Segregation of friends

I feel bad in a sense, but I have trust in my instincts of dividing friends from other friends. I have problems mixing people with other people. I'm talking about inviting friends to go out, or invite them to a party. It's not something I do because I don't want them to know each other through me, yet it is exactly that. The most daunting hurdle is people who have different personalities. Some are more open and get along easily with strangers, while obviously some others have difficulties talking to new people. Clashes in personality are not in my best interest since I have no idea what to expect and I'd rather avoid the situation.

One of these "classifications" is the person who doesn't talk at all. You never want to invite them to parties because obviously they're just an ornament and people will feel uncomfortable around them. I guess I understand the situation. I'm either really silent or the opposite depending on the people I'm with. I wouldn't be a fun guest if I was in silent mode. I bring this topic up because what happened recently was at a party, friend "A" says friend "B" is weird, because of exactly that reason, friend "B" just didn't talk to us, and somewhat avoided us and went off to do something.

Is there some type of unwritten rule book regarding this type of behaviour?

Dream deprivation

I think yesternight was my first deep sleep in a few weeks. You know, that really restful sleep that when you wake up you feel energized. Deep, deep REM sleep. I think it was the first one in a while where I had a dream that my mind was completely engrossed in. I felt very emotional waking up. It was a powerful feeling evoked because of a decision I made. I haven't had one of these gut-wrenching straight-from-the-core visions in a while, and it usually comes when I feel detached. I'm not sure if it's enough to help me, but hopefully I have a couple more these next few days.

I can't remember what the dream was about a few minutes after I woke up. I wish I had remembered to write it down.

Whatsagood cookbook?

I saw some pretty nice lookin cookbooks at Yaohan. They were some I was really interested in but most if not all of them were completely in Mandarin only. I found some really neat ones with specific topics such as curries, and Chinese appetizers. What I was really eyeing was region-specific dishes for authentic culinary experiences that you normally wouldn't be able to figure out yourself. Hmm hmm....

Transformers!

If you haven't checked out the new Transformers trailer, you should!
It seems like it's revealing a lot more than it should, but hell I still think it looks awesome.

Into the black...

"How long can any man fight the darkness, before he finds it in himself?"

The phrase from a trailer for the upcoming Spider-Man 3 movie. It speaks volumes of how I'm feeling right now. I'm afraid. Fear. Darkness. The void. I'm falling into an abyss. The unknown is encroaching upon my consciousness with little steps. Approaching slowly. Doubt. Insecurity. Despair.

Fear is like fire. It's alive. It thrives on the same things you require to survive. A tool, when controller. A weapon. Dangerous. Unpredictable. Explosive. Emotion fuels it, and it fuels emotion. A tinderbox of despair.

Deja Vu

A phrase that is borrowed right from the pages of the French language meaning "already seen".
I saw the movie tonight going in with certain assumptions of how the movie was going to play out based on the trailers. Delightfully surprised, I was quite wrong. The movie leaves you with a "wow, isn't this a standard movie plot" feel but gives you a taste more on the side of what all the details are going into that and you're too distracted with all the intricacies to bother giving a damn of how overused the concept is. Tony Scott also redeems himself somewhat because the last movie I saw that he directed was Domino. He also didn't overuse editing effects a la Tony Scott so that is a nice breath of fresh air. Instead he goes more into special effects with cameras, which is a different direction that has given a light into his overused "blown out" feel with bright yellows and greens, and having some noisy images and erratic cuts.

I give the movie a 8.5/10. I think the ending could have been crafted with a little more dialogue, but it's still good.

Spaghetti when I didn't mean to

Chef Jeff screwed up his pasta tonight. I was trying some four-cheese pasta sauce and somehow I ended up with something that tastes like regular spaghetti sauce. I put in some ground pork and some alternative sausages, and used spaghettini. I swear I doused it with oregano leaves, but it still tastes like the standard meaty spaghetti sauce. Oh, I also put in some of the secret ingredient for red sauce, Jufran Banana Ketchup to get that sweet kick. Oh well, it still tastes good.

