Thursday, December 28, 2006
Sunday, October 16, 2005
LitCrawl at San Francisco
Steph and I went to San Francisco this Saturday to see LitCrawl. We went with her friend Emily and another girl Rachel, and the troubles began as soon as we got off 22nd St Station. The station itself was busted: creaky wooden stairs, dirty sidewalks, and no maps anywhere. I remembered seeing the station on the right of where we needed to be (20th and Valencia), but it turned out that we couldn't just walk that way. So someone directs us to a bus that should take us to 24th and Valencia.
We wait about 15 minutes for the bus. The bus driver is an obese black person with thin gray hair that goes below their head but above their shoulders. I couldn't tell if the driver was a man or a woman. We sit for a while, and then Steph asks me how we are going to know when we get there. So I go up and ask him if we are going to Valencia and 24th. No response. A guy next to me tells me that this bus goes up and down 24th. So I sit back down. Then after a bit the guy leaves. Crap, guess hes not going to tell me when to get off.
I go back up to the guy. Excuse me sir? Excuse me mam? Can you tell me when we get to Valencia? Nothing. Finally I tapped the driver on the shoulder. A deep voice responds, "Don't touch me asshole". Ok, well he's probably a guy. So I say, I didn't mean to bother you, but I need to get to Valencia. Again, no response. I sit there awkwardly, not knowing what to do. Finally, I go back to Steph, tell her what happened, and we pull the thing to leave. We get dropped off on 26th and Iowa, a little bit closer to where we want to be, but now its dark, and the neighborhood is a bit decrepid. We call some friends who google Map us, and eventually we get there ok.
I won't lie, I was a little scared walking through the neighborhood. I remember saying to myself "I would be ok with dying right now, I feel as though my ideas, passion and dreams will live on" But even when a guy tells me in not so polite words not to touch him, I felt that primal fear in me. I was uncertain of what to do. I could yell at the guy and threaten him, but I don't think that would make him want to help me. I didn't know how to turn him to my side. I thought of Dale Carnegie and How to Win Friends and Gain Influence, but most of his ideas involve having a conversation with someone. Anyways, at that time, I thought that he might have a gun or something, and get really pissed off and kill me. Yeah its a stupid fear, but it was real. I did not want to die. I saw 2 women and a girl go into a blue garage between York and Bryant, and I mentally remembered it in case we needed to get help. That memory, formed with the fear of the situation, is going to be something I'm less likely to forget.
The Litcrawl itself was pretty much done by the time we got there. But we did listen to 2 authors read out of their books. The first was this fat woman in all black, black bangs and tattos barely visible on her breasts from underneath a black v-neck. She read a story about a prepubescent girl who loves boy that turns out to be a serial killer who later gets executed. Kind of creepy. The second story was from a book called Wake Up and Smell the Beer. The author was a dorky white guy with thick glasses and a loud voice. He tells a story about a DJ named T-2000 who loves electronics, but isn't really good at making music. T loves to blast the static between stations when he isn't home. He gets stoned all the time, and eventually takes to being the door guardian at parties, where he makes everyone who enters take a drop of acid. Tongue, or Door! Listening to the two stories just made me want to write. The essence of the story is its ability to allow us to lose ourselves in it. We get totally absorbed into the story, even when the words are simple, not very descriptive. In all truth, I really want to be a fiction writer, but its scary. Nonfiction is more substantial. In a way, I'm afraid of losing myself in a story that never goes anywhere.
We wait about 15 minutes for the bus. The bus driver is an obese black person with thin gray hair that goes below their head but above their shoulders. I couldn't tell if the driver was a man or a woman. We sit for a while, and then Steph asks me how we are going to know when we get there. So I go up and ask him if we are going to Valencia and 24th. No response. A guy next to me tells me that this bus goes up and down 24th. So I sit back down. Then after a bit the guy leaves. Crap, guess hes not going to tell me when to get off.
