MOMA

I happened upon a brilliant exhibit at the MOMA today with my Uncle Ti. The Henri Cartier-Bresson photojournalism exhibit (ends tomorrow) was astounding, particularly for its historical images of China. I found it to be more fascinating that Bruce Nauman: Days - or maybe I just can't get modern art.

Random Thoughts

The start stop nature of my blogs is pretty pathetic.

I'm currently trying to run with 3 random blogs - 2 of which deal with running...the latest is the mentality and effort of my Sisyphean task of running the NYC Marathon in 4+ months from now, while the other is to just amuse myself with the SWAG i get.

Maybe I should just rename this blog and discuss random musings.

Musing of the Day - How much time do I waste every day on the internet? I guess there was a day where I would watch TV not Hulu, I'd read an enyclopedia instead of Wikipedia, and once there were video stores instead o f DVR.

The top ten random events in my life the last 2+ months:

1. Was best man at R and C's wedding
2. Saw a Cirque de Soleil show in Las Vegas
3. Sent out wedding invitations
4. Became a commuter for work. Essentially started a new job downtown.
5. Set a new PR (in the post-30 era) in a 4 mile race
6. Followed that PR with first serious running injury - those muscle spasms in the back can be painful indeed
7. Saw a game in the 'new' Yankee Stadium
8. Temporarily rescusitated my hard drive by sticking it in the freezer (it works)
9. Played blackjack for over two hours without losing my shirt in Las Vegas
10. Reconnected with a friend who I hadn't seen in over 5 years

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Doing a 52faces meme because i have some nasty pseudo swine flu...

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said “I love you” and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise (um, ever hear of college?)
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s nappy
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten tipsy on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse of both the sun and moon
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had/Have amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Played touch football
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married (3 months away from one...)
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted a river
82. Been on television news programs as an “expert”
83. Gotten flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Kissed on the first date
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in a Rocky Horror Picture Show
96. Raised children
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
98. Passed out cold
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country (rode a bike in Copenhagen but this doesn't count)
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Touched a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a TV game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a facial part pierced other than your ears
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol (and actually hit the target)
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept 30 hours in a 48 hour time frame
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents (pretty pathetic - only 3 so far)
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. touched a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read “The Iliad” (probably an abridged version)
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone’s life
151. Taken a ride in the Goodyear Blimp
152. Written a novel (and 152!)

Sixburgh

I stop today to reflect on the civic pride one has in his hometown when a professional sports team embodies the city it has in its name - the Six Time World Champion Pittsburgh Steelers. How sweet it is! A day where I re-connect to elementary school friends from yesteryear as we all forget our problems and bask in the glory of our hometown team, which prevailed in a thrilling contest versus the Arizona Cardinals yesterday.

Joy of Strip Malls

I have returned for my monthly pontification on Chinese New Year's night after being a glutton at my Uncle's place for New Year's Eve dinner last night.

I'll skip most of the moments which brought my great joy since my last post a month ago - the peaceful Christmas with the core family together and the first New Year's Eve with my future fiance. I appreciate and have blessed with the time with the once and future family.

There was one fleeting moment that shined in a very dark January. The prodigal son returned to his boyhood home Pittsburgh in mid-January with E and R to watch the irresistable Black & Gold horde do battle with the elements and the sunny foes from San Diego, and prevail in a swirling windy snow. While others may revel in the warmth of summer, I prefer to shiver happily exposed to the cold and bad beer enjoying my Steelers take on the enemy in the "Win or Die" mentality of the NFL playoffs. After a glorious triumph, we stopped by good old Murrysville, and realized that while Old William Penn Highway may be littered with nameless strip malls, it is my McDonalds, Eat-n-Park, and Dunkin Donuts I grew up with!

Being in the eye of the figurative hurricane is working on wall street while the economy struggles, and you know that one day 50 years down the line you may be telling your grandchildren what you lived through. I unhappily had to tell a loyal employee that his services were no long required at my company. My stomach churned and my palms sweated, even though I was not the messenger of employment of death and just played a supporting role for management, I dread the day of having to do that again.

Festivus for the Rest of Us

I must say that this Christmas feels a little different than the rest of the thirtysomething which I've had in my lifetime. And I'm not suffering any aftereffects from the first 2 days where I was actually fighting off a nasty flu.

