chenchanx's Xanga

The Impossible - Happened

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 23:20:24 GMT

I've been reading up and watching TV shows about cars - there's something about cars that I really like. Is it the freedom it represents? Is it perhaps the independence it provides? Or is it once again, a representation, albeit false, of social status?

Regardless of why I like cars, the truth is I do like them a lot and I'm not going to spend much more time dwelling on the why's. I'm here to talk about that diligent, small Asian car manufacturer that might just have beaten the Goliath of Japanese cars.

Yes, you guessed it right, it appears, ladies and gentlemen, that the new Hyundai Sonata has beaten, fair and square, the Honda Accord. At least according to Motor Trend.

Ok, now before you start prepping your rocks and whatnot, know this: I am not pleased. I am a Honda Accord owner, and my family drives a Hyundai and there is no way in hell can that Hyundai ever beat my Accord in ANY manner. Or can it?

Of course I'm not talking about my 2006 Accord or the 2003 Elantra. I am talking about 2009's here. I was reading Motor Trend one day and there it was, a comparison between the never ending Ford Fusion, Toyota Camry, Honda Accord, Volkswagen Passat and... I guess that was it (too lazy to go grab the magazine right now).

I cheat my way and usually go straight to the results: that is an indicator of whether I'll read the whole article or, depending on the results, refrain from reading it just yet. This was one of those occasions.

Yes Hyundai did come a long way between now and then, and yes it shows but when did Hyundai amass the technological advancement to surpass Honda in one of it's most prized breadwinners, the Accord? Oh my, anyway, I start to read and I see things like how the new Accord has a maze of buttons (it was actually one of the selling points for me, since I'm geeky like that) and how the Sonata's interior was just nicer (actually, it was nicer than that of the Toyota Camry... Toyota!!! Aren't them the guys who first put together the words "superb" and "build" for the first time??) but in any case, looking at one of the pics on the web I have to admit... maybe the Sonata had a small advantage... (yes I still love the Accord).

Power delivery is supposed to be very smooth on the Sonata, if only the second gear had a bit more punch to it. Driving the 2003 Elantra, I'm a bit sad to say that it is something that has haunted Hyundai cars for quite a while, at least the 4 cylinder models.

Looking at the MPG numbers, the Sonata delivers 1 mile more than the Accord (highway) and that was impressive by any standard. The Accord is techy and is made by Honda and those crazy Japanese people know how to milk every possible pony out of each liter they put into the engine. They are known for it. If you buy an Accord, you are a smart person because (1), it is a dependable car and you won't have to worry about it leaving you in the middle of the road and (2), you are saving money on gas while enjoying the same, or more power than any other car in the same category. All this has changed.

And the absolute shocker of it all: American cars are not that far behind anymore. Each brand has it's own sedan coming up (the Opel Insignia being by far the looker out of the bunch, in my opinion) and they look nice. They promise to deliver just as much MPG, if not more, than what we expect from the Japanese cars. They are feature-rich and built nicely (or are supposed to, anyway) but in essence, it is America's response to all of these years of poor product development and poor fiscal management.

They have awaken. Again.

All I have to say is that in the next 2 or 3 years, the car scenario will change quite a bit: all of you, Honda and Toyota fans, might start looking the other way - when a Hyundai Genesis or a Chevy/Saturn/Whatever Insginia (don't know which brand they'll use to bring the Insignia) or a Ford Fiesta passes you by.

Have the roles flipped? Before, the Japanese cars were dependable but no one would ever believe in them. While the American cars relaxed, they persevered and their diligence in producing a quality car has brought them many fruits. What about now? Did Toyota and Honda go to sleep?

Or did the American and Korean brands finally catch up?

In this crazy race, we are the lucky winners: so yes, big car makers, compete fiercely for our money. Out develop, out think everyone else in order to regain or take your share of the market. Go for it.

We thank you.

What a weekend!

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 12:38:14 GMT

Wow what a crazy weekend! I absolutely loved it and here's the breakdown of what I did:

1. On Friday night Fiona and I went for the movies - Wall-E had just come out and you know how it goes... we just had to watch it. It was an awesome movie, I really recommend it for everyone.

