Random update 5+ years later, living in China with a Chinese gf, her daughter, discussing life priorities

    Today I talked with my girlfriend. There was a lengthy argument, featuring the correct way to write the number 5, and the Chinese education system, among other things. Then Wenwen drew something.

Observations

1. Wen wen didn't include herself in her circle. She said she just buys some things (clothes, shoes, skin creams, cat stuff), and that money can buy her happiness. Maybe she is a small dot in her circle. 

2. Wen wen didn't include her daughter in my circle. Maybe she really doesn't think I include her daughter in my life. 
3. I was overjoyed to see her acknowledge how much I care about her in my life. Then I was saddened to see her the second circle, a suggestion for my life's priorities. How does that even work? Am I supposed to pay less attention to her? Love her less? They say Chinese are obsessed with making money, and I don't disagree. I don't think I'm obsessed with making money. I feel like one day, in the far future, when I'm lying on my deathbed, I'll never look back and think "wow buying tons of stuff made me happy. I regret not making more money and buying more stuff." Instead, I will probably think, "I wish I tried to be friendlier and funnier with people, and brought more joy to my life and the others' lives."

    Now back to Wen wen, her daughter, and I. We live apart. I guess we're not really a family. But I was trying to believe we were a family today. 
In no small part did we argue about the difference in American and Chinese way of thinking. And how I shouldn't teach children my way of thinking. However, if I am to be a father, of course I will teach my way of thinking to my kids. It's only natural. So the conclusion was a little strange to me. 

    A lot of our conversations are not very clear. The language barrier and difference in way of thinking muddles everything up. It's a strength if we can complement each other, harmonize, learn from each other, and work together. In doing so I hope we can feel relaxed, curious, insightful, and wondrous. Not quick to anger or exhaust. And not merely tolerating each other, but enjoying the opportunity to spend time communicating with one another. 

Holidays, Road Trips, and New York City.

Hey everybody,

I hope you all had a refreshing Christmas. The new year is fast approaching. A friend and I had an idea to drive to New York City to celebrate New Years Eve and watch the ball drop in Times Square. A quick Google Maps search later...

Yes, about 3,000 miles and 2 days of driving. My friend owns a Prius and with gas prices as low as they are ($2.50 here) it would only cost around $200 in gas round trip. It's pretty neat how we could take I-80 the entire way.


Too much travel time. Instead we'll have to settle for something close to home – Seattle, San Francisco, or Las Vegas to celebrate New Years Eve. Not bad.

Speaking of road trips, spring break is approaching. My roommate's aunt owns a timeshare in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. The idea of warm beaches and tropical weather has tempted us over the years, but we gave in. This year has to be different. If no one is willing to step up and lead our band of hooligans on international road trips, I'll gladly wield the hammer, or whip, or whatever medieval weapons needed to kick some asses into gear.  

At the very least, I'll settle for Vegas. But until then, Mexico it is.

Crock Pot Bean Recipe

Being the fiscally conservative college student that I am, I often find myself on the hunt for cheap foods that are nutritious and easy to make. This recipe may not be the best for someone watching their calories, but for a fast-metabolizing young adult like myself it's great.

Slow Cooked Pinto Beans (Prep: 10 minutes, Cook: 8 hours)
Ingredients:
1 Cup dry pinto beans
1 lb bacon strips
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp garlic powder (optional)
1 1/2 cup water

Directions:
This recipe works best as a dinner recipe. Begin preparing in the morning. To begin, pour the beans and water into the Crock Pot. Next, cook yourself up some delicious bacon (~4-5 strips) for breakfast. Cook until it is semi-crispy. Set the bacon aside and pour the bacon grease into your crock pot. Set the crock pot to low heat, and eat your bacon. You earned it. Now go ahead and live your life as lazy or productive as you feel like, your Crock Pot has your back.

8 hours later you've got some nice beans. Season with some salt, cumin, and garlic powder. Enjoy!

If you guys like this I'll post my Spanish Rice recipe!

Long Hiatus

Hello my fellow bloggers,
Your king returns! My hiatus is over.
I switched my major from nuclear engineering to economics.
I also began getting higher grades. (Who knew less math and physics could lead to easier classes?!)
This term I took WR 323 – English Composition. We studied how to write concise prose, wrote persuasive essays including one satire, and had helpful peer review sessions with the class. Our professor taught us that peer review is more about learning by critiquing others than learning from getting your own work critiqued. It goes with the saying, "the strongest way to learn something is to teach it to someone else."

When I think about writing skills, I am reminded of running, in a weird way.
I used to run cross country in high school. My coach told me that I could lose months of physical training if I was inactive for just two weeks.
I think writing is similar in that regard. That's what brought me back to blogging; to stay in shape. I'll admit the first time around I had a poor focus – generating ad revenue. This time around I will focus on writing to improve my skill, inform, and entertain.

