks/breasts (the things on bones), the crispy skin just doesn't taste quite the same. the colonel's strips and popcorn chicken and all that boneless stuff still tastes the same. and the kfc bowls are still mad yummy (though they didn't have them way back when).

what if i WANT the trans fat? it's not like i'm gonna binge on kfc, i'm still going to enjoy it in moderation, but the trans fat made a HUGE taste difference. they should have an option where i can request it on my chicken.

oh, and the same thing happened with cup noodles (with MSG i think).

[3r]

-my favorite color is blue. next, orange.

-i love physics. the concept of it. doing physics problems (at least so far). reading about it. buying geeky books about it. in the same vein, i'm a sucker for physics games. like, simple games based around a nifty physics engine, requiring out-of-the-box physics-related thinking to achieve goals, like WORLD OF GOO. PLAY IT NOW.

(wow i started writing this post about 4 hours ago, couldn't think of one more random thing, and then played killzone for a while and just now realized i have to finish this post. dang.)

-i have a $150 men's ring from tiffany's. i got it for my 18th birthday from a bunch of people at church. i don't really know why i wanted it. now it just sits at home, since i'm afraid i might ding it up or lose it if i wear it, plus it's a little out of place if i just wear it normally. and i lost my silver polish cloth. dang it! but it does have its sentimental value to it, regardless. :]

we write to apologize

i REALLY ENJOY blogging!

thinking about what to write about.. putting thoughts into sentences.. cracking myself up witht he sentences i formulate..

but HELP! if i do WANT to blog, and i do think about it A LOT, then why don't i blog more often?

it's because i feel too CONSTRAINED. hopefully my explanation will serve as an adequate apology to katie (my grant-writer sister who is semi-dependent on my blog to get her through her boredom at work), as well as everyone else who looks(/ed) forward to my blog entries, but is(/was) constantly disappointed by the lack of them.

i'm not sure how you would describe me (like in terms of OCD or perfectionist or whatever). you can diagnose me afterwards in the comments. my thought process typically goes like this:

hey, i wanna blog about this idea!

oh, wait, does it "fit" in my blog?

is my blog one of those blogs about everyday events?

is it about my thoughts in the present?

is it about reflections on the past?

do i want my blog to be about completely random stuff?

oh nose! I HAVE TO BE CONSISTENT!

wait, i haven't even blogged in such a long time!

this has to be a good post!

are people expecting a better post cause i haven't blogged in a while?

should i blog more often?

i want to!

wait, but i can't, because i still don't know what my blog is for!

but if i blog too often, won't people automatically assume each post is less thought-out?

but if i blog too rarely, people may forget my blog exists.

how often do people visit blogs anyway?

bah, i'll just save my ideas and post next time.

i am WAY too constrained. i think i get hung up on the littlest details, because i have this need to make things optimal. why am i like this? :| how can i fix this? (that's a legit question.)

good thing, though, that it's not a cycle that goes on forever, since there is a breaking point where i chug out a ginormous post full of ideas that i wanted to blog about multiple instances before but didn't. and that's what you're reading right now.

if you take anything from all i talked about above, just remember that whenever i actually DO get around to writing a post, every post i write is scanned, proofread, revised, arranged, and edited with care before posting.

---

i just moved all my stuff home today. i didn't think all the stuff in my dorm room would take up THAT much space in my car. i wish i took a picture of it, since my trunk and backseats were competely stuffed. i have yet to unpack it all, though. i found out that the only badminton thing available at the PAL is on saturday evenings, because some asian guy rents out one a gym of badminton courts and then people go there and pay him to play. i'm gonna go on saturday to see what it's like and ask him about pricing. but man.. ONLY saturdays... :[

---

being in my bloggy mood, i feel like i need to write something about my reflections on my freshman year of college. lots of things come to mind. (but i actually i don't want to start writing about any of them because i know i won't say EVERY detail about each of them that i want to say, and thus, if it's not complete, it's no good and there's no point to even begin writing. yes, this is actually how my mind works. GAH.) so maybe here's a summarized version:

[college reflections]

-i've definitely grown, and am still growing a lot in a variety of different ways. and it's good.

-friends are great. board games build community like no other.

-schoolwork is harder in college. the act of getting yourself to do schoolwork is harder in college. the combination of those two is killer.

-college really is mostly what you make of it. the friends, the academics, the events. i'm not gonna say stuff never "happens" to you to get things start, or that some circumstances aren't worse than others, but largely, initiative is a huge thing to have in mind day to day.

-having a car on campus is GREAT.

-despite it sounding gross, having had my roommate pee in our room is a funny memory to have, and an even funnier story to share.