2. Then on Saturday morning I told my parents just how awesome the movie was. There we go again, for a second run of Wall-E with them. Mom did not want to go watch it at first, but she really enjoyed it as well - she thought that Wall-e was probably the cutest thing ever so I told her I'd buy the plush toy whenever it came out.

Then I spent the afternoon part of Saturday trying to finish off GTA IV, with no success. Yes, I did keep staring at my watch but I was adamant to myself: "you will 'waste' this afternoon playing games and doing the things you like and don't complain about it". So I did sit there and thought of nothing else other than "crap I need to buy more RPG's to kill that dog Dimitri Rascalov". Or whatever his name is. Ah what a sweet afternoon that was... after about 2 hours (my personal best so far this year) I went upstairs and... SLEPT. Wow. It felt amazing to go up there and sleep after being tired from... playing games. I think everyone should spend one afternoon like that.

At night I went with the LC - Joey to Chillis and had the good old time with them. Interestingly, I had finally discovered the reason why the LC was always comprised of men. We were sending out the wrong vibes!!! No wonder! As usual, we blame it all on Bum. Our vibes were not appealing to the general female population, and I'll leave it at that. We need to "retune" it and send the vibes to the correct population. We'll work on that :)

After that we went to Frank's Theaters to watch "Wanted". It was a good movie, Angelina Jolie looked a bit older (she's finally showing her age) but damn she still looked dream-like. I shall now start to hang more at convenience stores. Once we fix the vibe sending mechanism.

In any case, at the end of the movies we said our good-byes a bit earlier than usual: I now am sure that our long talks at the parking lot are appealing only to the true members of the LC. A fun time nonetheless.

On Sunday I woke up late (since I was playing until 2 am or so) and had a good hearty breakfast. I was just getting back into gaming mode when apparently Dad flipped out and dragged everyone to the park for a walk. Me, the IT professional (and therefore hater of anything that has to do with grass, open air and nature) offered my last bit of resistance, but to no avail. Forced was I to go take a walk at the park.

Actually, the walk was very nice and I really liked it. We walked over to an old mill and the scenery was pretty good. I kept thinking how cool it would be if I had a bike at that moment. I might go out and buy one so that Dad and I can go out and just ride around the park. Not bad. While the bike does not come, I'm planning on going there on a regular basis and run towards that mill. It's just like in the movies, where the characters run and run and run and finally get to the resting place - that might inspire me to be (gasp!) healthy.

And so I shall conclude this post - that walk around the park made me realize that life can be good outside of my gaming/computer world. Fiona told me about the awesome time she had when she went rafting at the Poconos. Team based activities involving possibly sinking a boat? That sounds like fun for the LC crew.

As she was telling me about it I kept imaging one scene in my head... it played over and over again, always inciting some good laughs...

Me, Matt and Bum in that boat, screaming to each other:

"MATT! KEEP ROWING! PUT SOME BACK INTO IT!"
"I AM ROWING WHAT DO YOU THINK I'M DOING???"
"AAAHH WE'RE TAKING IN WATER!! I DON'T WANT TO DIE~~~"
"SHUT UP BUM!!!"

I'm sure that if we don't kill each other over there, it should be a pretty neat experience. The boat seats six. A much cooler experience is to go through all that yelling... with our g/f's also in that boat.

$40 a pop, for the whole day - how does that sound guys?

6 people. 3 guys, 3 girls. Now we're missing 2 girls. Bum and Matt. Get to work. Put in that 6th comment on facebook already :)

Ferny

The Beauty Of Life - Fridge Raid Yields Ice Cream

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 23:08:02 GMT

Ever found ice cream in your fridge that you had never seen before? Either because someone else bought it without you knowing about or that you just forgot about it completely until you were hungry for something sweet in the middle of a hot night? Feels like you just hit the jackpot doesn't it?

Ah, life sure seems much better at sweet moments like these.

