This was the Oh Sh*t moment of the weekend:
May 28, 2006, 1:44:28 AM
As you can see, there is no hamster in the hamster ball. Oh Sh*t. Twenty-two hours later, said hamster was discovered in Brian's room. A brief battle of wits between man and rodent, and man won.
I BLAME THE BALL THE BALL LID JUST CAME OFF askdja;kj2pd2k92jdpokjaw;ldkadl;k.
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thendxcrd: HI ERIN
CUTEEP2e: HI JON!
thendxcrd: so
thendxcrd: um
thendxcrd: haha
CUTEEP2e: um WHAT
thendxcrd: when you asked me earlier if the mouse was a live, and i said yes....i was only assuming...BECAUSE HE ESCAPED FROM HIS BALL LAST NIGHT...BUT I JUST FOUND HIM AND HES OK IN HIS CAGE NOW SORRY HAHAHAHA....
thendxcrd: ....
CUTEEP2e: OMNSOUIDFHG
CUTEEP2e: JON!
CUTEEP2e: HE ESCAPED FROM HIS BALL LAST NIGHT??!?!??!!
thendxcrd: BUT I FOUND HIM
thendxcrd: SO HES ALIVE
thendxcrd: ALL IS OKAY
CUTEEP2e: HE COULD HAVEBEEN SMUSHED!!!!!
thendxcrd: NOW WE CAN LAUGH AT IT.
CUTEEP2e: BY BRIANS' BIG TOE
thendxcrd: IT WAS IN BRIANS ROOM
CUTEEP2e: OMGILSJK:FJGIAGOD
thendxcrd: but hes ok
CUTEEP2e: THAT'S LIKE FINDING HIM IN A NUCLEAR>>>SOMETHING...HE COULD HAVE DIED
thendxcrd: so...haha you can laugh
thendxcrd: I KNOW IM SORRY
CUTEEP2e: HOW DID HE ESCAPEF ROM HIS BALLL??
thendxcrd: BUT HES NOT DEAD HES ALIVE!
CUTEEP2e: AND THEN YOU JUST GAVE UP UNTIL HE TURNED UP
thendxcrd: i actually dont know.
CUTEEP2e: WHAT IF HE DIED
thendxcrd: NO IVE BEEN LOOKING FOR 24 HOURS
CUTEEP2e: IT WOULD AHVE BEEN ON YOUR CONSCIENCE
thendxcrd: I WOULD HAVE BOUGHT YOU A SECOND ONE...and maybe have told you...
thendxcrd: ...
Nicho is visiting and staying with Brian and I here in Champaign. They reminisced about old times, and then remembered this very funny story that they never told me.
Nick has a small lake in his backyard and sometimes we'd go out on his paddleboat. One time when they were about sixteen, they had two other kids on the boat with them, paddleboated them to an island in the lake, and left them there. At this point, Brian was crying with laughter telling me the story. And then he noted that the kids, who were about ten years old, were crying with tears yelling at them to come back, while Nick and Brian were crying with laughter paddling away.
Brian and Nick are obviously nice people, and they did it because these ten year olds kept throwing rocks at them on the boat. So they somehow tricked them to go on a paddleboat ride and somehow tricked them to get off the boat onto the island, hahaha.
Brian: "He was completely helpless and stranded hahahahah!"
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Wikipedia fun:
"There is also another legend that the surname Li is actually a branch from the Lee surname due to a rebellion. There is evidence of a once great war, located in the outlying Lee villages. Weapons and armour can be found lying scattered across the fertile rice fields. Upon these items is the emblem of 'Lee' and 'Li'. The local villagers say that according to folklore, the Li were inevitably crushed by the superior skills and numbers of the Lee."
Lee (and Li, Lai, Le, etc) is also the most common surname in the world. Wheeeee.
Barring any major turn of events, I will be in Taiwan starting June 25th. The return date however, is subject to change. It will be at least till say, July 7th, but I'm thinking July 15th instead, based on the arrivals of Anna and Erin.
Tell me when you're going to be there if you have not already. I am fairly certain these people will be there when I'm there.
Alice
Joyce
Erin
Anna
Linte
Tiffany S
May
Kayleen
Go buy a ticket Roger. And then let's bring our guitars and play in the MRT for spare change (oh how I love the MRT).
For those keeping score at home, the above photo was take by Anna Wu, Copyright May 2006.
Congratulations to Christina Shay and Jeffrey Tang, 05/20/06!
The TAF representation
A thousand words.
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(for the last picture, it's kinda like that Pearl Jam song "Janie's got a gun..." but replace Janie with Anna and gun with good eye for nice photos.)