---

please comment if you can, because i know you have thoughts. it could be the littlest thing. comments go far in encouraging me to write future posts (and more often) as well as in inspiring me on different topics to write about.

---

also, i thought of an interesting idea for my blog. i really don't know how it occurred to me, but i like random things, and i like telling people about myself, so putting those two together, i came up with this: at the end of every one of my blog posts, i'll simply have three facts about myself. no money-back guarantees here, it's really just a grab-bag from my life. look forward to them! i hope they're worth your time. :]

[3 randoms]

- i love pineapples. i don't like eating them. i like how they look. i like how they smell. i like the design of it and how it's so unique and different from other fruit. i would like it more if it were blue. i have a collection full of random pineapple stuff (candle, cologne, gold-plated fruit cutter..), that's always open for more new additions! :]

- sometime in middle school, for a year or so, i didn't brush my teeth at all. i just didn't feel like it, and i didn't think it was really necessary. i didn't get any cavities either. yuck. going into high school, i changed my ways. i brushed my teeth whenever i showered, which pretty much only meant every morning, since i showered in the morning. a tad better. but going in COLLEGE, oh man, things completely changed. danyo, my discipler, challenged me to brush my teeth twice a day, morning and evening, as a test of discipline. now i brush my teeth twice a day. yum. :]

- i have dandruff. (and of course i use the almighty head & shoulders which conquers all.) except, it seems like times when my hair is too long, i still get mad dandruff. coincidence? i think not, because i think the way it works is that since my hair is so thick, once my hair gets longer, it's harder for the h&s to clean out / weed out / eliminate the dandruff, despite my conscious efforts to shampoo a couple jillion times. however, it's not completely bad, because when i realize i have this dandruff, i like to try to pick/brush all of it out of my hair. it delivers a certain satisfaction akin to picking my nose. (which i definitely don't do anymore. especially not in private. psh.)

now that i think about it, i think this 3randoms-per-post idea could create some potentially interesting situations in the future with anonymous readers of my blog.

ALL THE BETTER!

shocking

• the devils lost today.
  

there's so much i could say about the series, about how closely matched it was, about how it see-sawed back and forth each game, and how it all came together for the game 7 that was played tonight. i'll leave out all the sports-y details, though. the devils had a 3-2 lead for a while, and then the hurricanes scored twice in the final 1:20 of regulation.

i've never followed the devils as much as i have this season. i've never been so excited to watch a devils game. and subsequently, i've never been so upset over any sport that i watched. DANG. so this is what sports fans feel like (kind of). i wasn't even at the game, and it was really upsetting. it didn't really sink in for a while, because of how quickly things happened. wow.

i don't feel as bad as i'm probably making it sound, though. it's just shocking and really unexpected.

I LOVE WATCHING DEVILS HOCKEY. i have yet to go see a game. (BUT I WANT TO.)

• do i actually have allergies?

i know for sure i've never had allergies before in my life, but in the past two weeks, my throat has been sore every morning, and gradually dissipating throughout the day. for a while, i thought it was because welf had the window open during the night, which had led to me getting sick or getting sore throats in the past. but now i'm not so sure, after i heard that you can GET allergies randomly, even if you've never had them before. that stinks.

• sometimes i wonder if i miss out on tv shows.

i don't watch tv, and i never really have. i remember not having cable from my childhood, and not getting it until.. i don't quite remember when. but i do remember it felt weird to have cable, because i didn't know what to watch on tv even when i had it. but back on the topic of tv shows, i've never followed any. however, i have seen grey's anatomy, seasons 1-3 (not technically finished with the 3rd but close enough), because hilary owns them, and i'm going to say that it is enjoyable. but it's been a while since i've watched it.

all the while, i always hear so much hype about other shows, and i definitely don't doubt that there are some awesome quality shows out there that i would seriously enjoy. lost, the oc, heroes, how i met your mother, dexter, house, 24, all that kinda stuff. i know that they would take a lot of time to follow, and i feel like a big reason i don't watch them is that i'm "behind" already. and it just takes too much time! however, i do love being immersed in another world, full of its interesting stories with their twists and turns (hence why i love RPG games so much).

my conclusion is, yes, i do miss out on tv shows. but it's okay. because they'll be there. (i actually do have a lot more to say on this topic but if i feel that if i speak more about it right now it'll just be gibberish, unorganized, and not very interesting to read.)

[if i had to pick one, i'd probably watch heroes first, thanks to some people's recommendations.]

• what am i doing this summer?

two summer classes at rutgers, during the first session from may26-jul2 (ish). social psychology and intro to micro. basically 6:00-10:00pm, M-Th.

