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October 15th, 2009
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 Can you fill this out without lying? You've been tagged, so now you need to answer all the questions HONESTLY. At the end, choose at least 8 people to be tagged. Don't forget to tag me! To do this, copy this entire message, create a new note, paste these instructions in the body of the note, delete my answers, and type yours. Easy peasy! Next, tag 8 people (in the right hand corner of the app). Click publish (at the bottom). Have fun! :) ( What was the last thing you put in your mouth... ) |
August 12th, 2009
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 When, as you're checking your work voicemail the message indicates that you need to delete some messages, so you go to the beginning to hear the love messages that your ex left for you years ago. Oh, no, wait. That sucks. |
April 14th, 2009
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Tired of all of those surveys made up by high school kids?! 'Have you ever kissed someone? Missed someone? Told someone you loved them? Drank alcohol?' 49 questions for the people who are a little older... ( What bill do you hate paying the most? ) |
March 19th, 2009
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On February 13, 1998, I drove up to Gainesville, Florida from Miami after work in preparation for a weekend visit to my long-distance girlfriend as well as a consultation with my graduate advisor. I had planned a nice evening out with my girlfriend for the next day, following a stop-off at a friend's birthday party. I had high hopes that we'd have a nice intimate weekend with one another.
As we waited for the meal to arrive, we talked about the various things that were happening with our lives--the details that don't come readily when exchanging email or instant messages. I talked briefly of my job, and the boring minutiae of my days in Miami. She told me a short story about one of her classmates, who had asked about our relationship. She recounted the details of that conversation, how her classmate had asked if we were still together. I asked for more detail on her answer.
"Well, I told her that we're not."
I would glance at my watch then, and see the clock hands near vertical, the longer one just slightly past the shorter one. I've convinced myself that I'm the first person in the Eastern timezone to be dumped on that Valentine's Day, some eleven years ago.
If only because it makes for a more interesting story.  |
March 10th, 2009
2009.0310.1637::Yet another of the memes that I keep getting tagged with on Facebook |
Yes. Another meme. Not feeling like writing anything beyond a short description of how I'd like to punch anyone and everyone I meet in the balls. So, yeah...meme: ( Four things... ) |
March 6th, 2009
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 Watchmen succeeds in capturing the main plotline of the comic, and there are some lovely sequences where Snyder emulates the slow-paced pull-out that Moore and Gibbons created when introducing a new issue. You can tell that Snyder used the comic as storyboards, using the art to set up angles and shots. There's a bit of over-exposition in a couple of places, where the script has characters Legolas the plot points. The guy playing Ozymandias is at times so soft-spoken and wooden, it robs his particular scenes of power--Ozymandias is supposed to be cool and emotionless for the majority of the plot, but there are a couple of scenes in the books where he emotes more, and I didn't really see any of that in the movie. I would have preferred an older, more mature actor in the role. Pacing was odd--for a three-hour movie, it flowed pretty well, but emulating the comic in plot and focus gave the movie a certain meandering quality, pointing the audience in different directions as to who to empathize with or pay attention to. Not a problem during a 12-issue comic series, but an issue for a largely single-threaded movie. Part of me thinks this would have worked a great deal better as a television mini-series. There were some changes to the ending that I would have preferred unchanged. I'm not talking about THE BIG THING, but the epilogue. I think the changes undermine some of the themes of Watchmen, but for the most part, I thought the movie a very, very good adaptation of the comic. Incidentally, for those of you who haven't read the comic, both the movie and the source are very, very dark and violent. You have been warned. As I've twittered way too many times, "3 out of 4 'HURM's." ( And now, a tagged meme... ) |
February 28th, 2009
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 Today, the automated process that I set up for reminders sent me a message about the upcoming birthday of the piece-of-shit former friend who started dating the woman that I wanted to marry six months after she broke up with me. FML |
February 12th, 2009
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 It occurs to me that one thing that some women are attracted to about me initially is my ability to sit quietly and listen to what they're saying. Unfortunately, I have a feeling that eventually translates to boring a few months/years down the line. |
February 11th, 2009
February 10th, 2009
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 I think I have a superpower. It's one I think I can't control. The power works subconsciously And scares me to my bitter soul. I got the news as I drove home Eight years ago (this very day), A man had died, a man I knew-- The man who stole my love away. His fearful widow, full of tears, the greatest love of my short life. I cut her heart and cut her child. My guilty will was the knife. Am I the fulcrum upon which pivots, Karma's lever, scythe, and hammer? Does my mind speak in secret words, The syllables of Death's own grammar? I couldn't find my love today, She gave her heart to another. I thought the man was my friend. Betrayed and failed by my brother. I think I have a superpower. It's one I think I can't control. But days like this, I can't help wish, I'd flex my mind and take my toll. Dear Romie: I'm sorry. |
January 23rd, 2009
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The Rules:
