Song of the Day: Daft Punk - Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

On a more posi note, I really want to go see Daft Punk. August 5, 2007 @ Arrow Hall Mississauga/Etobicoke. Who's with me?



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Labels: concerts

Song of the Day: Frances Gall - Laisse Tomber Les Filles

I've been thinking about many things lately, but I just can't conjure up the right words to express what I think. As of late, I constantly catch myself not finishing sentences when I talk. I find this very annoying and I don't know how to stop it. I don't think I've had this problem in the past and I swear this has appeared out of nowhere. Just imagine talking to someone and the person starts into a sentence and trails off midstream. It could be taken as if the person is dismissive and not interested in the conversation. I seriously do not intend on doing this, but I feel as if I draw a blank.I should be confident in what I say. It's just not being translated that when when my thought is being vocalized. I also discovered that if I drink alcohol this "fading speech" inversely becomes a boisterous crescendo of thought. So does this mean I only like myself when I drink? nahhhhh...


Another topic that has bothered me somewhat as of late is the whole social networking fade. I'll call it a fad because I predict it'll get annoying over time. Anyways, a friend once vehemently vowed not to ever use the services of any social networking tool. Now this person all consumed by banners, lists, top eights, gifts and what have you within worlds of facebook, myspace, friendster, high 5 etc... Even the strongest of wills have been broken down to succumb to social networking. I have no problems with these sites and I've seen some positives from them. What I am concerned about is the true benefit of social networking. Yes, Suzy could be friends with Michael, but has either of them actually socialized in person or further continued their friendship? Does these social networks really enhance ones social skills? There are definitely some great arguments for both sides. I personally see myself getting lazier socially. Knowing what your friends are up to is a mere key strokes away. Social networking increases your overall grasp on friends' lives and current events, but it takes away from the interaction that probably made you friends in the first place. What I have coined "social laziness" could have attributed to my problem in the first thought. Basically, I could one hiding behind this virtual "wall" all the while these sites are being marketed as a great social networking tools.

What ever am I to do?

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Labels: habits

Song of the Day: Voxtrot - Mothers, Sisters, Daughters & Wives

I must say that I haven't been a rock show in quite some time. Shows have been something I really enjoy going to in the past. I would try and go to at least one a month. Oh, the good ole days of calltheoffice. It seems to me that going to shows is more of a hassle for some reason. I'm leaving more shows less satisfied by the bands I see more and more. Granted the last show was good, but I was rather flummoxed by the song selection. Voxtrot is from Texas (I think?) and have traveled to Canada maybe once before? I was peeved that the band left out my favourite song from the playlist - Rise Up In the Dirt. Granted it's from an older EP, but they're a relatively new band to Canadians and they only have 4 EPs of material. My theory is if you're in unchartered territory tour-wise, you might as well play all your songs. I'm just getting old and my patience is running thin with everything. Things like this would not have bothered me 5 years ago. I should just be glad Voxtrot made it into Canada.

Other than my rant above, there's been a culmination of things that have prevented me from enjoying my love for music:

1. Lack of Energy - work really does take its tole on you
2. Band Cancellations - if you book it, you might as well play it
3. Opening Acts - There should be a rule where opening acts should not play more than 7 songs
4. Show Companions - I had my set group of friends who attended shows with me &now they're gone



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Labels: music

Song of the Day: Rhianna - Umbrella

It's good to laugh at yourself once and a while. So when I found this list, I couldn't help but laugh for quite a while. It probably doesn't really make sense unless you've lived as a Vietnamese kid growing up with some funny funny Vietnamese parents. Though, so of these statements are far from accurate, some are spot on. Anyways, enjoy...

1. You eat everything with fish sauce and/or soy sauce

2. You sit and eat with one foot on the chair

3. You plastic wrap your remote control

4. You or someone you know is doing something illegal

5. Your parents don't send you to your room; they beat the crap out of you

6. You love any games involving cards, especially Tien Len and Poker

7. You’re addicted to gambling

8. You don't mind spending dollars on a bottle of water

9. You and your friends fight till death for the bill when u guys go eat

10. You wear all brand name clothes

11. You have no patience

12. You love Chinese/Korean movies, especially the long ones with a billion episodes

13. You’ve never seen your parents kiss, hold hands, or say "I love you" to each other and if they do anything like that, you'd be fucking grossed out

14. You either went across the street from your high school to gamble or went to the billiards nearby to play pool or jits

15. Your parents are strict as hell

16. You had to kneel on jackfruit peels, if you still have to do this, I feel very sorry for you, call children's aid!!

17. You drive a Toyota, Acura or Honda

18. Your parents still call you by your Viet nick name (usually starts with cu or be)

19. You go to raves

20. Your parents teach you to say hi to people but they never fucking say "hi" to you

21. When you step out of the house for anything, your parents think you're going to join a

22. Gang

23. You learn so fast, you scare the shit out of your teachers, but you hate going to school

24. Your last name is Nguyen (ok fine, not all of you, but you're probably related to a "Nguyen" though)

25. Your parents only want you to be a doctor, a dentist or a fucking lawyer what the fuck happened to all other professions?