Of course, it doesn't come close to finding $1,000 in your fridge, but one takes every little good thing life can give.

Since I have nothing interesting to post about, I will write about one of my many experiences when I was living back in Brazil. Check this out, life was so much simpler back then...

When I was in high school, I'd sit in the back of the room with Francisco and start listening to JPOP songs while the teacher was lecturing... about something. Not sure what, since we never really paid attention to it, but I think it should have been something important. Nonetheless, we were not the least interested in it because it all just came down to common sense and the ability to put some fancy words together when attempting to explain a concept to the class - if your words were big enough, and your logic weird enough, you were usually awarded a "good job" from the teacher and you'd be going back to your desk, without any issues - people would go crazy that we'd be able to do stuff like that.

In any case, I remember a particular day when we had a busy day: after class, I had to go to a store to take some photocopies of... something. I can't, for the life of me, remember what it was but once we got there we realized that the print job would take some time to complete so we decided to go to a bakery next to it and buy ourselves a 2 liter bottle of KUAT Guarana (soda). Hm, that name looks so weird now. Anyway, for a good hour or so we sat on the curb and just drank straight from that bottle and talked about the goodies in life or something like that.

The point is that was probably the only thing we had to do for the entire day! We could sit there and if we wanted to, talked about life the entire day and nothing would be amiss. Heck, we'd talk on the phone for a long time!

What happened with my life?? How come now I can't make myself play GTA IV for one hour without looking at my watch and start thinking that I'm wasting my time and I should do something more productive? I never thought that I'd have this problem, but I can't seem to just relax. Do nothing, waste time, chase mosquitoes, any way you'd like to put it, I'm not able to do it. Next time I need to tell myself "yes, I will be wasting those 2 hours doing nothing at all, so get with the program!"

Maybe I need a little deflate button for my life - whenever it starts to become too full I can press it and it'll go back to the normal little life I used to have.

Maybe I don't have that much time anymore because now I have a job.

Sounds so weird. I have a job. I'm a responsible person, earning my own money, building my own life! EH? When did it go from "hopeless in school" to "Programmer Analyst"???

Time surely does not wait for anyone.

Bug

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 23:14:43 GMT

There's a bug going on... and it's called the "Car Crash Bug". In about 2 weeks, 3 people (including me) got their car hit (luckily all three of them were minor hits - mine being not so minor but oh well, it could be a lot worse). There's something weird out there so be careful.

I've been thinking about my future for quite some time now. This year hasn't been that euphoric ride 2007 was (which is good, gives me time to really appreciate things) but I do want to get one thing accomplished by the end of this year: a clear plan to what I want and how do I see myself accomplishing it. Many dreams - not many plans to make these dreams possible. I do believe that anything is possible, but I also believe that they are only possible because we have the mind to put strategies in place that can make anything possible - with a bit of divine intervention.

I've tried this exercise many times and it has been difficult. It's as if I am running out of dreams - now you know that can't be a good thing. It's just that I've gotten so many of my childhood-long dreams to turn into reality that I'm really having a hard time coming up with a dream that seems reasonably feasible: buying that $1 million dollar house dream is nice, but doesn't make me feel all warm and cozy inside. I like the smaller things - maybe a lifestyle that would reflect owning a house that's $1 million bucks - the house then would be only a consequenece. Hopefully.

But I'm also tired of my dreams always being "ok, I need more money" and "wow I really need more money" or "I wish I had more money" or "can you just imagine having all this money" or "I could probably do that if I had more money", I think those are all one-way streets for me since my head needs to have something else other than money alone. So what do I want? $100,000 job? That would be nice, but I don't think it'd be much different than today, honestly. No, I'm not nearly close to making $100,000 a year, but for some reason I figure that it's gotta have the same feel to it than right now: when I came into this country I was making $3 an hour. Now I'm making a lot more than that, but still, I have the same feeling when it comes at night - something's missing.