A. Pick 15 of your favorite movies.
B. Then pick one of your favorite quotes from each movie.
C. Post the quotes in your journal.
D. Have those on your friends list try to guess what the movie is.
NO GOOGLING ALLOWED. EITHER YOU KNOW IT OR YOU DON'T.
E. Strike out the quote once it has been correctly identified and place the guesser's username and the title directly after the quote.( The quotes... ) |
January 21st, 2009
January 17th, 2009
January 2nd, 2009
2009.0102.1816::In which our hero is exposed as the freak he really is... |
I just finished Simon Baron-Cohen's The Essential Difference: Male and Female Brains and the Truth about Autism, an exploration of the general differences between the way men and women look at the world, and how much our genes and hormones go towards affecting those outlooks. ( Baron-Cohen suggests... ) |
December 30th, 2008
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Some artists and physicists, working their wares in metal and acrylic and quantum theory, build Time from ceaseless moments, an ever-present path we dance upon, an array of immutable seconds waiting for us to step into them, our past, permanent and passed. And while their construction pilfers our choices from us, filches our will like coins from our pockets, I find a small comfort in believing that a series of moments breathe where our fingers still entwine amidst our laughter. |
December 5th, 2008
November 20th, 2008
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For a while now, I've been reading blogs that one could very well call emotional voyeurism--from ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/syndicated.gif) postsecret to Found Magazine's found_mag. The latest addition to these is Dear Old Love ( dearoldlove on Livejournal), a collection of anonymous short notes from old lovers to their estranged former companions. One that struck me today as especially clever was the following note: I upgraded to unlimited texts for you. Now what? Why, you ask, did I think that particular note was mentionable? Because the title of said post was " I'll Send an SMS to the World" |
November 8th, 2008
November 6th, 2008
August 9th, 2008
July 2nd, 2008
2008.0702.1339::Neurologist Dr. Howard Mierzwiak recently hired by Google Mail |
 How happy is the blameless vestal's lot!
The world forgetting, by the world forgot.  Gmail is pulling a Lacuna, Inc., rendering my inbox the virtual equivalent of a crumbling beach house in the night-time. While I'm sure that it's simply a momentary issue with their software, I fear the potential erasure of my entire courtship. Perhaps it will chase me to the throes of my own humiliation, the long-forgotten images of my childhood, and the treasured moments of our pairing. - I really should go! I've gotta catch my ride.
- So go.
- I did. I thought maybe you were a nut... but you were exciting.
- I wish you had stayed.
- I wish I had stayed, too. NOW, I wish I had stayed. I wish I had done a lot of things. I wish I had... I wish I had stayed. I do.
- Well I came back downstairs and you were gone!
- I walked out, I walked out the door!
- Why?
- I don't know. I felt like I was a scared little kid, I was like... it was above my head, I don't know.
- You were scared?
- Yeah. I thought you knew that about me. I ran back to the bonfire, trying to outrun my humiliation.
- Was it something I said?
- Yeah, you said "so go." With such disdain, you know?
- Oh, I'm sorry.
- It's okay.
- Joely? What if you stayed this time?
- I walked out the door. There's no memory left.
