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| 1. I've gone months without playing Bejeweled or any other facebook games now. This is quite an accomplishment considering there was a time when I'd see falling gems in my sleep. My secret to the cold turkey success? Ever since I got connected with my brother on facebook, scanned all his wall activity back to the day he joined, and realized he was wasting so much time playing facebook games I played, I felt so guilty that I never wanted to touch those games again. Now that I've stopped and his time-wasting continues, I just feel angry instead of guilty haha.
2. Despite playing basketball regularly, I still forget how to shoot! Often times, I'll warm up my shot for about half an hour, all the while wondering why my shots aren't falling. Then I'll remember some adjustments I made the last time I played that were effective and finally put those techniques into practice. I keep telling myself that I need to simply write these down and review it every time before I play basketball. I've said this for years, and now it's finally here.
- hold tight to ball so it doesn't slip out before I'm ready to release
- keep back straight; my upper body should rise as I jump as opposed to being compressed into my lower body
- bring ball up early and keep arm flexed; if my right arm is loose, jumping will cause my arm to drop and thus requiring more strength to compensate for it
- (under evaluation. I was shooting so poorly on Sunday I started making some drastic adjustments) turn body more to left so my right arm is aligned straight towards the rim. This should allow me to use more arm and less wrist.
- bend knees deeper before long shots
Yes, it's amazing people still buy those basketball fundamentals dvds with gold like this available to the public.
3. dictionary.com word of the day a few days back: mondegreen. Reminded me of this hilarious video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZA1NoOOoaNw
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| After talking about applying to grad school for over a year, I finally set the gears in motion by registering for the GRE. I have a little less than 3 months to study before the big day: April 24.
If registering for the test was supposed to kick start the studying and provide added motivation to pick up the books, then I'm not off to a good start. This past week, I went to SF twice. John, Jasmin, Pika, and Lawrence came up from socal, so we celebrated along with other Crossroads people by having dinner at Cheesecake Factory in Union Square. There were 20 members in our party! We followed that up with a visit to the mysterious Bourbon and Branch. I knew the decor was supposed to be like that of an underground saloon from the prohibition era, but I was surprised to find myself pacing near the purported intersection, unable to find a sign or an entrance to the bar. It was very enjoyable just chatting with people I haven't seen in ages and catching up.
On Friday, I came back again to SF with Hemant, Irene, and James. It was pouring hard, and between me, Hemant, and James, we only had one umbrella, so the one with the semi-waterproof jacket had to bite the bullet. The jacket did nothing for my pants though!
We had been talking about visiting Bourbon and Branch for months, so even though I had just come on Wednesday, I had to come again. This time I tried some of the drinks. They were sweet and fruity, much to my enjoyment.
I went to Phil's house for dinner with Saratoga friends Saturday night. I don't see Saratoga people regularly, so it's always a joy to meet up with them. The highlight was this board game called "Modern Art" which we played after dinner. We bid for art and sell it in order to maximize our coffers at the end of the game. I didn't really know what I was doing, but I lucked into the win. It was sweet to claim victory over the MIT and Illinois-Champaign geniuses. Of course, winning was especially vindicating after my erratic play had prompted Irene to say, "That's why you never let Alvin run your business."  . What, this is supposed to be called blogging, not bragging? My bad. For the second consecutive day, I ended up arriving home after 1am. Gasp! Unprecedented.
After trying to arrange a date for months, Benson and I finally got the chance on Sunday to shoot some hoops together. I wish more people from Saratoga played.
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| Over the Martin Luther King Jr. long weekend (1/16-1/18), I went snowboarding for the first time, and what a memorable experience it was. I've skied numerous times before, but I decided it was time to try something new on the slopes. This was also my first time going with friends instead of family, so it was exciting in many ways.
The fifteen of us left San Jose at 6am on Saturday for South Lake Tahoe. Some people went to Sierra for a half day of boarding, while the remaining 10 of us built snowmen, sledded, and sculpted snow. Our masterpieces included a turtle, two toilets (sitting and squatting), snow angels, and a turd. The fresh, powdered snow was extremely fun to play in.
The cabin we stayed in was also well-maintained and furnished. There was a large flat screen TV, a hot tub, and a pool table which I enjoyed a lot. Remarkably, despite the below-freezing temperatures outside, our cabin was always warm and cozy. My one gripe would be the bunk bed in which I slept. Lying in the bottom bunk was like being trapped in a coffin; there was no more than a foot between my face and the cross beams of the top bunk. I had to slide into the bed sideways like a corpse being stowed away at the morgue. Needless to say, I bumped my elbows against the top a few times as I turned in bed.