I've been working on a Dashboard OS X widget for the past week and a half. It's a metronome, to well, to help count/time for people who play music. I didn't really choose it as much as I noticed a request for it and so I just started with that idea. I'm almost done after the work I've done today so I'll be posting it up on some widget sites and hopefully get some feedback.
Metronomic v0.3! I'll post up some pictures of it in the next few days.

Ah, tonight's episode of CSI was awesome! I've been so excited with the episodes this season regarding the miniature killer and it was a little sad to see it end already. But, I think CSI needs to keep kicking it up a notch with odd cases like these to spark interest again. The writing really needs some more twists and turns. CSI: NY has done it a lot more with its story very focused on the characters being involved with their cases. CSI: Miami on the other hand has been going crazy styles with the editing lately, which is funny, but that's what keeps it fresh and different from the other 2.

Saturdays are so meh

Went for dimsum today... but I was pretty tired, I don't think I got any sleep til 8am. I'm pretty tired right now, so here's to hoping I might fix my internal clock, take.... day... 25? or more... hahaha

When I got home in the evening, well, like a few minutes before, the battery signal came on, and the radio started cutting out. As soon as I got into the driveway... BLAMO... the car wouldn't start at all. I guess I was lucky I got home at that point since I really wouldn't want to be stuck having to get a tow truck. Hmmm... I'll chalk this one up to luck.

Odd, considering last time, it was the van that had that freak tube failure, when I couldn't steer the vehicle at all, and that failed right when I got to my house too. This current failure is probably electrical and less dangerous, but, maybe not considering how much ice is out on the road. Meh. Saturdays suck.

Venturing into the snow...

After holing myself up in my house for the past few days, I finally went out today to get some groceries. It wasn't snowing today which was good, and most of the snow/ice has turned to slush so driving wasn't really that bad. As I finish wolfing down my last morsel of rosemary & garlic marinated pork chop, I find myself thinking about the basic activities of grocery shopping. It's actually really exciting if you go in want to try something new. My current zeal is to try out new spices... I was pretty much staring at the spice rack at IGA earlier for about 5 minutes. Basil, Oregano, Bay Leaves, Paprika, Cumin, Pepper, Rosemary... too many choices. I'm not actually sure what each is good for, but I know each one would bring a colourful selection of flavours to the table.

I wish I had someone to cook with... Actuallly I've been thinking for the past few days about how I wish I had a dining club. A group of people to go try out new restaurants maybe once a week. But my current group of friends aren't as savvy about I am at venturing into the unknowns of culinary temptations.

Gary Jules' "Mad World", a track from the Donnie Darko soundtrack is currently repeating in my Winamp selection. This tune has recently gotten a new breath of life from the Gears of War trailer. I recommend this to be watched even if you aren't a video game fan, since it truly is a wonderful piece of editing. Infused with a very despair-inducing music, and a very apocalyptic feel, it just feels so right.

I've also been slow at posting my photos, I took some on the first day of snow, but most ended up blurry. Here's a pic outside my window

Grey's Anatomy

Hahaha. I just started watching this series from the beginning. There's so many quotable phrases like: "It's like candy, but with blood, which is so much better".

Ah! I love that theme song at the start too... it really sounds like Frou Frou, but it's not. I think I'm gonna go get that song later. "nobody knows where they might end up. nobody knows..." it's so catchy and so Frou Frou! Okay, I really need a new term for that type of music, but I can't think up of a term with such a distinct flavour.

Food for food, and thought.

I often have a difficult time expressing how people need to be multi-disciplinary, adaptive, and open-minded. This article, titled Creativity 2.E, talks about the "new" way of thinking which is also outlined elsewhere like Newsweek as the new way of creating effective development teams in business, marketing, and design, since all of these disciplines are interconnected in the result end product.

I'm craving some oyster motoyaki since Sunday night...

... and on the subject of culinary creations, I missed the episode of Restaurant Makeover yesterday! Yes, I don't really watch that show, so not that much of a surprise. But, my cousin is the subject of that episode, thus I feel I need and want to watch it. I couldn't understand FoodTV's silly TV schedule time listings, until I realized that they only air once, as in, the airings for EST are the same for PST. They don't have different airings for different timezones so it got a little mucky. Hopefully, I can still catch that episode since it seems like it's going to be rerun at the end of the week. Check out Restaurant Makeover: Cafe Asia if you want to watch my cousin re-design [his?] restaurant.