- Come back and make up a good-bye at least. Let's pretend we had one.
...Bye Joel.
- I love you... Meet me in Montauk. |
March 13th, 2006
March 8th, 2006
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 Regarding my response to ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) catnamedbuffy's post. VV: Why are all the smart girls lesbians? ME: I think it may have something to do with assertiveness. VV: I think it's probably because you have to be really dumb to want to date a guy. ETA: and mildly related: Sinfest's take on Love |
January 26th, 2006
January 23rd, 2006
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 From Less Than Jake's cover of The Proclaimers' "500 Miles": And if I get drunk, yeah I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the man that gets drunk next to you
And if I haver, whatever the fuck that means
I'm gonna be the man who havers next you During The L Word get-together at tankfreak's place last night, somehow my mention of a large number of AD&D 2nd Ed Player's Handbooks on Ziggy's bookshelf got me roped into being the DM for a bunch of characters that everyone rolled up last night. Having never DMed before, this makes me slightly apprehensive, but whatever. Of course, almost every player is a lesbian. I need to start hanging out with people where my dating potential is > 0. |
January 21st, 2006
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Dear Lisa Loeb: You shouldn't have moved from L.A. to New York and set up a reality show of your own to find a match. I'm living in Atlanta. -Me |
January 18th, 2006
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 batnandu telling me that women find me attractive, trying to boost my ego following my recent devolution to dateless goober status: batnandu: and the lesbians all find you adorable. but, uh... they're lesbians.
tmhsiao: :| |
January 12th, 2006
2006.0112.1111::La noche está estrellada y ella no está conmigo. Eso es todo. |
And she enchanted me with a gaze of striking grace, and fueled a raging fascination, received in her embrace. Because the charm of her smile and the depth of her eyes radiated softly when reflected in mine. Yet, eventually we realized sadly that I couldn't suit her, nor could she suit me. But I know an assurance of perpetual love was quite impossible when only 80 percent of what she wants can I fulfill.
And I content myself with the few months weeks we had. |
January 4th, 2006
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Don't really help when you're stomach is doing backflips in the morning. |
November 30th, 2005
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Getting on the plane yesterday, I notice a couple walking in with two babies, both exceedingly adorable. They sit a row behind me across the aisle, and I pause as I smile at the mother and the small infant that she carries. Whoa, total MILF, I think to myself. Halfway into the flight while I'm getting out my computer, she taps me on the shoulder, and I look behind me. The husband asks me, "Are you Walter?" Since I know a Chinese Walter from Miami, I say no, but inquire further as to why he thinks I'm my high school buddy/bandmate. I realize, from his explanation that I've just been lusting after the wife of the brother of an old high school friend. I make some minor small talk, and then awkwardly turn back to my laptop. I've been offline for the past five or six days. Mom and Dad's internet connection is dialup through the local school system, and because they're technologically inept, they've blocked access to the following: - Any web-based e-mail site, including Gmail and Yahoo Mail.
- Livejournal
- PPTP VPNs including one I can use for work and vpn.google.com.
- Secure Shell Protocol connections to my workplace.
So I've pretty much not read anything on LJ since before Thanksgiving. If you've announced something of particular interest--if you've decided, for example, that you're giving up on your husband/boyfriend/acting-career-playing-a-s ingle-mother-8:00-Tuesday-nights-on-the-W B and running off to Lake Tahoe with me, pending my decision--please let me know in reply to this post. |
July 23rd, 2005
April 18th, 2005
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Last week, a gang of people got together at the Oakhurst Grill for their free Crawfish Boil, and while Cap'n Ken and The Coffee Achiever waited for some others to arrive, we caught up a bit about what was going on in our unblogged lives. We got into a discussion of wine and wine people. The both of them had just spent an evening out where the table next to them was just replete with the overly pretentious sort that talk about "earthy tones," this-and-that "bouquets." The Cap'n tells me that he cannot bring himself to watch Sideways now, despite the critical acclaim because of a scene that he saw where the characters do just that. The CA then says that she likes a bunch of white wines, but just not that much to talk at length about them. My response: TYB: If I liked a bunch of white wines, people would question my sexuality
TCA: People already question your sexuality.