BADMINTON. hopefully the PAL has lots of flexible court time, and non-ridic membership fees. and hopefully johnny/kevin/raaj don't back out. I'M SO EXCITED TO PLAY. and teach j/k/r, too. rob says he might come down to play with us too! [i'm wondering if i should go crash this year's key club badminton tournament. heehee.]

maybe a job? i don't know how much lawn mowing i'm going to do, but i seriously hope i get to mow lawns again, at least for the summer, since i can't during the school year anymore. it actually makes me sad that i can't mow during the school year anymore. sad sad.

how would YOU react?

sometimes, people seem unfazed and simply continue on their way.
typically, people yield a little bit, but still stay on their own path.

occasionally, people freeze in their tracks, unsure of what to do, and wait for it to pass.

and rarely (but amusingly), people instantly dart onto the grass as though a truck was passing through.
personally, i'd probably go with the second approach listed above.
as my totally sane math teacher would say, "CLEARLY", i'm talking about me biking around campus.
now lemme tell you, i have always enjoyed biking, and anyone who has known me in middle school or high school can tell you that the bicycle was my preferred (and only) method of transportation to just about anywhere i wanted to go. that is the beauty of parsippany, in that it is such a bik-able town. things are spread out and spacy enough for comfort, but at the same time not too far for anyone to sanely traverse on a bike. middle school, high school, tennis courts, friends' houses, church, strip malls, restaurants, all within biking distance.
oh, and one random journey all the way to not-so-nearby livingston with my good friend johnny, on which he almost got run over at an intersection by burger king. oops.
since i am such an avid advocate for bicycling, i'd like to name just a few of the benefits: no need for gas money, little to no maintenance, great exercise (sick calves and thighs), and great for enjoying nice days. plus, as i mentioned two blog entries ago, biking in the snow is a unique and awe-inspiring experience that you simply must experience at least once in your life.
now even though i'm all into biking and whatnot, what's funny is that my bike is super ghetto. my parents got it for me a long time ago from a family friend, and it belonged to her son (who is now a retired Marine and whose biceps alone would probably break the handlebars of the bike if he tried to ride it again).- the handlebar grips slip off if you pull on them, and moreso when it's raining.- the rear brake is pretty bad, and the front brake is only decent, which averages the quality of the brakes to be on the poor-mediocre end.- there is no suspension whatsoever.
- adding insult to injury, the old bike seat broke so we had to replace it with one that is rock hard. it hurts.- the spokes thingies are really rusty (and have only gotten rustier from bringing it to college, where there's virtually nowhere to put it where it won't get rained on), and thus i can only use two or three different gear combinations of the possible 21.- the gear shifter is actually not ghetto! it's an expensive top-of-the-line shimano gear shifter thing that we had to buy to replace the original one when it broke.- the kickstand is a wobbly twig.
however, the bike itself was free, and it's functional enough for me (ooh, it's tricky to rock a rhyme to rock a rhyme that's right on time it's tricky, it's tricky tricky tr-r-r-r-r-r-ricky).
there was a period when i didn't bike, though. (that is, when i got a car. duh.) instead, driving was the cool thing. driving to tennis, church, people's houses, giving rides, etc. (and also infinitely cooler when i would leave the car in the driveway and the gas would "accidentally" be low, only to have it magically filled up within a few days. parents are so nice.)

but alas, upon coming to college, and spending the first week or two without my trusty set of wheels, i realized my life just isn't meant to be like this. we were meant to be together. i brought my bike from home as soon as possible, and it's simply been like a dream ever since.
seriously, i can get from metzger to arc in four minutes. FOUR minutes. do the math. (i was considering doing the math of how much time i save weekly and yearly by biking instead of walking, but i'll do it some other time. i have enough math to do today.)
that was a brief (!) desription to bring all of you up to par regarding my bicycle affairs. NOW, back to my original topic.

i was inspired to blog today (even though i have to study for calc and chem exams on monday and tuesday respectively) because just a while ago, i was biking back from the dining hall, and i was cruising along and listening to music on my dandy bike ride, and just as i enter the crosswalk, i nearly get hit by a car coming from my left. my fault? in a word, no. i always wonder what would happen if i got hit by a car. sure, maybe i can avoid getting hit by looking both ways every time when i cross the street (which i do 90% of the time), but the point is that cars must yield to pedestrians, including pedestrians on bikes! (just kidding, that would make me like, a cyclestrian. or cyclist?) yes, wow, amazingly, that is actually what they are supposed to do! it's as if since i'm on something with wheels, drivers automatically no longer have to yield to me even as i'm crossing on the crosswalk. here, let me draw a picture of the inverse hierarchy that is what i deem the pyramid of yieldality*:

