Filed under: posts | Tags: cars, economics, Fang Datong, Fast and Furious, happiness, Nintends DS, Rhythm Heaven, Shanghai, sights & sounds
A few things going on right now, the most important of which is an agonizing wait for the results of of my final round interview with a leading economics consulting firm. I feel I did fine during the interview and case, but who knows? These things tend to have a way of surprising you.
(This next paragraph is for those who are interested in the otherwise boring on-goings of economics)
My thesis which is about the One Child Policy and its Effects of Women’s Education, is coming along daintily. I have found a newer, more trustworthy dataset, but it will limit my usage of certain statistical methods. I will have to check in with my advisor to make sure it’ll work. I am getting a nice self-led crash course introduction to SAS though. 
On the entertainment front, a few items of note.
Fast and Furious was good. It wasn’t deep, or intellectually stimulating, but from a auto-head POV, it was pretty sweet (minus that atrocious MY2009 STi). I really liked the beginning which paid homage to one of the forgotten greats in American muscle history – the Buick Grand National. These turbo’d Regals are in my mind, still the epitome of no frills American power.
Of course, this movie featured a lot of great cars, including a whole myriad of American classics as well as an awesome scene with an R32, R34 and GTR Nissan Skylines. Honestly, I even thought the fighting scenes weren’t half bad. If you can get over the cringe of a few typical F&F lines, then go watch it!
Rhythm Heaven (リズム天国ゴールド) for the Nintendo DS. With the release of the “new” Nintends DSi, recently released games have not been given the spotlight they deserve. I recently started playing this gem of a game and it is wonderful. It’s like a good mix of Warioware with Elite Beat Agents. It is a collection of rhythm-based mini-games that are all very original and clever. This is the kind of game the DS was made for. Hours of boredom assassination! Check the quick vid of the mini-games in action:
Khalil Fong, a.k.a. 方大同 (Fang Datong). Mr. Fong here (courtesy of my wonderful Serena) has answered my prayers for some different Chinese music. Born in Hawaii then moving to Shanghai (yes!) when he was 6, Khalil possess a less prototypical sound. He a stronger idea of bass and rhythm than his peers and I personally think he sounds Mraz-ish. An added bonus is that his English pronunciation is native, so when he adds that English phrase between the mandarin, it doesn’t add all that cheesiness.
Here are few songs of note:
(1) Love Song from the album Wonderland
(2) Singalongsong (English) from the album Orange Moon
(3) 三人游 (pinyin: san ren you) from the album Orange Moon
Whew. That was a good, long post.
‘Tis all.
Filed under: posts | Tags: Academy of Sciences, Cal, environmental, happiness, LEED, potluck, Ronald Jenkees, Shoei
I’m really happy!
Not everything has gone well. My job search has been quite fruitless recently and I’m getting a bit worried. My consulting projects are becoming more and more condensed and stressful as we approach our deadlines. I have a midterm on Thursday. I don’t care, life is good.
There are some things that make life pretty happy.
1. Ronald Jenkees. I dont’ care if he is an act or if he just swindled me for a good 10 dollars. Check it:
2. My Shoei RF-1000. I want to put a warpanda sticker on it. It just reminds me that I’m gonna get my bike soon. (When a good 250R owner finally pulls through to close the damn deal). Nonetheless, it is pretty exciting. Looking to pick up a Dainese Horizon jacket next.
3. I’m going to be heading down to the Cal-USC game. This means, watching us lose in style (probably) AND eating Korean food @ Tahoe Galbi in Koreatown. Oh man, have I missed that place so. Just because it has a strange name resembling a popular Lake resort area does not mean it will be one of the best meals I’ve had in a while. At the same time, I get to visit Chris and spend some time with friends. (Excluding Jaeman as I have abandoned him).