I go back up to the guy. Excuse me sir? Excuse me mam? Can you tell me when we get to Valencia? Nothing. Finally I tapped the driver on the shoulder. A deep voice responds, "Don't touch me asshole". Ok, well he's probably a guy. So I say, I didn't mean to bother you, but I need to get to Valencia. Again, no response. I sit there awkwardly, not knowing what to do. Finally, I go back to Steph, tell her what happened, and we pull the thing to leave. We get dropped off on 26th and Iowa, a little bit closer to where we want to be, but now its dark, and the neighborhood is a bit decrepid. We call some friends who google Map us, and eventually we get there ok.
I won't lie, I was a little scared walking through the neighborhood. I remember saying to myself "I would be ok with dying right now, I feel as though my ideas, passion and dreams will live on" But even when a guy tells me in not so polite words not to touch him, I felt that primal fear in me. I was uncertain of what to do. I could yell at the guy and threaten him, but I don't think that would make him want to help me. I didn't know how to turn him to my side. I thought of Dale Carnegie and How to Win Friends and Gain Influence, but most of his ideas involve having a conversation with someone. Anyways, at that time, I thought that he might have a gun or something, and get really pissed off and kill me. Yeah its a stupid fear, but it was real. I did not want to die. I saw 2 women and a girl go into a blue garage between York and Bryant, and I mentally remembered it in case we needed to get help. That memory, formed with the fear of the situation, is going to be something I'm less likely to forget.
The Litcrawl itself was pretty much done by the time we got there. But we did listen to 2 authors read out of their books. The first was this fat woman in all black, black bangs and tattos barely visible on her breasts from underneath a black v-neck. She read a story about a prepubescent girl who loves boy that turns out to be a serial killer who later gets executed. Kind of creepy. The second story was from a book called Wake Up and Smell the Beer. The author was a dorky white guy with thick glasses and a loud voice. He tells a story about a DJ named T-2000 who loves electronics, but isn't really good at making music. T loves to blast the static between stations when he isn't home. He gets stoned all the time, and eventually takes to being the door guardian at parties, where he makes everyone who enters take a drop of acid. Tongue, or Door! Listening to the two stories just made me want to write. The essence of the story is its ability to allow us to lose ourselves in it. We get totally absorbed into the story, even when the words are simple, not very descriptive. In all truth, I really want to be a fiction writer, but its scary. Nonfiction is more substantial. In a way, I'm afraid of losing myself in a story that never goes anywhere.
Sunday, August 14, 2005
Haven't Blogged Here in So Long
Wow, haven't blogged here in forever. Interesting to see my thoughts at the beginning of the year. And my writing style too. (A friend told me that if you put all the bolded words together it makes weird sentences). Totally forgot this site existed until I found it randomly a few weeks ago. And now I'm posting so that if Madi Bell goes to this site, it won't look like I haven't posted in forever.
Finally back home and its awesome. Plus I'm constantly sweating.
Finally back home and its awesome. Plus I'm constantly sweating.
Friday, October 08, 2004
College Part 2
I have to say, Stanford is definitely the coolest college ever. There is so much to do here, and its a constant battle between studying, chilling, partying, and sleeping. I don't put practice in there because there is no choice in that area. You go.
Classes are ok. Lots of reading and writing. Still debating whether to take Chinese. Sometimes learning new character is just such a pain in the backside. Rhetoric is still messing with me!
I just came back from an ice cream social hosted by the AANSOC (Asian something something), while hanging out with my Big and co Sibs (AANSOC also has a Big/Lil sib program which pairs you with a freshman and 2 upperclassmen) fun stuff, schmoozing (is that how you spell it?) with all the Asians.
Then I went to the Party on the Edge with some people, a gathering at Stanford's Art Center, which also really cool. There were these huge walls that you could write random stuff on, with holes that you could peek to see statues or what not. Someone violently stuck their finger in a hole when I was looking through it. Fucker. Some of the exhibits had sound accompaniments that were supposed to represent their "voices". I swear the Greek Statue was gay as a fruitcake.