I have a great family and a great girlfriend. I have a good career and the company appreciates my efforts and often praises my good work and gives me a flexible schedule - I don't know if I'd be able to work for any other company if they required me to log my hours or "punch in" before and after lunch. I like where I am; I can just take a lunch break any time I want to and for as long as I deem necessary.

But all of this, all of this "dreams" are not hitting that sweet spot. I'm not saying those are not important, they certainly are essential to me, but I've got all this stuff and I still feel like I missed something just as important. What the heck is this feeling?

Is it my spiritual side going bye bye? That could be: I haven't prayed in a long time, let alone meditated. Maybe that's what I need. A bit of "spiritual tonic" if you want to put it that way. Maybe I do need to practice more.

It'd definitely help me right now, especially since I can't seem to be able to wait for anything, or have any tolerance when people start screwing up.

Boy and I used to be so tolerant and patient! What happened?!

Life happened, I guess.

The Car is Back...

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 23:36:14 GMT

And it is doing well thank you. Of course with the one week hiatus (or house arrest, if you want to look at it that way) I have already managed to forget some pretty crucial stuff on how my car works. You see, I'm a bit of a MPG freak since gas prices are going up and my car is not exactly Corolla-like economic: so I'm usually always calculating MPG against RPM and average speed. Needless to say, that "Trip A" computer is very useful to me and there I have logged my precious miles, eagerly waiting for the opportunity to be calculated against the number of gallons for the week.

So today I wanted to go back to my favorite "Trip A" setting except that for some ungodly reason I was looking at the WRONG portion of the trip computer and held that button for a couple of seconds (no idea why) and voilá! My Trip A computer meter-thing reset itself so now I have half a tank worth of gas and no clue on how I am doing. If I manage to forget crucial stuff like that by just not driving for a week, I don't want to see what's going to happen when I get back after my 2-week vacation in Brazil. I'll probably get lost going to work. Better take the GPS with me a couple of times :)

In any case, aside from the car finally being back, the day hasn't been that interesting. I don't have anything to post about so I guess I'll spare everyone and stop typing. Especially since now both my hands hurt from typing too much (the pains of being a programmer).

Ok so time to go to bed I guess. Have a great weekend everyone!

Make it proper :)

Car Crash - Public Version

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 22:19:24 GMT

So now that situation has finally been resolved, I feel good enough to post about it. Last Friday (Friday the 13th) someone hit my car in the parking lot where I work at. The entire front bumper got dropped clean onto the street. I first heard about it when my co-workers left work before I did and called me.

At first I did not believe it. We used to play about it all the time "yo man! Your car is hit! Ha! Just joking!" so I thought it was just another one of those silly jokes on a Friday evening. Wait a second, they are not backing down on it... I go up to the window and see them in front of my car. I can not yet see it, but they are standing there, so something is wrong. My heart races as I go downstairs and run towards them.

Unfortunately they were not joking. My new recently purchased car was hit, and the front bumper was laying in front of it. Damaged. Oh how that feeling in my gut sucked.

Today marks the end of such tragedy: after many calls between my auto insurance (State Farm) and the driver's insurance (he was nice enough to leave a note), Geico, everything is finally settled and I should have a check for my deductible soon enough, probably prior to when I go to get my car on Friday. That's a relief. $500 definitely makes a difference :)

I just found odd that the guys at Geico were much more helpful to me than my own insurance company people. I'm really ticked off by it and will soon look for a replacement car insurance. Felix has them and from what I've heard they are truly superior in quality, customer service and technology. Just because they were kind enough to call MY insurance company to sort things out for ME (and I'm not with Geico) made my day. Geico, you are awesome and I owe you one. State Farm, you do your job but I can tell that you really hate to talk to me on the phone.

I've talked to the driver many times throughout this ordeal. He was a very nice person, a honest person. Great to see that good people like him are still around. Too bad we met under these circunstances, but hopefully we'll meet since we work at the same building, in some other event in life that does not involve a car accident :)

One thing got to me though. It was a question posed by my professor at college and to which I never got the right answer for. He asked us whether we did the right thing because it was the right thing to do, or because we were just too afraid of the consequences if we chose not to do the right thing.