Just a note, the restaurant is in Toronto on Front St. It WAS pretty bad when I went... which was about 2 years ago. Let's just say the restaurant was having an identity crisis, it's sold, Chinese dimsum, ice cream, liquor, a couple of other things, and last time I checked it was Filipino/Chinese cooking. But that was a long time ago. I'm sure the makeover helped a lot.

Mellowing

As I sit here contemplating, which seems like all I've been doing for a while... I'm also playing online poker and sipping some Pineapple and Orange juice (which tastes gross,btw), I'm listening to BT's new album, This Binary Universe.

I have to say, this album is very unlike his usual style, the elegant orchestrated electronica with a trancelike essence. It is more of a mellowing out, calming, almost lullabying type of electronica. There are 7 tracks with a total track time of just under 75 minutes. I'd have to say Good Morning Kaia would be my most favorite track, having the most serene mood. It sounds like something straight out of a movie soundtrack that depicts one of those climactic moments of victory, defeat, or epiphany.

Internet companies/technologies to watch out for

I was looking around CNN and ran into this compilation of the web's hottest companies. It really is a step towards the "Web 2.0" we keep hearing about. The technologies these companies are developing are what will make the Internet progress towards a more unified and productive tool of the Internet. It's a good look if you're interested what the techies or the geeks are using, since the general public still doesn't know about most of these since they don't know about them, or they have no use for them right now. But they will... soon...

25 Hot new tech companies

Now... to come up with a service of my own. That's what I need to do! mmmmm....


Apparently, there's some water advisory here in the Vancouver area. Because of the amount of rain we've received, the water is deemed to be unfit to drink. They recommend to boil before you drink. Weird.

Remembrance Hot Pot

Mmm had a hot pot over at my house today! Lotsa fun. Lotsa food! what else do you need!?

My internal clock has been having problems adjusting, or un-adjusting. My sleeping patterns are way off, and hopefully, after today's early wake up, it might have a chance at being normal. I was woken up this morning around 11 because of those annoying door-to-door religionists, advocates, or something to a less-desirable door visitor. But, today's door-knocker was quite efficacious.

"Hello, here is a pamphlet if you care to read"
"Okay?"

Although it was an unwanted visitor, it still gave me a moment of hope for the advancement and lessening of the annoyance of door-to-door religionates.

I watched the first episode of The Amazing Race Asia yesterday. It was well... pretty sad. The challenges themselves, the teams/people, the host, and the prize is only 100K, unlike the 1 million on the standard Amazing Race. Very, very sad indeed.

EAGH. OKAY. It's 2 AM. WHY DO PEOPLE CALL? NO, THERE'S NO ONE HERE BY THE NAME OF AMANDA OR MANDY. WTF.
I've been getting these damn irritating pay phone calls at wee hours in the morning for random ppl. WHAT THE HELL.
It's already bad enough that those other 2 companies I mentioned before who are looking for my parents keep calling 3-4x a day. SHEEEEEEESH.

Profiling / Behavioural Analysis

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1591022665/ref=pd_cp_b_title/104-2642768-0715141


I am thinking of getting this book.
Criminal Minds is one of my favorite tv shows and I'd like to learn a little more about the science of psychoanalysis of criminal behaviour.

I'm not too familiar with Psychology since I haven't taken any courses on the subject, I'd like to get opinions and suggestions on more well-known books or something good like standard psychology texts on this specific topic.

Best Inventions of the year!

http://www.time.com/time/2006/techguide/bestinventions/

I enjoyed looking at their list. My favorites would have to be the water production invention. That's some crazyness, or is it craziness, that could solve water problems for a lot of developing countries out there. Or it could also solve logistical nightmares like deploying water to troops or to disaster-ravaged towns, but that's really just on the practical point of creating the system rather than a real world need.

Escape

Disturbing dream. I can't recall much details.
[start]
I was in some costume? or was my wife?