Beyond all that, college is a time for building friendships, and relationships. Oh, I don't know how to put this stuff into words. I don't know where my life is going. I can only do what I can and hope that things work out. Who am I anyways? I feel like I'm being put into a category, into a box that I won't be able to climb out of. I desire to rescript my actions. Sometimes I feel like I know what I'm doing, and that I have a good sense of what's going on. And sometimes I just have no fucking idea. That really sucks.
PS I'm the webmaster for my dorm. I'm gonna post the site as soon as its done.
Classes are ok. Lots of reading and writing. Still debating whether to take Chinese. Sometimes learning new character is just such a pain in the backside. Rhetoric is still messing with me!
I just came back from an ice cream social hosted by the AANSOC (Asian something something), while hanging out with my Big and co Sibs (AANSOC also has a Big/Lil sib program which pairs you with a freshman and 2 upperclassmen) fun stuff, schmoozing (is that how you spell it?) with all the Asians.
Then I went to the Party on the Edge with some people, a gathering at Stanford's Art Center, which also really cool. There were these huge walls that you could write random stuff on, with holes that you could peek to see statues or what not. Someone violently stuck their finger in a hole when I was looking through it. Fucker. Some of the exhibits had sound accompaniments that were supposed to represent their "voices". I swear the Greek Statue was gay as a fruitcake.
Beyond all that, college is a time for building friendships, and relationships. Oh, I don't know how to put this stuff into words. I don't know where my life is going. I can only do what I can and hope that things work out. Who am I anyways? I feel like I'm being put into a category, into a box that I won't be able to climb out of. I desire to rescript my actions. Sometimes I feel like I know what I'm doing, and that I have a good sense of what's going on. And sometimes I just have no fucking idea. That really sucks.
PS I'm the webmaster for my dorm. I'm gonna post the site as soon as its done.
Wednesday, September 22, 2004
Welcome Stanford 08
@Stanford at last! I spent the first week training with the team. I finally got to move into my dorm a few days. Its pretty nice. I got a Dave Rom like roomate. Take that as you will. I'm still training a lot and its kinda sad cuz I'm missing a lot of the orientation stuff. We train in the mornings 8:30-10:30 and then later at 2:15-5:45. Each dorm has a theme. My dorm is called Serra and our theme is "Serraday Night Fever". Our cheer is Serra-Ah-Ah-Ah- Staying Alive!" Other themes include Super Mari-Otero and CedRo-deo.
The team guys are really cool, but sometimes scary. As freshman we have a bunch of tasks like helping upperclassmen move mats, get cups of water, and basically whatever the fuck they want. Oh yeah, and we have to answer the gym phone. No not just answer it, we gotta fight to be the first one to answer it, cuz the guy who is always last is gonna get shit.
Last night was the Band Run where the Marching band comes out and everyone runs around chasing the band and The TREE, our mascot. The marching band is half drunk and everyone is in ridiculous costumes including some guys in man thongs. We ran around the whole campus and it took like 2 hrs. Later that night me and the other 4 freshman were intiated. I freaking got like 2 hrs of sleep last night. But thats a story for another day.
Oh, it turns out all the traffic violations you can get driving a car you can get riding a bike. BUI baby, BUI.
The team guys are really cool, but sometimes scary. As freshman we have a bunch of tasks like helping upperclassmen move mats, get cups of water, and basically whatever the fuck they want. Oh yeah, and we have to answer the gym phone. No not just answer it, we gotta fight to be the first one to answer it, cuz the guy who is always last is gonna get shit.
Last night was the Band Run where the Marching band comes out and everyone runs around chasing the band and The TREE, our mascot. The marching band is half drunk and everyone is in ridiculous costumes including some guys in man thongs. We ran around the whole campus and it took like 2 hrs. Later that night me and the other 4 freshman were intiated. I freaking got like 2 hrs of sleep last night. But thats a story for another day.
Oh, it turns out all the traffic violations you can get driving a car you can get riding a bike. BUI baby, BUI.