The driver said this: "I tried to be a good citizen and left my information even though I could have driven away. I am a God fearing person and I think I did the right thing"

Yes, he did the right thing, but did he do it because it was right, or because he was just too afraid of God? "God fearing person" makes me believe the latter.

So I wonder. Left to our own devices, how good of a person would each and every one of us be? If we were free from punishment, would we still do the right thing?

And the kicker of it all: does it really count, when you do a good deed because you're too afraid of doing otherwise? I'm sure it does count, but wouldn't it just be a lot better if we did the right thing because it was the right thing to do in the first place?

It happens to me a lot of times. I won't pick up a dollar bill on the floor even though I know I probably could get away with it. I do not watch another movie if I only paid for one session at the movie theater, even though there's no one there to check on it at times. I do not lie on custom forms about how much stuff I'm bringing even though I'd probably be fine bringing in $2000 worth of electronics. I know I can get away with it, but it's just wrong. I don't do it because I'm afraid of the consequences (although it does have a part in it) but rather, because I like to always do the right thing. Because it is the right thing to do, period.

I also believe that the only reason the guy left a note there is because I have always been a honest person. I'm not honest 100% of the time, but I like to think that I'm honest when most people would not be and that's fine by me. I believe that we meet people who are just like ourselves, like it or not. So I'm not surprised that the guy left a note. I'd do the same thing. I'm not surprised that someone went the extra mile for my sake in the insurance paperwork, because I usually do that for those I work with.

I'm completely pleased and super happy, but I'm not surprised :)

Good things happen to good people. Sometimes we have bad things happen to us as well, but as long as we can keep our nature true to ourselves and not skew too much to either side, we should be fine...

I did go through a tough time with it, but I'm glad I'm out of it and everything's doing well again. Thanks go to Matt and my sweetcake for helping me out. Bum, you probably did not even know about it so that makes you go to the "bad friend" category MWAHAHAHHA!

See ya everyone, looking forward to getting my car on Friday! finally!

Now if only that $600 stimulus payment would come in.... :)

BluRay - Obtained

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 14:05:06 GMT

Since BluRay came out a while ago I remember that I've always been nagging to everyone how "cool" and "fantastic" it is, especially how one day I was going to have the guts to actually commit to a purchase. Well, I have just committed the sin of going out there and buying one.

I bought the PS3 40GB at Wal Mart because they were having this deal: if you bought the PS3, they'd give you $100 gift certificate to buy whatever else you wanted. That's a cool thing to do, because essentially, you are getting the PS3 at $100 discount (provided that you used your whole gift card).

Everyone who buys eletronic products know this one all-time truth: just buying the device won't cut it; you need to also buy the cool gadgets that either make that device way cooler, or that are needed in order for your cool gadget to work properly. Trust me, I felt that in my bones when I bought my first DVD disk. Without buying a DVD player.

We had just gotten to the US and we never had a DVD Player in Brazil - I remember how it was something for the "rich people" - a very fortunate group of people who were loved by God more than we were and that we could never join. Pun intended :)

A bit after I got here, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon came out and I promised myself that I'd get that DVD when it came out. A couple of weeks later, it did come out on DVD and VHS, but I went ahead and bought only the DVD, even though I did not have a DVD player. I could watch it still at my aunt's since she had a DVD player, but I was always waiting for that sweet moment when we'd be able to afford one when we moved out of her house.

A couple of MONTHS later, we moved out and rented a little apartment everyone is familiar with. A couple of weeks later, we bought our first DVD player ever. It was at WalMart for $50, an Apex machine. I remember how Dad had to think so much to buy it, because things were not easy. Truth be told, he thought it was expensive and did not want to buy it. Yet again, as he usually does, he buys it for his nagging, spoiled son. :)

It's funny how history repeats itself. I went with my Dad to watch Forbidden Kingdom and at the end, he asked me: "Do you think it'll come out to DVD?"

"Sure Dad it will. But we won't buy the DVD. We will buy the BluRay version of it" - I replied. He did not believe me at first.