We were walking down a street... then near some people, she cried about how she was being raped. It was nonsense, but she had scars on her face. Of course nothing had happened to her, but the scars which were fake marked her face as someone to be taken seriously. I could feel scratches on my arm forming... weaving creating waves of blood. My hands had no choice, they started scratching in the same weave pattern. I scream,
It is not fear, it is terror. At my inability to control anything I saw or felt.

I pass out.

I cannot remember waking up, or even coming to. The first memory is of me carrying my wife's slender body in my arms curled. I realize that she's naked. And so am I. It's cold. We're in some damp concrete building structure. It's fairly closed in. Cars. Lines. Parking Lot. I clumsily walk around my unconscious wife, hiding, dodging behind car to car, careful not to be seen. Need to escape. Where are we?

It seemed like hours trying to navigate a parking lot. It seemed as if there were at least 20 floors. Is this some kind of office building? Hotel? I see a stairwell and some people who looked like they worked for the building. Three of them were moving something from a utility closet. I approach. "Excuse me, do you have any towels?" "Are you staying in the building sir?" "Yeah...uh... on the 6th floor" The fellow immediately hands me some towels.

I wrap one around myself and the rest around my wife. Not as cold now. I move through the stairwells to a different floor before the employees were able to do anything. Rest. I was tired just from carrying my wife's body. "It's alright as long as she's okay", I think in my fragile state of mind. Footsteps. Men in suits. Elevators. People are creating a search grid. Time to move.

I move up a stairwell and then go back out into the parking area. It's dark. We're harder to find out here. Who are these men in suits. Are they here to capture us again? Voices, they're getting louder. Oh no, gotta move. We're gonna be seen here. "chhk, I found them" off in the distant. Crap.
I see another stairwell... it's an open area? i go up. oh no, suit. I come back down... then I realize this section of the building isn't closed, with an open ceiling in a corner. No wonder they could see us.
I back away.... too late, nowhere to run. Helicopters in the background. *chuggachuggachugga*

A man in a suit approaches from the helicopter... I back away still. I see a little girl coming behind him... Casey? My daughter? ...My daughter! Casey!.... I shout out at her "Casey!" The man says "it's alright, Mr. Menckel? Jamie Menckel?" (I'm not sure if the last name was right... it was something along those lines). I nod not in agreement, but in confusion. I look at Casey who is hugging my leg. My wife is starting to wake up...
[end]

I honestly don't know what that means or anything... I don't understand it, I don't anything it.

Sundays are so boring...

I finished reading Dave Gorman's Googlewhack Adventure.

It was quite pointless. Yet, the essence of travelling around the world on a purposeless journey and having a reason, useless or not, to quest around the globe, creates quite a sense of envy. I'm sure many other people besides myself would jump at the opportunity to search for something and having an excuse to do so.
The book was quite comedic and offers a lighthearted approach to something so mundane and idiotic. It brings the reader wanting to remember and re-live the non-realistic desires of a child's mind to have a burning desire to meet complete strangers. It was a fun book, but I really wouldn't recommend it. I didn't learn anything, and I'm sure I've lost a couple of brain cells just reading it. Had some laughs, but.... it's just so retarded. =)

Retro Gaming Night

Had some fun with people over playing some old Nintendo 64 games. That's right, the BEST N64 game there ever was, Mario Kart 64! I miss this game so much, it's just so mind-numbing, gut-wrenching, exhilirating fun while laughing yourself silly.

I really need to get more party games and have people over more often.

Mmmm.... Marvel!

Went out to eat Korean... actually, I'm not sure what the name of the place was since it was in Korean (as in the English named was spelled phonetically), and I wasn't really paying attention. It was pretty good... It was on Kingsway near Knight. That's pretty vague and not helpful considering how many Korean/Asian restaurants are in that area. Heh!

I checked the time like 10 minutes ago and I only just realized that DST just ended and it wasn't as late as I thought it was. I've been playing Marvel Ultimate Alliance on PS2 so I'm up late. Good game! Except it's not as flashy on the PS2. I can't wait til the XBox360 version is out. It's a pretty fun smash-and-bash co-op game. i miss the good ol co-op days on the NES/SNES. They need to make more games like this and bring the fun back into playing with people.

Maybe this shift in time can help me with my disrupted sleeping habits.