TYB: Well, there is that. To illustrate, batnandu calls me as I'm heading up I85 on Saturday to have this conversation: BAT: Hey, where are you?
TYB: I'm on my way up to the Restoration Hardware Warehouse Sale.
BAT: Uhh, what are you going there for?
TYB: I'll be looking for a present for khubli, and I also wanted to check to see if they had some new cabinet pulls.
BAT: GAY! He, of course, doesn't mean that word in the derogatory "what you just said is lame" sense, but, to quote Bad News Hughes, "in the OK way where two guys like each other and kiss." When I arrive at the Restoration Hardware Warehouse, I begin to walk around, looking at stuff, and after about ten minutes or so, I notice something and call batnandu back: TYB: Hey, you remember what you said when I told you I was going to the Restoration Hardware Sale?
BAT: Yeah, what about it?
TYB: They just played I Will Survive
BAT: See? I told you so.
TYB: [pauses...begins hearing the strains of another song] Uhh, dude, they just started Y.M.C.A.
BAT: Dude, you gotta get out of there.
TYB: Yeah, I gotta get out of here. I'll talk to you later. |
April 6th, 2005
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 I was listening to the radio this morning, and the morning show had a so-called "dating expert" on the line who mentioned that there's something wrong with a 35-year-old male who hasn't been married yet. Which just brings to mind the conversation that I had with my father the other morning--he called on Monday morning, before I left for work, asking about a computer issue. After I helped him with it, he started in on the grilling: "Do you have a girlfriend?"
"No."
"Hey, listen, you should find a nice nurse or a teacher or something. Someone who has an income and can help support the both of you."
"Yeah, ok, dad." Now, most of you will probably realize that now that I'm into my 30s, my parents have been pressuring me to find a wife and have children. I've even asked them the importance of the order of those steps, and they responded, "Not really important." So it seems they're in a rush to have grandchildren-- As I wrote about a while ago, my Chinese name changed recently. While my original name was Hsiao Tze-Ming, last Thanksgiving my parents were all giddily calling me "Hsiao Ji-Ming! Hsiao Ji-Ming!" When I asked them why they were calling me that, they told me that a Chinese fortune-teller told them that both me and my brother should change our names for good luck*. After my brother read that post, he grilled my mom and dad and found out that "good luck" really translates to "a greater chance of having grandchildren for you." So, I guess my father envisions me with some prim and proper woman with child-bearing hips and a high FICO score (come to think of it, I should put together a dating site like Match.com where one of the criteria you can sort by is FICO score...). It occured to me yesterday, however, that the only non-professional or social places that I can find a nurse or a teacher with an income to help support the both of us are places that are named "The Pink Pony" or "The Alley Cat." Well, they're mostly dressed like nurses or teachers... * My family has a sort of generational poem naming-convention. Each successive generation names their children with the next word in sequence of this poem--both my father and my aunt have the word "Shih" in their names. When my brother, the first-born son of his generation was born, my father went to his dad and asked him what the next word to use, and my grandfather said "Tze," which was wrong. It should have been "Ji," but the incorrect name has already propagated to our cousins, etc. When my parents went to this fortune-teller, she asked if our names should really be Tze-Ming and Tze-Wei, and they said no, so she said to change it back to the way it should have been (at least my name doesn't have testicle in it anymore...). |
February 14th, 2005
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And she enchanted me with a gaze of striking grace, and fueled a raging fascination, received in her embrace. Because the charm of her smile and the depth of her eyes radiated softly when reflected in mine. Yet, eventually we realized sadly that I couldn't suit her, nor could she suit me. But I know an assurance of perpetual love was quite impossible when only 80 percent of what she wants can I fulfill.