After watching Iron Man, I remember telling him "wow Dad I can't wait for it to come out on BluRay". Somehow I saw myself, 7 years ago, sitting in that same chair but in a different theater, buying the disk without having the player. Buying the game without having the console. Buying the manual without having the car. Ah the funny weird ways I make myself miserable with.

God knows I've been plucking everyone's patience by (1), asking for a PS3 for my birthday, (2), asking for a PS3 for my 1 year anniversary with Fiona, (3), asking for a PS3 just for the sake of asking for it and (4), asking for a PS3 because "oh-I-am-so-poor-please-feel-bad-for-me-and-buy-me-a-PS3".

Bills gave me a break and I was finally able to go ahead and make the purchase. I don't regret it, and only look forward in exploring more deeply the goodies that the PS3 provides.

Picture quality is amazing and the movie I bought it with, equally good - "Letters from Iwo Jima".

Rambo was awesome in that too - too bad National Treasure 2 was already purchased in DVD format. No, I will not buy a BluRay version of Transformers - if I have the movie on DVD, that's it, no more BluRay of that.

In moments like these, I can see just how much our family has grown stronger financially. I can not believe that we found hard to purchase a $50 player. I am only glad that it is now a thing of the past.

Looking at where we are, I'd feel comfortable in saying that we might, just might, make it into that very select group of "rich people" who once we thought were too high, mighty and utterly unattainable for us before.

Yes, I know that money is not everything and that we are already very lucky to be and have each other - but that's just not the point of this post.

And yes, we now hold all 3 new consoles out there =D

Cirque du Soleil

Sun, 01 Jun 2008 00:16:03 GMT

Yes, I do know that I've promised this post since forever but then again, lots of good stuff happened since then that have not made to this Xanga. Shame on me. Well let's try to correct at least this one first. More posts to follow, I promise!

An Experience

The day did not start well for the Cirque. I left work 30 min later than planned and that caused me to rush to Fiona's house like a madman. Bad move, Ferny. I was in such a hurry that I did everything wrong as soon as I cleared out of my company's parking lot: I made the wrong turn, got into the wrong lane and because of it I ended up in a place I hadn't been before. You don't want to be lost in Norristown at around rush hour, that's just not good. Especially if you're already running late. I was a raving car demon on steroids all the way to Fiona's place, and I mean "Doing-70-on-a-45-limit-road" rage. My brother had called me a couple of times already asking where I was and Fiona kept telling me how she could not believe that I'd still get lost after all the times I went to her place. Oh well peoples, I lack spatial intelligence and it should be of no surprise to anyone. It just sucked that it had to be when I had so little time to drive around the city.

We finally made it to the tent in Philly and were just in time: it was not yet crowded and we found our places with ease. We were sitting on the FORTH row, counting from the stage! Unbelieavable!! I had never experienced a play up so close before, this promised to be quite entertaining.

I have to admit that even though I had heard plenty about the Cirque, I wasn't looking terribly forward to it: I mean, a circus is cool but it's still the same thing; clowns, a couple of tricks here and there, done. What else could they do? Put the tent on fire? (hopefully not).

The play starts off with clowns but their jokes were so good natured and creative that I found myself pleasantly surprised. I liked their characters and I liked the way they portrayed their roles. They really loved what they were doing and could think of nothing else they'd rather be doing at that very moment. I'm a sucker for that.

A plot starts with a magician showing a kid, who is skeptical at first, just how wonderful and great the world can be, full of adventures and magical moments. Let me tell you, the opening act is just... glorious. That's when the center stage is showered by light and a HUUUGE tower shows up with live musicians playing at the top and other people dancing in the middle and the base of it. I was so impressed by how beautiful the song, the stage, the lighting were done that I had this feeling that I was just about to cry. I don't know how to explain it, I was just so surprised and so... moved by all the great songs, scenery and other things that I felt a bit overwhelmed and had no other way of expressing it.