As for the snowboarding itself, the most appropriate term to describe it would be...painful. Belly flops, butt plops, I experienced it all. After falling on my butt one too many times, I started trying to break my falls with my arms, which had the unfortunate consequence of injuring my wrists. Though I was able to leaf down slopes either toe-side or heel-side fairly comfortably, the pain was so unbearable that I didn't want to experiment anymore and learn to carve. Now that I'm recovered, I'm eager to go again next year. Still lots of room for improvement.
The drive back was an epic experience in itself. Around 9am Monday morning, the first specks of snow began to fall. We gathered up our stuff as quickly as we could in an attempt to beat the forecasted storm, but we were too late. For about 4 hours, we inched away from South Lake Tahoe towards the mountain pass, listening to the ominous voice on AM1610 repeat, "Chains are required on all vehicles on westbound US-50, except for 4 wheel drives with snow tires." We passed the time by raiding other cars in our caravan with snowballs. Eventually, we also started playing cards on the car. Even as the driver, I was able to play; that's how slow we were going. As we neared the snow chain checkpoint, we decided to stop at a gas station to install our chains. At this point, the snow was falling in full force, and the snow was a tremendous annoyance that had lost its novelty. Turns out the chains I had borrowed from Jeremy were too small, so I had to buy a set there. It was very comforting to be travelling with the other cars, since we could offer each other support while installing the chains. We waited for about another half hour without moving a foot before we finally were cleared to go through the checkpoint. This was my first time driving in the snow, so I was quite nervous and on full alert. In addition to the poor visibility outside, the defroster also wasn't very effective, so I was constantly wiping the windshield with a towel. I was initially suspect of the need for chains, but those thoughts were quickly dispelled after the car first skidded on the ice. At times, the wind would blow a thick layer of snow off the trees such that I couldn't even see tail lights of the car 10 ft ahead of me. It was immensely draining to maintain such focus. I realized afterwards that that was definitely the most time I've ever spent behind the wheel of a car in one day, and probably the first time in my life I had to maintain focus for such an extended period. If I were that focused at work every day, Larry Ellison would be unemployed by now. After clearing the mountains, my car had dinner at McDonald's and eventually reached home at around 9pm.
It was painful at times, traumatizing at times, but it was memorable to the end.
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| I survived a week without my laptop! Midway through an episode of 30 Rock on hulu this past Monday, my laptop started beeping to signal low batteries. As I looked for my charger, I was horrified to discover that I had left my charger at home in Saratoga. Thus, despite all the fun events that have been going on, I haven't able to post about it.
1) 12/16 Oracle Arena
I got to play basketball at Oracle Arena again! Last time I was here, we were playing in the consolation game, and I scored 0 points before fouling out early in the 2nd half. This time, I was on a mission to redeem myself. Also, I was playing in the championship game this year, so the stakes were higher. Of course, I elevated my game on the big stage, so I finished with 2 points! I didn't play much because I was constantly winded from traversing the larger court. When I did muster enough energy to get back in the game, I immediately took a charge and had to check back out from getting the wind knocked out of me. The game started out close, but our shooters were too much for the opposition. Some of my teammates even made NBA 3-pointers. We ended up taking the crown with a 52-39 victory.
Couldn't have been possible w/o my 2 points.
Hmm, big man on the perimeter. He obviously wants to pass it.
Ooo...read that like a book. Off to the races.
Uh uh #12. There's no stopping him after lift-off.
Watch yo head.
This is still on the way up.
Boom. My first two points at Oracle Arena.
2) 12/17 Twenties Christmas Party
For the last meeting of the year, we had food, drinks, and ballroom dancing lessons. Unfortunately, we learned east coast swing, which is what Jason has been teaching the past two weeks, so I wasn't able to learn anything new. The first partner I was matched up to was a 6' girl wearing 3 inch heels. Toto, I don't think we're in a Chinese church anymore. On the bright side, being around tall girls forces me to improve my posture.
3) 12/19 SBACC Christmas Formal
Never in my life have I attended a Christmas dance organized by a church, and in this one week, I attended two! As usual, I just spectated as the club music was played. The dinner and games were enjoyable, but my attempt to host telephone charades didn't work out so well.
4) 12/21 Day 1 w/o laptop
Slept at 10pm.
5) 12/22 Day 2 w/o laptop
Out of boredom, I decided to shave my head. My whole life I've always asked for the same thing when I visit the barber: just cut it shorter. Well, it's never been this short. All was fine until I decided to trim my sideburns with the shortest blade. Mistake #1 was cutting my hair without a mirror, because I wanted to set up on the tiled kitchen floor where it'd be easy to clean up. Mistake #2 was not being aware of where my sideburns are. When I ran to a nearby mirror to monitor my progress, I realized I had cut a big hole into the side of my head. I asked Mike to patch it up a bit, but I was afraid to replicate it on the other side, so now the two sides of my head are asymmetrical. The moral of the story is that idleness of bad. Thank goodness for hulu.