And I content myself with the few months we had. - "80 percent" Jon Resh |
October 18th, 2004
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 Fucking quit it already. Jeez. Current Mood: foul Current Music: Tan Dun - Overture to Hero |
October 2nd, 2004
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 Had a drunk woman accost me tonight (the one who was quite piercingly whoo-ing earlier in the night), after I helped her to pick up her pen at the Bar. She first asked my race, specifically wondering about the source of my height and size (I get a lot of people wondering if I'm Korean--do I have Korean features? I don't know--I have about as much trouble telling races apart as the average, stereotypical "white boy"). When I told her I was Chinese, she expressed surprise. Then she asked the really odd question: Are you married...or are you gay? as if the two options were the only options available. I don't know what to think of that. |
August 3rd, 2004
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You've been there. There you are, sitting amongst mixed company, obliviously watching a movie or eating dinner--paying little attention to the people around you other than perhaps the conversation at hand. You're engrossed in your surroundings--the plot of the movie, the content of the discussion--when something happens to pull you completely out of context. It could be a foot or the side of a leg or just the slightest hint of fingers. You wonder to yourself if it really happened, but it happens again. And then you start to wonder what it means. Incidental Contact. Now, I don't know about you, but I generally have a good impression of where I am at all times. If I manage to kick something under the table, to step on some object which causes my foot to go off-kilter, I'll check to see if said object is, in fact, someone's foot or shin, and if so, I'll apologize. So that's why it rather boggles my mind that a continued IC happens--especially in those inappropriate situations (say, like, with someone else's girlfriend or with your second cousin, once-removed (yes, this did happen to me)). A few years ago, I remember talking with some women regarding IC. They seemed to tell me that there's really no "Incidental" portion to it. If they brushed your arm or your leg, and didn't bring it up, they intended it. It's generally a signal of attraction. Truth be told, some people are just touchy-feely. Some people are just flirty. I guess my question here is how many people out there have used the "'unconscious' incidental contact" tactic to try to attract someone? And from ludditerobot, ( a movie meme... ) |
July 10th, 2004
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That I've stayed up until about 6:30 AM, for the most part playing Soul Calibur II on the PS2 with batnandu when I should have been catching up on sleep and TiVo so I could get an early start tomorrow is not of any particular annoyance. That the minute possibility that I could escape my singlehood with a woman that appeared to reciprocate my interest is gone doesn't bother me so much. That I'm fully cognizant of why the aforementioned possibility dried up does irk me slightly. That my life resembles, however, apart from various poems and plays, a Billy Joel ballad just makes me feel all the more prosaic. ( And so it goes... ) |
June 15th, 2004
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 An assortment of things that have, either peripherally or directly, made my life slightly less boring (in a good way or bad...) in the past few days. - That which I should not have picked up at Target for seventeen dollars:
- Soul Calibur II for the Playstation2, which I played in Weapon Master mode until 12:30 AM last night, despite my intentions to go to the Independent and be social.
- They who should suffer grievous bodily harm:
- The people who stole Rob's chained-up 2001 Kawasaki Ninja ZX 9R at some point last night. They should have the skin flayed from their faces. Glow-stick sodomy is too good for them.
- He who should have massive amounts of funding:
- Rob del Bueno, bassist for Man or Astro-man?, who's trying to push biodiesel use in the Atlanta area and the Southeast through his site, Vegenergy.
- He who must not be named:
- Voldemort
- She who should probably write something a little more substantial than "testing. testing..." since she went ahead and registered for an LJ:
- genny0926
- That which does not work:
- Motorola's Mobile Power Tools, which have given me the capability to hook my new phone up to my computer and synchronize calendar and contacts, but which, for some inexplicable reason, will not upload my self-created MIDI file as a polyphonic ringtone. Damn you.
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May 23rd, 2004
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When you're talking with a cute girl, and she mentions graduation; and when you ask what school she goes to, she answers, "<Some Random> High School." Current Mood: irked |
May 11th, 2004
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You're an damned idiot. |
May 9th, 2004
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- Buy shit for her
Money can't buy love. Buying shit for her just makes you into a human wallet.