Thursday, September 09, 2004
Back With a Vengance
So I'm back from China, on Monday night. I guess I had a good time. Its fun to be driving again, especially with my 3.7L Mercury when all the Chinese cars were like 1.8. Weaksauce. And then I have repack everything while simultaneously sending out all these overdue forms becaue I got them weeks late. Cool. At least I got a lot of cheap stuff to bring to school. Here is the final list, not including any CDs or DVDs because that would take waaay too long.
Adidas Watch
2 Rolexes (blue, black)
2 Peachtree braceletes
Buddha Necklace
Feel 100 "Digital Access" tshirt
Lithium tshirt
Baleno belt
Baleno Red button up
Beige Button Up
Playboy Orange button up
Longsleeve maroon button
White Long Sleeve
Adidas hat
Addidas bag
Adidas wristband
Super fake adidas shorts - 5 yuan!!
Oakleys
Jeans West Long Sleeve
Hugo Boss Pants
Long Pao
Flashlight
knife
Lighters
Laser pointer
Mao Book
A Ton of CDs and DVDs
Dolce + Gamble Sneakers
Tiger Painting
Adidas Watch
2 Rolexes (blue, black)
2 Peachtree braceletes
Buddha Necklace
Feel 100 "Digital Access" tshirt
Lithium tshirt
Baleno belt
Baleno Red button up
Beige Button Up
Playboy Orange button up
Longsleeve maroon button
White Long Sleeve
Adidas hat
Addidas bag
Adidas wristband
Super fake adidas shorts - 5 yuan!!
Oakleys
Jeans West Long Sleeve
Hugo Boss Pants
Long Pao
Flashlight
knife
Lighters
Laser pointer
Mao Book
A Ton of CDs and DVDs
Dolce + Gamble Sneakers
Tiger Painting
Thursday, August 12, 2004
Nanjing
Chinas progress can really be seen here at the Sports Training Center here in Nanjing. When I trained at Nanjing the dorms were in pretty poor condition. They 6 kids in a small room, bunked up. It was cramped. The only thing to do was play sega saturn and dreamcast in one of the older kids room. The gym was big but the floor was all rotting wood, and everything was dirty and a lot of the metal was rusting.
Now I go back and there are only 3 people to a dorm, and i see tons of computers as well as tvs and speaker systems. They all have internet and air conditioning, and they all play counter strike. In fact there is an ongoing all-sport cs tournament. Gymnastics got eliminated by the ping pong team. The gym is big and cleaner now, with not wood, but concrete floors. It's still dirty, but at least things aren't rusting anymore. And you get to drink during practice. =)
Yeah, but the bad part is that I'm fat from eating out every meal in Beijing. Yeah, and right when I lose it, I go to Shanghai and Suzhou and eat more, especially with the relatives, who always want to put more food on your plate. Now I'm fat, again.
Oh yeah, Beijing was cool, went to a bunch of old places: Summer Palace, Tianmen Square, Forbidden City, Great Wall. I did a handstand on the Great Wall. LeetSawce. And I shot guns in Shanghai, and hung out with Yin - went rockclimbing. Also, shopping for tons of fake stuff, more on that later.
Now I go back and there are only 3 people to a dorm, and i see tons of computers as well as tvs and speaker systems. They all have internet and air conditioning, and they all play counter strike. In fact there is an ongoing all-sport cs tournament. Gymnastics got eliminated by the ping pong team. The gym is big and cleaner now, with not wood, but concrete floors. It's still dirty, but at least things aren't rusting anymore. And you get to drink during practice. =)
Yeah, but the bad part is that I'm fat from eating out every meal in Beijing. Yeah, and right when I lose it, I go to Shanghai and Suzhou and eat more, especially with the relatives, who always want to put more food on your plate. Now I'm fat, again.
Oh yeah, Beijing was cool, went to a bunch of old places: Summer Palace, Tianmen Square, Forbidden City, Great Wall. I did a handstand on the Great Wall. LeetSawce. And I shot guns in Shanghai, and hung out with Yin - went rockclimbing. Also, shopping for tons of fake stuff, more on that later.
