Rhapsody on a Theme

Because I've always wanted to be a rhapsodizer.

It's strange how some habits are picked up. Yesterday, as I was getting on an elevator, another guy rushed in just before the door closed. Since we were the only two men on the elevator, we naturally took positions on the opposite walls and, just as naturally, leaned up against it. I caught myself almost immediately and thought it was quite curious how both of us naturally felt this urge to disassociate as much as possible.

On the ride back down, once again, the elevator ride consisted of another guy and I, and once again, he immediately leaned against the other wall as soon as the ride started. Quite curious.

And speaking of habits, I've picked up this habit of buying a couple of books every time I visit a book store. I know I know. But usually, I don't buy any books, but nowadays I'm just on a spending frenzy I suppose. Last night's theme was fiction. I bought The Godfather, which I read before and liked, and Atonement, which I have not read but they are making an Oscar contender out of it so it can't be that bad right? Thoughts?

I was also tempted to buy this Oxford's Guide to Philosophy that was on sale for $10. But it was 1000+ pages! But oh so tempting.

Oops!

I was so tired last night that I forgot to call my parents on Mid-Autumn's Night! Ack!

Suitably offended, the God of Filial Piety (I'm guessing it's Confucius' side job) punished me justly with a terrible nightmare. Yikes!

Amida Buddha*!



Please forgive me.

*I am covering all my bases.

"Well Mandela's dead!" -George W. Bush

So supposedly, an official in the Bush White House accused Barrack Obama of intellectual laziness". That Obama, while "intellectually capable", has decided to just skate by using his personal charm.

I... there are no words for me to quantify the irony in any of this. If Obama has been "intellectually lazy" and skating by on personal charm, then what has Bush's entire presidency been about? I guess technically, he has skated by using his stupidity rather than charm, but "intellectual laziness"?

WHY DID PEOPLE VOTE FOR HIM!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!!

Y'ARG!!!!

Talk Like A Pirate Day!!!

Land Ho!

And other pirate related thoughts.

How does a pirate find his way home?
By looking at the st'args!

Where does a pirate buy his rum?
At a b'arg!



I never understood the old sailors' superstition that it's bad omen to have a woman on board. Why? Because she'll get pregnant and then divide the crew in jealousy? But think of the fun you'd have in the mean time.

Yeah for successful Chinese pirates! How come I never heard anything about her when I was growing up?

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on who you are I suppose), modern piracy is in decline. The last act of piracy I heard of (on the high seas that is, har har) involved an American luxury liner. It was attacked by 2 pirate ships off the coast of Somalia and repelled the attack by using a "long range acoustic device" (essentially blasting very loud noise) and running the other ship over. That's just sad.

Disadvantages of Being Tall #... uh.... 1?

Being rather tall (for an Asian), I have often been told that I am lucky to be so tall and life is all grand and wonderful and cheery since I'm tall. But I'm here to tell you that there are definite disadvantages to being tall (for one, spelunking is never really a viable hobby). Today, in particular, laid the truth to bare.

It was raining fairly hard today. After taking about... 10 steps out of my apartment building, I decided that it was stupid to walk all the way to the office in this heavy of a rain without an umbrella. Unfortunately, I did not have an umbrella in my possession and thus I went on a rather quick wild goose chase around the neighborhood for a convenience store that sell umbrellas (in my car, which, thankfully, is dry on the inside). However, the umbrella did not help as much as I had hoped. Why? Well, as I said before, I'm rather tall:



Above is an illustration of what happens when a not-so-tall person use an umbrella. Note the small distance between where the raindrops that barely miss the umbrella falls and where the person's feet is. This is vitally important to the objective of the umbrella (staying dry, for those of us who are over thinking this).

Also please note the expression on the face of said not-so-tall person's face.



Here's an illustration of what happens when a tall person uses the same umbrella! His shirt might remain quite dry, but his pants/jeans will be totally unprotected and soaked! ACK!

This is indeed a terrible and heretofore untold misery of being just rather tall. I think we all know what happens if this persists:



DEATH BY WET PANTS!!!!!!!