- Her homework
Even if you're some six years or so out of grad school, doing her homework just casts you into the role of Duckie. You don't get girls as Duckie. You get "Let's just be friends" as Duckie.
On the flipside, girls get boys if they're Watts, but girls can get away with a lot more dumb relationship stuff because guys are pretty stupid and oblivious.
- Get involved with her when you know she has a boyfriend.
Knock it off. It's just going to make someone supremely pissed off, and if you're lucky enough to not be the one, you never know if said boyfriend is an expert in Krav Maga or some other arcane martial art.
- Mistakenly agree to hang out with her and her boyfriend.
Yeah, like you have any control over that?
- Spend the entire day listening to her list the things which are wrong with her boyfriend...
You're in major Duckie territory here.
- ...and nod and understand.
You might as well help her pick lipstick and clothes, because if you do this, you're pretty much the gay (or at least asexual) best friend.
That's all I can think of at the moment. |
April 24th, 2004
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The result of an adventure in The Kingdom of Loathing: You have a few cocktails, and strike up a conversation with one of the ladies.
You buy her a couple of drinks, and she talks to you for about an hour before casually mentioning that she has a boyfriend.
Dammit! As if I needed my fantasy RPG world to reflect my life so accurately... |
April 5th, 2004
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I took cash out on Saturday, and now I only have one-fifth of what I took out. I spent most of the day and evening with an exquisitely cute young lady. Coincidence or FATE?! In other news, musesfool is calling for another Exquisite Corpse Found Poetry Thingy: Remember a few months ago we tried that found poetry thing (it had another name I can't recall at the moment), where at a specified time, everybody posted one line of their favorite poem, and then our flists were filled with found poems?
Since, as people keep reminding me, April is National Poetry Month in the US, I thought we might try it again.
So everybody reading this, post about it in your own LJ and try to get everybody to participate.
What: Post one line of poetry and nothing else (no commentary, no attribution, nothing)
When: Monday, April 5th, 4pm EDT (adjust for your own time zone please)
And then what: Then, check your flist (and your ff-list if you like), gather all the lines and post them as a really random poem.
Trust me, it's cool. |
March 31st, 2004
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Apparently God, Fate, Fortune, the Norns or whoever else you choose to believe in with their hands on the steering wheel of my life has/have a sick sense of humor. The day after I'm feeling a bit melancholy about the vast oblivion that is my love life, an eighteen-year-old college freshman has, for some inexplicable reason, decided to message me. Sigh. |
March 30th, 2004
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"Why do I fall in love with every woman I see that shows me the least bit of attention?"
--Joel, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind |
March 18th, 2004
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If, in the midst of a conversation, you ask the other person if they have a significant other, and they say "no," "Why?" and "Do you try to find one?" are not entirely appropriate followups. It forces the other person to craft bullshit responses like, "Yes, but there's just no one in particular I'm interested in that's mutually interested in me at the moment," to desperately avoid acknowledging the fact that he's currently a dateless loser. Here endeth the lesson. |
March 12th, 2004
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Damn my interpersonal relationship ethics. |
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No soup for me. |
January 28th, 2004
2004.0128.0101::This is the story you won't tell the kids we'll never have |
Feeling a bit...melancholy. I suppose part of it comes from finding the WFKATWOMD's blog, but I think most of it is from thinking about the GLOML. She hasn't written in a while, and it's coming up on the anniversary of her husband's death. How is she? Should I confront her about what I think is a serious problem? ( Do I dare? Do I dare?) I've been a bit isolationist lately, aside from Jerry's visit and Runa's event, so tonight I joined a number of former co-workers out for a trivia night at the Universal Joint. Had some fun, but it did get me thinking--every one of those guys were married (one of which to the WFKATWOMD). Just where exactly am I going with this here life? Like tiiguy told me before when I waxed introspective about the failed state of my relationships, it's not a race to marriage, but I can't really shake this feeling that I'm not doing anything particularly worthwhile with my time. Poker, drabbles, the occasional update to the Bronze Archives--it's all pretty diaphanous. *shrug* |
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