Throughout the play it was as if I started to enter this "world" created by the Cirque. I remember feeling that way when I was a little boy watching a movie in the movie theater. The movie was called "Os Trapalhoes E A Fonte Da Juventude" and I remember the feeling of entering their own universe and for that period of time, totally losing touch with my reality and becoming completely immersed in their own reality. That was 15 or 16 years ago and until this very moment, that little spark of imagination and creativity had been dormant in me.

I was a little kid again: no more work, no more stress, no more "grown up issues" and once again, I was in a world that none of that mattered. Just like the little kid in the play, I was shown how magical and rich the world is outside my window. To be able to go back and feel that way once more was absolutely priceless.

Impossible is only a word

Trust me. They do what they claim when they say the above line. From the very beginning until the very end, you can't help yourself (or at least I couldn't) but to gaze, with your mouth wide open, how fascinating all those tricks are. From flying off into the air to pilling up chairs high up (and I do mean high up) almost touching the roof was just mind boggling. At one point of the show I really started to avoid looking at it too much because those things looked so freaking impossible at first but then, again and again, they would not only do it well and finish it, they would do something even crazier right after it.

If I close my eyes, I can remember how the event unfolded and I can still find that happy place, in my head, that this play was able to show to me. In that place, I'm still a kid, dreaming about life, dreaming about colors and beautiful forms.

I really think that we all get too tangled up with our own problems, and forget about that purity we had when we were children. Maybe that's why childhood is such a good period of our lives (usually). When we are all grown up like now, we are often not allowed to go back and be that dreamy kid again: we have bills, responsibilities, ambitions, frustrations and disappointments. We don't have time, nor would we if we did have time, to go back and make a totally pretend world where a chair suddenly becomes a bike, a ladder (or your bed) becomes a boat, a blanket stretched over two chairs becomes a tent in the middle of the forest...

Small moments like these will accompany you for the rest of your life. A hectic day, time off from work and a bit of money to purchase the ticket are all small prices compared to what you are able to gain from it: a ticket back to your own childhood, coupled together with the ability of bringing something back to use in your grown up world.

The magic of creativity - that changes your perspective and your reality - forever.

That's Life... I Suppose?

Thu, 22 May 2008 22:20:35 GMT

Things have been quite hectic at work lately - this week I've easily passed the 50 hour tab, probably closing in 60.

I keep wondering what is the end of the road for a life like this. I keep working, hoping for advancement opportunities in my career both inside the company and outside with possible employers and I can't help but think about the end of the road.

I can see why people drive hard like this their entire lives, chasing after an ideal, a day when they can finally rest and enjoy life with their loved ones. Will that day ever come though? How many people do I know, or have I known, who passed away while battling for that big day, for that big vacation, for that perfect life, which is just sitting there around the corner?

If I could only reach that corner. If I could only drive 5 more miles. If only...

Some people have a hard time juggling time between g/f and friends, let alone myself who must do it with my job (which takes most of my time), my family, my friends, my g/f and then, my other job. I'm not going to sit here and yell what a pitiful been I have become, but sometimes I just think that I'm spread a bit too thin. I could never live my life without any of the above, so how do I make a full life with all of them at once?

I think I got it.

Well it sounds very stupid and very "duh", but I think I really nailed it this time.

I don't have much time. I have many things I need to do. I have many people I need to look after and who I love.

So I need to make every minute count. I can't spend time talking to my g/f just saying "huh... ok... yeah..." while attempting to do something else. I might get that thing done, but she won't be happy.

I can't go out with my friends while looking at the clock and hoping to make that 10 pm movie session with my dad. I don't have much time, and I need to make every second count. 5 minutes, 10 minutes, I don't care how long.

People don't feel left out and unappreciated because you don't have much time to spend with them. They feel unappreciated because you spend a lot of time with them while thinking about something else.

Hm... could be Ferny. That could be...

Just done...

Tue, 20 May 2008 00:36:40 GMT

Working. It's 30 min past midnight.

When I wasn't up studying until midnight, I'm working until midnight.

Man I just need a break...

Damn it!!!! This is pissing me off!!