I'd like to employ the skills I learned in school to improve my writing. Perhaps even write some satire – the Onion and The Daily Show won't have shit on me. But seriously, I don't plan on becoming a preachy social justice warrior, I just want to have a bit of fun. As far as content goes, it will continue to be flexible. A little bit of personal life, and a little bit current events, and my stance in political debates.

I'm just another unfortunate college student paying my way through school, drowning in a sea of debt, majoring in the non-specific field of economics, without a clue where I'm going after I graduate. But one things certain – I enjoy writing and want to increase my writing ability. Join me on the way, followers. You won't be disappointed. (And if you are, let me know! I could use the feedback.)

Helloooooo oh and Portal 2

Hey everybody!

I realize it's been a very long time since I last blogged. I've been a little put off of it for a while.

My life's been going well. A few things: I passed Calculus class with a 70.1%! Awww yeah maybe not the best grade but C's get degrees ya know what I'm saying? Lol

Currently I have the pleasure of enjoying my spring break off from school, back home with my friends. It's a good feeling.

I've been playing a lot of League, Dota 2, etc. etc. but I also bought Portal 2!
I thoroughly enjoyed Portal 1, so I was very excited about Portal 2. So far it's been fun, with a great storyline and the same witty humor that I enjoyed from the original game. I definitely feel like it was worth the 10 dollars I spent for it on a Steam sale. If you guys haven't played it, but enjoyed Portal 1, definitely consider checking it out. :)

I've been feeling good about my life recently, have no worries. Maybe I'll blog more again soon. We'll see.

Blegh Roommate Issues

After spending a lot of time around someone, it's often the case that they may start irritating you.

Sometimes I love my roommate, but sometimes he can really start to grind my gears. Blegh. I wish it wasn't the case, but it often is when you spend most of your time around one person. Spring Break needs to get here already, so that we can go home and and refresh ourselves, and then when we come back to our dorm we won't be irritated with one another.

So I was solving my rubiks cube for another friend that lives down the hall when my roommate, Tresdin, told him how easy it is to find the "equations" online. No one that I have ever met that has talked about the steps they use to solve a rubiks cube refers to them as "equations". Most people call them "algorithms". So I explained to Tresdin that they are not equations, but rather algorithms. He told me it doesn't matter because they mean the same thing. I think that's wrong too, but I humored him and said that if that was the case, we were both right and both wrong. He said that he never said I was wrong, and that I was the first to point my finger at him.

And now he went to class and I desperately want to do research on whether or not equation = algorithm (which I did already) just so I can argue it to him. But I get the feeling that he would just tell me he doesn't care. Still it's frustrating. He will argue his point and then when I try to argue my side, he'll just tell me that I'm wrong and if I try to insist that I'm right, he'll tell me he doesn't care. But he obviously does care, or else he wouldn't disagree with me in the first place.

I probably sound like a little bitch. I'm probably being a little bitch. I'm just irritated.
Tresdin is interesting... He went through a breakup recently, almost a 4 year breakup. He barely talks to me about it. It's just weird, sometimes I think we're friends, and sometimes I feel like he hardly considers me close at all. I'm here for him if he would open up. But I guess he doesn't want to. I need to respect his choice.

His mood is always changing, which I should expect based on his recent breakup.
I should just stop complaining, but it's good to get it out I suppose.

So today is my birthday which is pretty cool. I haven't blogged in a while and kind of frustrated with it still since Google Adsense disabled my account. That 80 dollars I "made" does not exist.

Friday time already!

Today is Friday, which is excellent timing. I was getting ready for a weekend. My week was pretty busy, but I got done with most of my homework and my speech went well, which was very satisfying. :)

I've been playing a lot of League of Legends with my friends. I'm still playing a lot of Dota 2, but the LoL is fun since I actually have real life friends that will play it with me constantly. 

Tonight in Dota 2 I played bloodseeker against a team with antimage and akasha. Basically I should of raped them because Bloodseeker's ultimate is Rupture, which deals damage to heroes based on how much they move. Both Akasha and Antimage have blink abilities which teleports them a good range, and thus deals extremely high damage to them should they try to escape after Bloodseeker ruptures one of them. Bloodseeker is basically a shut-down counterpick to heroes who blink, but for some reason I have never been able to play him well, even in Dota 1. The other part of it was my whole team left the game, so it was just me alone against a whole team. Unfortunately I was not fed enough to take them on full rambo-mode, so I was defeated. 

Something exciting for tonight: Big ole' LAN party in my dorm hall! Hopefully my friends and I can play some games versus some other people, should be fun!

This is bloodseeker by the way. He's a beast.
Happy Friday!

And also a funny dota related picture :P