6) 12/23 Chevy's and Yancy's saloon
Followed up $3 appetizers with a visit to a bar in SF with Sam, Chosen, Kai, Steph, Adam, Jeremy, Josephine.
7) 12/24 Dumpling and Movies
Some families came over to my house for dumpling party. Each family made their own dumpling filling so we could have a taste test at the end. We didn't elect a victor, but it was fun and delicious. We also watched Night at the Museum and National Treasure on tv.
8) 12/25 Christmas
Woke up at 8am not to unwrap presents, but to go watch the 9:30am showing of IMAX 3D Avatar with Caleb, Calvin, Jackie, and Alice. Afterwards, we went to have hot pot at Jackie's. I spent the afternoon watching the Lakers get trounced by the Cavs. In the evening, my family had a low key Christmas dinner consisting of sausage fried rice and two entrees.
Time to go pack for tomorrow's trip to Texas.
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| So many what ifs. So many regrets. For the past few days, I've been haunted by my latest failure, the failure to eat 2 lbs. of noodles and 2 lbs. of meat in under an hour for the pho challenge at Pho Garden.
Don't do it, Alvin!
What if I had not chatted so much in the beginning in a show of bravado? What if I had known the rules from the beginning? What if I was 50 lbs. heavier?
It seemed so promising at first. By the 30 minute mark, I had finished about 80% of the noodles, which occupied about 60% of the original volume, and I was just beginning to feel hungry. All that remained were some scraps of meat and additional strands of pho. I thus devoted much of my time to heckling Faith and Josephine as they worked on their giant bowl. As time ticked down to about 15 minutes, I realized I was running behind. One big mistake was forgetting that meat would take longer to chew. I wasn't even that full, but the more I rushed to scarf down these final bites, the more quickly I began to feel the queasiness in my stomach.
To add insult to injury, I got outeaten by two gentleladies. Josephine doesn't look too well though.
When the timer beeped signaling the end of the hour, I was satisfied with the results. There were bits and pieces left over in the murky soup, but I thought my performance was satisfactory enough to earn the free meal and a place on the wall of pho-me. However, when the Pho Garden staff came to inspect my bowl, he deemed it unfinished. Indignant, I asked if I could have 5 more minutes to finish the rest, citing my ignorance of the requirement for an impeccably clean bowl. The staff nicely obliged and used a strainer to filter out the remaining substance in the bowl for me to eat.
This was the last time I smiled.
Now, you have to understand that I had already made my final push as my initial time ticked down to 0. I gave 100%, left it all on the table, because I knew I would only do something this foolish once. At this point, my mouth was already parched from the salty broth, yet I was wary of drinking water lest I give up more of the precious real estate in my stomach. Despite being pushed to the brink already, before me sat a tiny, tantalizing bowl that was threatening to render all my accomplishments to that point wasted. Beside me, Jed was giving words of encouragement and filming my exploits, while Roger remarked how this is like triple overtime -- it's almost over, and I have to be clutch and finish the job I started.
"Just two bites left! You can totally do it! You GOT this."
So I continued stuffing. And feeling worse. In a remarkable display of self-control, I finally pushed aside the bowl and surrendered, saying, "This (leftover) is the difference between puking and not puking." After I stopped eating though, the nausea didn't just dissipate. When Jeremy advised that the other bowl be moved closer to me in case I needed to throw up, that seemed to bait the nausea in me to surface even more. That's when the first gag reflex hit. I bolted for the bathroom, cheeks inflated and mouth covered. I gagged again. I finally reached the bathroom after 6 agonizingly long steps. Thankfully the bathroom wasn't occupied. I dived for the toilet and exploded. That was my most satisfying vomiting experience ever. Hahah.
I emerged from the bathroom feeling completely fine, but there seemed to be a pall of uneasiness around the table. Everyone was concerned with my well-being, or embarrassed about the whole episode, or both. I was hoping this whole thing would be a fun event, regardless of whether I succeeded or not, but this really put a damper on things. I really felt fine, but despite my protests, they just had to be sympathetic and make me the object of their pity. Haha. They even paid for my meal anyway. Oh, how far I fell. Instead of a glorious victory, a free meal, a permanent place on the restaurant wall, and a legendary story, I got instead an embarrassing failure, a free meal, and a pretty good story nonetheless. Hmm, not bad, actually.
In talking to the restaurant employee afterwards, it turns out approximately 7% of the challengers finish. With the 3 bites that I had remaining, I'm pretty sure that places me in the 90th percentile then. I'm satisfied with that :).
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