4. Potluck was a semi-success. For a half-organized, suddenly changed, word-of-mouth event, it turned out pretty fun. Buying PlayDoh may have felt strange, but scluptionary is quite the game. At Berkeley, this game gets INTENSE. C’mon, try sculpting “remind.” I dare you. Oh, and that 10 point Taboo round was really something to behold.
God, I forgot how easily Rum and Coke goes down – all warm and bubbly.
5. The freakin’ California Academy of Sciences. I’m finally gonna go soon! Half of my time @ Cal has involved environmental consulting and sustainability. This place is LEED Platinum. I’m a sucker for rainforests. Living rainforest dome. I grew up looking at those alligators. I remember the humid air, the sound of the water on the first Wednesday of the month when the place was free. I really loved that place. Now, they have an ALBINO ALIGATOR. Done.
Plus, there’s gonna be penguin feeding.
‘Tis all.
Filed under: posts | Tags: Evo, happiness, Pushing Daisies, self, Shoe Drop 2007, sights & sounds, society, TOMS shoes
“We wake up every morning with a list a mile long and maybe we spend our lives making those wishes come true. Just because we want them doesn’t mean we need them to be happy.” (S01E06 Pushing Daisies)
This has come to be a very mundane quote. It has been put more eloquently, with more high-brow vocabulary and from more notable mouths than Lee Pace. But its importance and potency stands, perhaps even more so in this colloquial, banal adaptation.
Sometimes, we all need to refocus and collect ourselves. This is a viable and important question to ask, honestly and often. Are we just checking off the wishes on our list, or truly looking for sustainable happiness? In an effort to be more optimistic, I will just skip the bashing of the endless commodity driven lives I see everyday at Cal and focus on where I’m at.
Things I want to be happy:
- Tanabe Touring Medallion Exhaust for the Evo
- Do-Luck style front carbon fiber lip for Evo
- APS BOV, Works Drop-In Filter and reflash
- Timbuk2 Medium Laptop Messenger Bag
- Nintendo DS!
- Subscription to Top Gear Magazine (!!)
Things I need to be happy:
- Giving and sharing happiness
The first list isn’t sin. It just needs perspective. It is so easily to fall on this path of jumping from one purchase to another as a means of happiness. I know I do it. However, like meeting friends at drunken college bashes, it is very brittle. Such happiness is insubstantial and wears away quickly. I find that they are much better as seasonings to a much stronger, core sense of happiness derived from the second list.
Like the happiness derives from family rather than from the presents during the giving Holidays, this weighty happiness is so valuable in life. For me, the thing that has made me so very happy during the last few days is this blog: http://tomsshoedrop.blogspot.com/
I worked with TOMS in the summer and to know that my work is paying off in the form of bringing happiness to children in Africa is extremely uplifting. It reminds me that I have the luxury of having my basic needs taken care of so I can write this otherwise unimportant blog about the need for more substantial happiness.
As for fulfilling that latter list (of one item), it does come in many forms I believe. One of those ways is through cause-driven work with clubs and companies. However, since only one of my clubs has an immediate human element, it is hard for me to find that happiness solely through my work. I find myself struggling some days to find this foundation in my life.
Even so, I am not afraid. I know it’ll come eventually. In the end, it will have to be a person, someone I can share happiness with and simply give a part of myself to. I am not in too much of a rush though, there is much to be done in all the other fronts of life as well.
Maybe I’m being too naive with my perception of human relationships. However, I really do believe in happiness being found in relationships rather than in a certain income level. They are sustainable, substantial and evolving whereas a number is simply a launch pad to another bigger number.
So I celebrate the little triumphs in life and in happiness. I smile knowing that a child in Africa has shoes on his little feet because I helped sell those shoes. I smile knowing it is the first act of kindness he has experienced in his life – the first expression of shared happiness. I hope this changes things, even if for a while.
The end of that episode of Pushing Daisies asks: “What do you need to be happy?”
In the dreamland that is television the answer from the guy protagonist to the girl protagonist is “you.” I bet in the mire of happiness that is life, the answer is not far off.
‘Tis all.