Some things of course are the same. My parents are still the most awesome hosts ever, and have been indulging our spoiled brattiness upon our return. My sister D is perpetually lounging around like a total slacker. She's usually the hyperactive globetrotter so when she comes home she just flops around on the family room sofa. When she's not doing arm curls, toning, or some 4 mile run avoiding surly neighborhood dogs.

This year feels a little unusual because of a lot of uncertainty. The economy has taken a toll on everyone in not so mysterious ways. D is now in the frozen city of Chicago with her 2nd employer of the year, my Dad is still working trying to recover from the hits on his 401k, and I am not sure what company I'll be working for next year since mine merged and the word 'consolidation' is not so friendly when you're an employee there, where I'll be living, whether I'll even be coming home for Christmas since my life is changing so dramatically. The 'm' word is still sometimes hard to comprehend, even though L makes me very happy and I do miss her very much. Next year will even give our country a new leader, and we'll see if all the optimism pays off.

For now, for all of my friends, family, and acquiantances that add me as a friend in Facebook, twas the night before Christmas and all through the house....Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good Night!

Will that make any goddamned sense?

I'm not sure what the motive is behind the attacks on innocent people in Mumbai, but this entire episode is sickening. I was very disconnected on 9-11 seven years ago because I was in Beijing with my mother and we were mercifully asleep as the tragedy unfolded. However, as I am on vacation at home with the parents for the Thanksgiving holidays, and having at my disposal 24 hour news and the internet, I have been mesmerized like the stupid driver rubbernecking upon seeing an ambulance on the other side of the road. What precipitates this insanity?

I'm compelled to post a link to the David Letterman monologue on his first show after the 9/11 tragedy.

David Letterman's Monologue after 9/11

Superhero

I was talking to my friend A and we were talking about all of our past relationships gone awry, and that opened up a floodgate of memories of girls gone bad that now I can laugh at since I ended up finding my special someone. I don't believe in that "Good things come to those who wait" - I really believe it was my superpower. Superman can fly and has x-ray vision, Wolverine has adamantium claws, and I attract psychotic women. Woohoo!

Here's part of our AIM conversation:

Edited (to change the names only to protect the innocent and the superfluous)

[12:55] w: in fact i seemed to have the uncanny ability of attracting the psychotic women
[12:55] a: it's your super power
[12:55] w: my superpower of attracting psychotic women
[12:56] a: you're supposed to eradicate them after you've attracted them
[12:56] w: ah
[12:56] w: i thought sleeping with them was punishment enough
[12:56] w:
[12:56] a: you're like the reverse black widow
[12:56] w: i attract them into my lair and they kill me!
[12:56] a: yup. use it for the force of good
[12:57] a: you should attract them to your lair and then knock them on the head
[12:58] a: or have a balloon battle royale
[12:58] warrenlee729: my own personal NaNoWriMo
[12:59] roaddogrunning: vanquish them and then dispose accordingly
[13:01] warrenlee729: ay there's the rub

Audacity of Hope

Obama!

24 Hours Until D-Day

So we are now at the cusp of an election that will tell a lot about the future of America.

Normally, I would have my usual blase/laissez faire attitude toward the outcome of an election, with thoughts like "Alright, we elected Bush again? Seems illogical, but I guess we seem to be really picking winners here. Check with me and in 4 years and you can judge the results"

However, this election cycle is like no other. One party in particular has reverted to the basest, lowest common denominator, implying that the other candidate is, among other things, a terrorist, Muslim, un-American, and socialist. I am dismayed by the viciousness and inability for this party and their top two candidates to articulate any coherent economic and foreign policy that would truly have our nation's best interests at heart, all while draping themselves in the American flag, and questioning the patriotism and associations of the other candidate. While McCain / Palin may or may not be at the center of the negative advertising which state the other candidate's middle name or the mass mailings / heavy advertising which talk about supposed connections to Ayers and Wright, by condoning and trying to bring up this instead of articulating ideas (even if they are flawed) on how to go about economic recovery is incomprehensible.

I am very proud to be voting for Barack Obama from whom the jury is still out for me on whether he will be a good President, but he offers optimism and judgement and hope. And we as Americans need a little of all of those.