26. You or someone you know does nails or works in a salon

27. You have a karaoke system at home but you go to karaoke bars anyway

28. Your religion is most likely Buddhism or Christianity

29. Your political views include Guvernment, Republik, Distrikt and you vote @ Pulse

30. You have an anger problem

31. You need a haircut

32. You probably talk shit behind people's backs

33. When your family has a get together party, they talk and laugh so frickin loud, like a fish market; oh and of course they do karaoke

34. You used to get those ridiculous bowl or mushroom haircuts

35. No matter where you go, you look at other Asian people wondering if they're Viet

36. Your hair used to be split w/ yellow highlights and now it's spiked! (Guys)

37. You love war movies (Troy, Gladiator …etc) because they remind you of

38. kiem hiep! (Chinese movies with a billion episodes)

39. You’ve had to translate for your parents at least several times and it annoyed the hell out of you

40. You have so many relatives, some of which you never knew existed, and you haven't got a clue how you're related to them, basically, you have one fucked up family tree

41. You have a staring problem

42. You or someone u know works at a karaoke bar

43. You grow only your pinky finger nail, who knows why the hell you do that (guys)

44. Someone in your family has an engineering degree

45. You’re an alcoholic

46. You always find excuses to party; in fact, you party all the time for no apparent reason

47. You’ve probably seen a Paris by Night, Van Son or Asia

48. You stay healthy by taking herbs and vitamin E

49. You love wearing the hard core Viet flip flops, indoor and outdoor

50. You’ve witnessed a slaughtering of a pig and/or chicken

51. You do the Viet squat (sitting down like you're )

52. You love soccer, and you wonder why Vietnam never makes it to the world Cup

53. You have cravings for instant noodles sometimes and you don't fucking know why

54. Your uncle that just came over from Vietnam gets booked by the cops for capturing those poor geese at the parks

55. You eat those duck eggs for snack(the ones used in Fear Factor)

56. You love banh chung, banh gio, banh uoc, you name it, anything that starts with banh

57. If u liked a girl and she didn't like u, u asked her to be your god sister

58. Your parents always compare you to other kids

59. You’re an accident

60. Your parents don't know a thing about you

61. You have a shit load of bags in your lower kitchen cabinet (taken from grocery stores for home use such as garbage bags )

62. Your relatives in the states are filthy rich from nail stores

63. You have some uncles that's got fucked up names, usually involving numbers and weird fruits or some shit you've never heard of

64. Your parents told you they found you in the trash can

65. At some point of your life, you went to those pointless New Year fest things where you walked around and did nothing, and said hi to the same people over and over and it got awkward after the 90th time, then you left

66. Your parents are extremely superstitious, if you stand facing the wrong direction, they spin kick you back to the "right" direction

67. You can't date til you're 60

68. When you are feeling ill, your parents think you're on drugs

69. You cuss out anyone in Vietnamese that gets you pissed off

70. You know you’re Viet when you're always the first one to fight and start shit with anybody

71. Your parents think you're the worst kid

72. Your dad wears glasses and always has the good old' hair combed to the side look

73. You always have pounds of rice around the house

74. You use your dishwasher to store clean dishes

75. You, or someone u know has that immigrant mark on their left or right arm and if they do, it means they were born in Vietnam

76. You have a bucket in your bathtub

77. Your parents constantly barge in your room when you're on the computer asking why you aren't doing homework (even when u don't have any) and threaten to cut your internet

78. Your shoe shelf is outside your front door

79. You have "thit kho" for dinner at least once a week

80. You know you're Viet when your family uses newspapers as your place mat

81. People admire you and your country for being the only country that ever beats the AMERICAN, and the FRENCH in a modern WAR Oh and the Chinese too

82. Your parents hang those Viet calendars on every wall in your home that they collect from the Viet markets

83. Your mom leaves something in the freezer for about a year and wont throw it out because she thinks food last forever in the freezer

84. You know you’re Viet when there's a pile of Vietnamese news paper (thoi bao) lying in the corner of your house somewhere

85. Your dad or uncle host one of those drinking party every Friday or Saturday night and they all sit in a circle on the floor with piles of beer on the side and "tuyet canh" as the main dish

86. Your mom dad uncle, or any elder relative still goes raving

87. Your mom uses the garage as her second kitchen because she don't want to stink up the house, especially when she makes "mam ruoc"

88. Your mom records every episodes of Cai Luong and lends them to the rest of the family members and friends

89. Your mom saves all your Halloween candies to give out next Halloween

Song of the Day: Minus the Bear - Double Vision Quest

Not much of an update, but more of a confessional. I just killed yet another iPod. It was no longer than a month ago that I posted an entry about another needless homicide. The total iPod death toll has been raised to 4 devices; all by way of laundry detergent and water. Now it's just a matter of how long I wait until I buy another one. The smaller the device, the more likely I'll wreck it before I even get full use of it. Will apple just come up with a waterproof device already?

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Labels: gadgets

Song of the Day: Modest Mouse - Dashboard

I'm definitely not made for running, but somehow I was coerced into running a 20K relay race this week for charity. It was a department event and my friend convinced me months ago that it was really easy and you could walk if you wanted to. He described it as mostly a free pizza and beer kinda event. Who turns down free beer and pizza? Anyways, as time crept closer to the event, everyone was pretty serious/nervous about run times etc... Needless to say, I was really nervous as I haven't ran in years and my torso might buckle from underneath me at any moment. I'm a big guy. No one should put them through the pain I went through. I definitely wasn't looking forward to the run to say the least. It made it worse because everyone around me would talk about the preparation and training times for this event.

Once the day came, the air quality was horrible and it was sunny and humid all day. As I passed people in their toned and lean bodies, I was really worried about not finishing a race. People who were at this event were seriously hardcore. I mean it was a charity run, but people were really taking it seriously. Anyways, I got up tot he line to wait for my partner to tag me before running. At that point, I felt relieved to get the run over with.

The end result was that I wasn't as in bad shape as I thought. The course ended up being somewhere between 5 to 6 kilometres around the CNE, but more heavily weighted to the 6 KM mark.I didn't manage to run the whole course, but I did finish it and felt good afterwards. I can say I ran in a race. I just hope my legs aren't rubbery anymore. The best news is that we didn't finish last. 297th of 347isn't that bad is it?

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Labels: activities