Northwest Airlines isn't very good apparently. Margaret's flight got cancelled (two bad trips in a row for her on NWA), and mine is delayed 30-some minutes.
But, they have uiuc.net wireless at the airport. This is sweet.
LOOK ITS JUSTIN!!!
jayelchew: is it weird that im midly attracted to my apparent "twin"
thendxcrd: no
thendxcrd: i mean
thendxcrd: you are pretty
I bought The Cutting Edge today for seven dollars. It's a great movie. Toepick! It's a form of nostalgia for me, reminding me of my weekend nights watching it with my sister growing up (it was her favorite movie).
Tina called me a bit ago, telling me that somehow, one of Albert's steak knives got into her carry-on luggage. Airport security found it and went through her stuff, leading to her missing her flight. But she managed to take the next flight at no extra cost, so feel free to laugh.
- I am amused by the above. Maybe I should actually phase out this whole Jonizzle deal, since you know, I'm old. I think potential employers down the road might be thrown off by the "jonizzle@gmail.com" address, unless I'm in entertainment, which is possible.
- I didn't go to graduation today. I didn't walk. I wasn't awake. I didn't really care. I hope I dont regret it though.
People think its funny or odd that I didn't go (Tiffany, I didn't trip because I didn't go). But I've been wondering why I don't seem to care. Personally, as far as I can tell, it goes back to college being about the people. While I am happy and fortunate to have gotten a degree and an education, it doesn't seem like a big deal (because I've always expected to graduate?). My dad wasn't coming (I told him not to since he's in Taiwan) and I told my mom and sister not to (because it would be a long day, tiring, they might have had to work, and long periods of time with Mom usually end up in fights), and some very beloved Illinois friends were already gone (boo). So if many of my loved ones aren't here to share in it plus the fact that I do not seem to care, then whatever. It's just a simple ceremony. I'm already thinking about bigger things down the road?
- I added some new links, got rid of some. Sorry Justin. hopefully you xanga subscribe koalawayne?
Free fonts! I LIKE FREE FONTS!
I finished college today at 2:08pm. That's cool. I don't care much for most of my classes here at college.
But the people.
Makes it bittersweet.
Let me preface this post by pointing out that in exactly 3 months at
this time, I will most likely be home in the second floor lounge of
Oakwood Hall at Manchester College in North Manchester, Indiana
surrounded by a wonderful staff of Junior High counselors while we
discuss the events of the first Sunday of TAF 2006 and laugh loopy
laughs about whatever it is we laugh about at 3am. In honor of my
recognition of this future event, I give you all a gift.
But before I go on, let me preface this paragraph by saying that I felt
like an idiot when I realized what I could do. I was sitting in the
library writing a paper for finals when I had this epiphany. And yes,
this idea came about while I was trying to be studious (aka
daydreaming). Go figure. Why did it take me so long to realize this
though! Sillyness! And then I left the library to come home just to do
this.
So yes, I signed up for YouTube so I could fulfill my idea. Before I
move on, I want to preface that while trying to sign up to do this, I
discovered the identification names "jonizzle", "taf", and "wuhawuha"
were all taken. Kidding I am not.
But I eventually settled on a name and uploaded the video for viewing
pleasure. Let me preface the viewing of this video by noting that it is
not of the highest quality, because the white balance is off, the
camera is slightly tilted, and Stage Right is cut off for the most
part. But thank you Elliot for this.
Without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, the TAF 2005 Junior High Swing Choir, "Wuha":
To the young men and women of JH, please send this out to all the other
JHers and make sure that everyone gets to see it. Post it on your
xanga's or myspace's or whatever the new internet thing is these days.
And be proud of this! You all came together and learned all these moves
in only a total of seven or eight hours to make one of the best swing
choirs EVER. I am so thrilled everytime I watch this.
Hopefully I will get to see all of you this summer. To those who I know aren't
coming, Eddie, Eric, Matt and everyone else who I don't know about, you
ma boys...and girls. Come back when you can. Don't forget about us.
And to everyone else, LOOK AT MA BABIES DANCIN'!!!
I'm at Grainger working on my paper. I wrote a paragraph really fast, so I feel that this merits a blog. Two things:
1)
I was on the Quad walking to my first final, and I noticed a big white tent and the blue and white Isreali flags, with music playing and people dancing all around. It looked like a big party outside and a good time, yay for cultural/ethnic pride, ya know? And then I kept walking, and then I turned my head away from the Israel tent, and I saw these big black signs, with people standing around them milling about. I read the signs and they said, "FREE PALESTINE. ANTI-ISRAEL = ANTI-TERRORISM."