Stiff upper lip

People have been asking me what to do in the stock market these days. For some reason, they think since I work for an investment bank developing technology for traders that I'd know what to do. If I knew what to do, I certainly wouldn't have a job here anymore, and I'd be a professional daytrader instead of realizing grimly that I'll be working an extra 10 years as a corporate drone as I have lost $$$$$$$$ myself.

I can only offer up this quote (and also to the politicans who blame Wall Street)

"If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too..."
-Rudyard Kipling

My First Meme

S at 52Faces tagged me for my very first meme. I'm touched.

Here are the Rules:

1. Link to the person that tagged you
2. Post the rules on your blog
3. Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself
4. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs
5. Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.
6. Let your tagger know when your entry is UP.

yi - I'm even more allergic to cats than S
er - For the life of me I can't float on my back...although I can swim on my stomach
san - I have the 15 years of Sports Illustrated magazines accumulating in many piles in my apartment
si - I like setting my alarm early and listening to the news for at least 30 minutes in the morning before I have to get up.
wu - I throw a football, shoot a basketball, and play Guitar Hero left-handed, but I bat and write right-handed.
liu - I suffer from amazon-itis. I buy books much faster than I read them, so I'm about 20% as well-read as my friends think I am.

Well I don't have 6 friends in the blogosphere now, so that will be a work in progress...

Rock the Vote

My latest addiction has been this 2008 election cycle. Normally, I'm fiercely proud of my indie status, and several of my politically aware friends tag me with pejoratives such as "fence-sitter" as I try to sort through the drivel and rhetoric and make a decision...contrary to popular opinion, I do not shake the magic 8 ball in order to draw my conclusions.

In this election, there is a very clear choice for President. As the country backslides toward the Great Depression, and perhaps not so ironically the two companies which I sold my soul to lost 20% in stock value, guranteeing that I will now retire 10 years later than my master plan, there is one candidate who offers a real chance for America to once again be the land of opportunity where my parents in their prime wanted to go to for a better life.

So tonight, as I was heading to Madonna's Sticky and Sweet concert, in the back of my mind I felt terribly guilty as I was missing the 2nd Obama-McCain debate. Should I have sold my ticket? Wasn't it the fault of the Commission on Presidential Debates for scheduling this well after I had purchased my tickets back in May? My uneasiness was mollified when Madonna showed a sure-to-be-controversial video interlude comparing one candidate to Mandela and Gandhi and the other candidate was interspersed with cuts of violence and war. She also gave a clear message of her absolute contempt for Sarah Palin. Only in America can we have a partisan political message at a popular rock concert. By the way, for those who read this someday, Madonna's performance was electrifying. And I got carded when buying beer - uh, it's been 15 years since I could legally have a beer, am I really that young-looking?

I'm now at home, drinking a Coors Light, and absorbing the debate thanks to wonderful DVR. Life is Good.

If you only knew the power of the dark side

Inspired by a friend, I decided to use this forum as a much more introspective look into the darker recesses of my mind, as opposed to the much more cheery (and fluff-filled) xanga that I manufacture carefully scrubbed and sanitized for public consumption.

Hopefully, this won't turn into a full-fledged snivel-fest because I do have that sweet purple bracelet from acomplaintfreeworld.org and I wouldn't want to switch bracelets every two seconds while writing.

I'm not particularly deep right now as L had given me that terrific rise-and-shine wakeup call at 730am.

Random Cool Link of the Day - Kung Fu Election - Mortal Kombat meets 2008 Election.

My good friend R from Philadelphia got engaged yesterday. His creativity in doing so was pretty remarkable - taking a "random" boat ride in Central Park, and then rowing near a violinist who on cue started playing their song. I took them out for congratulatory drinks later that evening. His fiancee is very nice, but thanks to her fussing I ended up taking 1241735319 pictures of them until she got the perfect picture at this dark classy bar. I ended up reinforcing the typical Asian stereotype of being trigger-happy with the camera, and it wasn't me.

Of course, I perpetuate it myself since I have amassed a large collections of cameras and photo albums. I have always had a love of the camera, but not with natural shots. I like the concrete jungle, and the people in it. This is probably due to the fact my memory isn't so fantastic, but I can make a connection once I see a picture. Since my apartment is cluttered to the point that it's now an unofficial fire hazard, I'm still behind 3-4 years on my pictures. I like printing the very best of my digitized pictures because of the infamous hard drive crash of 2006.