sore, but all right

it's an interesting feeling after a day of badminton, when only the right side of my body is sore, from my foot to my thigh to my side to my shoulder to my arm.

:]

thought 7

the small black things you see in the top of brita filters are bits of carbon. it's okay to ingest them. if you think about it, it wouldn't be a very smart move for the brita company to use a harmful substance in a water filter, would it?

thought 6

sometimes, i feel like i'm living my life through a window. while it is true in a sense, since i'm looking through my eyes.. what i don't think about is that other people actually see and talk to an actual person, preston chang.

weird, huh.

thought 5

at my bank's atm, i get a receipt whenever i complete my transaction. i have no need for it, though, so i toss it in the garbage can they have conveniently provided on the floor by the atm. inside the garbage, there are lots of crumpled and ripped-up receipts. i definitely understand the thought process.. but totally unnecessary, if you think about it.. first, if there was valuable financial information printed on these receipts, crumpling up the paper wouldn't do anything to prevent someone from getting that information. second, what bank would actually print valuable financial information on a receipt?

no scratching necessary

a question i get asked a lot is: "why do you smell everything?"

i've finally thought of an answer: "why not?"

consider a book, a piece of paper, a mousepad, a racquet overgrip, a playing card, and any other item whose intrinsic purpose is for something other than its fragrance. though not necessarily created with its smell in mind, who would deny that each item has its unique scent?

and i believe that each item deserves to have its unique scent experienced. :]

snow + bike = heavenly

i rode my bike to takeout tonight. middle of the street, no cars, snow pouring down, thin ride-able layer of snow on the ground, and the glorious sound of snow under my tires.

i absolutely love bicycling in the snow.

is getting injured even interesting anymore?

hey homies!

it's been a while, and what could be more fitting as a return post than another iteration of "preston gets hurt snowboarding!", eh, eh? (the third iteration, though the first two aren't documented on this here blog)

yesterday, i faceplanted on a flat rail at mountain creek.

a little bit of background history: a few seasons ago, i decided to try out a flat rail, and then i hit my hip on it. ow. from then on, i vowed never to go on rails again.

back to the present: yesterday was the first time this season that i went to south at mt creek, with all of its new terrain park shenanigans. it was pretty cool.

my first run down south, i rode down the right side of the trail, scoping out the jumps and features and landings and whatnot. the problem is, the trail is wider than just one line of features, so i didn't get to scope out the interior of the trail.

my second run down south, in the middle of the trail(!), i see a medium lip that i want to jump off of. key point: you can't see any of the landings on the other side of the jumps.

i go off the jump, get some air, nothing crazy.

i'm in the air.

WHY HELLO THAR FLAT RAIL rightinthemiddleofmylanding!

i was struck with terror by the sight of that flat rail. and more terror as i instantly realized i was going to land square on it, though i guess that's better than not landing square.

in my head flash a few thoughts.

"crapcrapcrapcrapcrap"

"oh, it'd be convenient if i landed on it and rode off of it nicely like i knew it was there all along"

NOPE.

i land on the rail. i estimate i ride half of the rail. bam! i hit my face on the rail lolol.

i knew i hit my head because, just like when i hit my head in the past, i lost that one second of memory prior to the collision, the memory of me actually falling down.

i'm on my tummy on the ground, and quickly ride out of the landing towards the fork of the trail in front of some trees. oh yeah, textbook bailout procedure.

i'm laying on the snow and i wave arnold over (at this point i'm glad i went first, before arnold and jon[tsui]), and jon stops by shortly after.

i ask arnold, "assess the damage." the left side of my face hurts in general, there's some bleeding, my left contact fell into my goggles, but MY EYE IS FINE!

my goggles are fine, too. here's the crazy part. since the day was kind of overcast, i was considering not wearing my goggles (putting them on my helmet) so i could have extra visibility on the snow. whewwww, i'm sososososo glad i wore them, because my goggles took the brunt of the impact and saved me from a broken nose or cheekbone or something worse. my goggles have saved me twice now, this incident and last time's.

at this point, i put the contact into my mouth to keep it from drying out, and i snowboard down the trail with only one contact. by the time i get to the bottom of the mountain, i've already accidentally eaten my contact. oopsies.

at EMS, i get the scrapes on my face wiped with alcohol, and ice is given to me for the swelling of my left cheek and the area surrounding my left eye. somehow, whenever i get injured, i always hit my face, and always the left side.

all in all, i'm fine. it doesn't really hurt, it just looks worse than it is. it'll be better in a few days! and going to camelback tomorrow will make me feel better :]

today's lesson: always scope out jumps to make sure there isn't a rail hiding behind waiting to be nomnom-ed by your face.

also:

A person with hands crossed over their head while on or near a feature means:

d) It's time to get X-treme!

poomf goes the pigeon

some time ago, i was driving on i-287, going a cruising 75mph.

as i was driving along, i saw a pigeon standing on the ground right ahead of me in my lane, with my car fast approaching it. keep in mind that i saw it for all of one second before i .. well, hit it with my right tire. poomf.

a wave of guilt and sadness hit me immediately, as abrupt as the pigeon's death.

yes, i felt sad. and guilty. and that feeling stayed with me for a little bit.

but, it got me thinking. i feel bad about accidentally killing this pigeon. why? because this pigeon was alive. and now its life is no longer in existence. but how many other animals have i killed and not even given a thought to?

is all animal life created equal?

puppies. penguins. jellyfish. spiders. giraffes. ants. hamsters. goldfish.

i'm sure that as you read over that list, you and i both naturally see the lives of certain animals as more valuable than others. is this right?

is it okay to treat spiders as the spawn of the devil while we love on bunnies because they're so adorable?

do people (who care at all about animal life) eat chicken instead of beef because cow lives are more valuable than chicken lives?

does the animal being bigger mean its life is worth more than the smaller animal?

also, i believe that while animals are alive and feel pain and have emotions, only humans have souls.

what do you guys think?

thought 4

is it bad to feel sentimental about things?

thought 3

when did the music we listen to become our identity?