And I though, uh-oh, this is kind of awkward. I don't have a real opinion on the Middle East Peace issues, but this was...weird. And it felt very microcosmic. I found it interesting that the Isreali side looked happy and joyful and white was their dominant, "clean", color, while the Palestinian side had crude spraypainted signs. I think this analogy works, because Israel is seen as having more money and being richer, while the Palestinians who were evicted are living relatively poorly. Big white tent vs. small crude signs. But that's just what I saw.
I guess it is of note that the two groups couldn't really make peace here on this campus, in the United States of America. I'm sure there is a reason why they both chose today to gather on the Quad (too bad I dont know why), but I guess, it just looked very divisive.
2)
I was making a sandwich before I came to Grainger, and Real World was on. I heard one of the guys talking to this other guy, and the dialogue went something like this,
Dude 1: Dude, you gotta do something different with this girl, you're like the dad.
Dude 2: Oh no man, I'm the dad!
Dude 1: Yea, you're the dad. Girls want the dad to teach them about life, not go out with them.
Dude 2: This sucks!
And then I realized, I'm the dad. Actually I said it more like, "HEY I'M THE DAD!" And Brian said, "Yea, you are, that's not good."
I was making the sandwich for Jamie too. Who I had called earlier about coming to Grainger. And when she picked up the phone, she said, "Hi Dad." And she sounded tired so I asked her if she wanted a sandwich (cuz food wakes people up? That's why I eat a lot at TAF). I AM SUCH A DAD PUAHAHAHAHAHA.
ok time to change to find a girlfriend.
Ha.
...
1) I watched a movie called Casa de los Babys for one of my classes. It's about transnational adoptions. It's pretty good. In the film six caucasian women are waiting in a Latin American country to adopt a child to take back to the US. The film touches on lots of political issues involved, including this being a form of First World countries taking from Third World countries. It is the continuation of cultural imperialism, where a commodity (which is unfortunately babies in this case) are being taken away from the poor and given to the rich. My teacher pointed out that Russian babies are also popular for adoption now. So basically, I can adopt a Russian kid.
So I'm going to raise a white kid some day. It'll be out of love of course, but it would also be an interesting portrayal of racial dynamics.
2) I watched Field of Dreams while doing homework tonight. I love this movie. I think it's the man version of a chick flick. Baseball. Fathers and sons. Tradition. Nostalgia. Rites of passage. It makes me want to cry. It is quite magical. It's a dream.
I have a vivid memory of being 12 years old, playing catch with my dad in our front yard, the sun setting, the nighttime chill setting in. And still just tossing the ball back and forth. Back and forth.
Mmm. I wish I wish.
I got my cell phone bill for this past month. I didn't go over my minutes thanks to my cell phone purge last week. My purge was caused by ITASA though.
From March 26th to April 2nd, which was the Monday before ITASA up until the days of the conference itself ending on Sunday, I sent or received 572 phone calls. That is correct. Five hundred and seventy-two phone calls in only seven days.
- On Friday the 31st, there were 145 phone calls.
- On Saturday the 1st, there were 109 phone calls.
- Thursday and Sunday were both at about 80-90 phone calls.
And during that whole bus to the barndance fiasco, I made 31 phone calls totalling an airtime of 53 minutes in a little over an hour from 10:20 to 11:30. Good job Verizon. Thanks for making ITASA work.
I went to Biaggi's tonight with Keelin, Tina, and Brian.
Don't we look like a close-knit and loving group?
Later in the evening I was enjoying the nice weather outside on my balcony and doing my reading for an Asian American Studies class. As I was halfway through one of the articles, the author noted that she was a 2nd generation Taiwanese American. I thought to myself, "that would be funny if I knew the person," so I looked up at the name. And lo and behold, I read "Juliana Wu, Viewpoints, U of C Maroon, 2004". Like, whoa. TAFers are everywhere. At school, on Broadway, in television, in commercials, and even in your homework.
Small, crazy, world.
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Justin posted about Augustana. Now my turn, whee. Augustana on NPR (includes live performances).
TAF Program Director Retreat this weekend in Michigan. It was good. There is one specific thing I want to share.
I don't know if I have ever blogged about a Plato quote that says, "time is the moving image of eternity," but I love that quote. My knowledge of the quote and insight into what it means is from reading a conversation between a friend and one of her friends years ago. I guess I will try to break it down for you rather quickly from what I think.
- "Time is the moving image of eternity."
- Eternity is devoid of "time", because eternity has no future and has no past, only that one moment. Time is therefore a sequence of "eternities". Think of Eternity as a slide in a movie film, and then that film put together in motion is the motion picture that we call Time.