*not pictured: wheelchairs, rollerblades, skateboards, my car

now, if you recall the statements from the beginning of my post (yes, way back there), people react in a variety of ways when they see me on their sidewalk approaching ahead of them or alongside them. first of all, i believe i am a good cyclist, because, where applicable, i treat biking the same way i do driving. i always have complete control over where my bike is going and how close it is to others. granted, of course other people may not know that i'm so careful and considerate when i bike, so i don't blame them for how they react. however, there ARE signs directed towards cyclists that say "yield to pedestrians" posted every now and then, and i follow them dutifully regardless of where they are or aren't posted. i'm willing to take alternate paths, weave between people, bike on the [dry] grass, bike on the street, bike along with a crowd at a walking pace, and pretty much any other method that i can think to employ in order to make those traveling on foot around me as unhindered, uninconvenienced, and unscared as possible.
so please, if you read this and you see me biking, know that i'm not going to run you over if you don't dive out of the way or something ridiculous like that. i've only once accidentally nudged someone with my handlebar because someone else in front of me cut me off. i said sorry and i felt dumb.

now you may be wondering, if two people on bikes are approaching, how do you know who has priority? well, you know what chicken is right?
and thus, that concludes the history so-far of my biking adventures to the present day, though the journey is far from over.
don't you wish you had a bike now?

still alive

hi. i'm still alive. i don't know why i don't feel inclined to blog. i forget about it. i feel like no one reads it. no one comments. i'm too lazy. i need consistency. i'm not interesting enough. or clever enough. or witty enough. i feel like i need to type all grammatically punctuationally and capitalizationally correct. i keep forgetting to type in the present tense.

so, what's been up lately?

• my bike pedal breaks!

one sunny day, i am biking on my way to calc2 at hill center, and i decide to try to take a shortcut through the faculty parking lot in front of the dinner takeout area, and i have to go over some really tall curbs. on my way down from one of these tall curbs, i land with all my weight on my left foot, and the bike pedal snaps off. dangit. i put it in my pocket. and then i end up awkwardly biking the rest of the way to calc2, and then coasting on the largely downhill ride home.

the days that proceed are interesting. i walk to class. i walk back from class. i walk to the dining hall. i walk back from the dining hall. and most of all, i feel SO SLOW. i feel like i'm handicapped, and that with every step i'm losing precious time that could be conserved with a faster method of travel. it honestly feels weird. i do, however, get to listen to more music. :]

funny thing is, not even two days later, hilary asks if i want to have "her" bike for me to use. i say "her" bike because it's actually "my" bike. and by "my" bike i mean jordan's bike which i borrowed sometime back in early high school and never returned. just like his scooter. and his ps2.

of course, i immediately agree and once again return to my comfortable throne above a lovely set of wheels.

• i'm living in crosby 205 next year!
  

yes, the supercool preceptor suite that we were all able to attain with my supercool housing lottery number of 255. woop-de-doo. me + mike wang (cap), pat lau + his cousin stephen, and jason lee + henry yang. it's funny, cause i hardly know stephen, jason, and henry, and i only know pat moderately better than those three. well, i guess that happens when i only picked mike to be my roommate, and i let him pick the other four people for our suite.

i wonder what it'll be like. i think of different suites that i often visit, and i can feel that the atmosphere is different in each one, depending on how close and trusting and open the suitemates are with each other.

• i buy killzone 2!

yes, i finally got around to purchasing this awesomely delicious game, for the dandy price of $45 from ebay. i jumped straight into the multiplayer, which i've logged a glorious 35 hours into over the last three weeks, and it is incredible. the graphics, the sounds, the gameplay, the atmosphere. it is phenomenal. the hours fly by uncannily fast, and too many a time have i play into the early morning hours and then conveniently remember i have discipleship the next day. :P

• i declare my major as mechanical engineering!

okay, i must say, i am definitely more than a little hesitant in putting an exclamation point after this bullet point. i had to declare my engineering major this past monday, and man, it was difficult. how do i know what i even want to do in the future? how do i know what i'm naturally good at? how important is my future career? how do know right now if i can handle the work? just so many questions, and so few adequate answers from the many people i've asked. it's not their fault, though, i think the questions -- okay actually, upon reading the last few sentences and realizing how very uninteresting this is, i'll spare you guys. mech e yay!

• devils are in the playoffs!

okay, the main thing is that i'm really hyped about watching the devils. especially after their bad bad show in the post-season against the rangers, losing first round in five games against those red white and blue guys in funny-looking shorts. grr.

• i can take linear algebra as a substitute for chem 2!

YEAH DAWG. I DESPISE CHEMISTRIEZZZZZZZZ.

why is there no way to indent?!

biking in the snow..

is amazing.