- Because eternity is in essence just that one moment with nothing to change it (no future and no past, just this moment), it is pure and unadulterated.
- And because of that, it is perfect (they call Heaven eternal, and they call it perfect too). I find this to be reminiscent of that quote from the film Troy, if you know what I am talking about.
- So discovering and recognizing an instance as just an instance, as a moment in the moving image called Time, is to recognize Eternity, and therefore recognize perfection.
I had a moment like this in Michigan.
On Saturday the PD's, tafbrats, and howard, went to a ropes course to do some games and exercises. After we finished our five hour romp in the woods, leaving us physically tired, we all sat down in a circle and had a discussion led by the two wonderful facilitators that Christine had found.
As I sat in the circle and looked around and heard what people were saying, a sudden feeling of seeing everything clearly for a split second hit me, and everything was perfect as it was. I saw the beauty in what this moment was.
Sixteen relatively young people and our two facilitators. From all across the United States. Separated by space, yet united by shared time in the past. Sitting in a circle surrounded by nature in Michigan, bouncing thoughts and ideas about communication and teamwork. Hearing the praises of working together so well and completing our difficult tasks in impressive times.
The circumstances that led to us being there in that moment are amazing. Where did we all learn to work together so well? How did we all learn to work together so well? How did we all manage to travel to and wake up at 8am? I'm sure I could answer that in a way, but my point is not to answer, but to say that the moment was recognized.
It was a moment of perfection.
I am off to Michigan this weekend for the PD Retreat. Let us hope we get much accomplished! Actually in all seriousness, when I take a step back and realize how important this weekend could be (because every little thing counts), I am almost in awe of what could come out of it for this year's program, and the ones beyond.
With great power likes great responsibility. Like Spiderman!
So in analyzing When Harry Met Sally, I think I should limit being friends with the multitude amount of female friends that I have now. Sorry! But thats unfortunatly how it is. It would be cool to rebel against the system and be the nice friend that I have been, but this system has been in place for as long as men and women have co-existed. I'm pretty awesome, but not that awesome to challenge deep codes and rules on gender issues. Sorry ladies. No more new female friends! Less hanging out with old ones!
Okay okay maybe I'm kidding. Or maybe I'm not. TIME TO HANG OUT WITH THE BOYSSSSSSSSS.
Tina called me at 9:30 tonight. Switchfoot was about to begin their set at Foellinger. I wasnt doing anything, so I went. It was good! I only know their old stuff, but they played a good amount of it. I also regret not seeing more shows at Foellinger, because any seat is a good seat really. It's a nice and intimate venue, unless you have Econ or Soc classes I suppose.
Speaking of Switchfoot, a band that opened for them that you may have heard me speak about, is playing three shows in Chicago this summer. Yes, the band is called Augustana.
June 10 Chicago, IL - The Vic Theatre...with Snow Patrol!
July 27 Chicago, IL - House of Blues &
July 28 Chicago, IL - House of Blues...with The Fray!
So, I love Augustana. I also love Snow Patrol ("Run" is like, my fourth or fifth favorite song of All-Time). And I really like (not love) The Fray. I think I have to go to these shows. I know some people are already going to the Snow Patrol show with me (Erin, Lily, Michelle, Jamie, right?) and whoever else can come. Seeing Switchfoot is motivating me to buy tickets to these concerts within the next few days. I might just buy some extra tickets and get other people to come. Let me know if you want to be one of those people.
As for the shows with The Fray, I think I should go to. The July 27th show is also on my birthday. Hooray!
Moving on, I hit a pillar in my apartment complexs tiny ass parking garage today and tore the driver's side mirror off, as well as scratched the paint. It is going to be expensive. I am sad. It also reminds me of the last time someone's side mirror got torn off.
So good day and bad. Ups and downs. Life is funny friends. The lyrics of Dave Matthews Band - Pig, are wonderful.
I think it might be a good thing to die a little bit each day.
Not in a depressing sort of way though. Moreso a realization of our singular insignifigance in comparison to the ideal wholeness of human beings and of the amazing emotions we can give and can achieve.
Or maybe it is because if you are dying each day, that means you are also allowing yourself to be open and vulnerable to being hurt. But being open and making yourself vulnerable? I think those can be very powerful and unifying.
And people tend to remember and learn from hurtful times. I just hope humanity can do that without become bitter.
Something like that.
until april 22nd, do not call me during peak hours unless its an emergency, unless you are IN with verizon, because I only have 24 minutes left.
Feel free to text me. Okbye.