Sunday, November 13, 2011

Log start: 12:55am November 13th, 2011

I've been a bit snappy lately. I think it is because mostly of my 2nd weakness. I know this it is a vague sentence, but i'm not going to explain it.
I have two weaknesses, one of them is Hello Kitty, the other one... if you can't recognize it from me, it's probably better off that way >_>

So if i've possibly offended anyone and they happen to stumble upon this post, my bad.

But since this blog is about me, lets get back to that.
I don't have anything to explain now... I can't even get my personal thoughts together right now.

I'll leave with a song...



-B

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

understanding

Log start: 1:48pm 11/9/11
2 Hours until AAS 379 Exam.
Currently: Procrastinating


Physically and mentally tired.


People need to help me so I can help them.


This post is a little off because I want to tell someone what's up on my mind, but there aren't that many people that I can tell this to...

I need a break from it all.



Can't take anymore.


-B

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Knowledge is... well... knowing. Part One

Log start: 2:21pm August 25th, 2011

If I had a dollar for every time I used a two-dollar bill and have them question me if "this exists?" or "is this real?" or "what the shit is this?" I could probably financially support myself for the rest of my life. This post is not actually about the general populus not knowing about the two-dollar bill, but on the people that SHOULD know about the two-dollar bill.

This starts off in Flushing, Queens, NY, in the HSBC banking location where my bank tellar is this asian guy in his 20's not 5 years older than I am. I try to widthdraw some arbitrary amount of two-dollar bills and he chuckles and says to me "what are you going to do with this?" I reply with, "spend them." He says "good luck"

It was the sarcastic good luck because he must know the troubles behind spending two-dollar bills. Let me tell you, and most of you do know, that my hobby of spending two-dollar bills is nothing but a rough journey. Having cops being called on me once, receiving questionable looks all of the time, and some even claiming that these were out of production 100 years ago while the bill clearly marks that this bill was created only 8 years ago.
But it's not even about them this time.

This time, I was unsatisfied by the amount of two-dollar bills that the major HSBC branch carried so I went to my local HSBC branch to try and widthdraw some more. Last time was a great success at my local branch, i snagged up all of their two-dollar bill inventory (which is never more than 20 bills, even then 20 bills is VERY rare) so i wanted to try my luck again here.
This time i was greeted by a middle aged cantonese lady which completely breaks out in laughter when i try and widthdraw my money in denominations of two-dollar bills.

1) Rude
2) The fuck is going on?

She goes "why do you need them?" which is a rude question to begin with because I should not be explaining why I use money to my bank teller.
When she says that she dosen't have any two-dollar bills anywhere without even checking with the other tellers or the vault, I ask if I can order them from the Federal Reserve, a move that I have used and accomplished many times in the past.

She replies to me "even if you order from the money center, they won't have it"

This is where I begin to rage in my head because (in sequential raging order)
1) Two-dollar bills are still in production and still in circulation
2) I know the Federal Reserve has a shit ton of them
3) "MONEY CENTER"... are you for real?


A bank teller that refers to the Federal Reserve as the "money center" which is completely true, and I would accept that answer from anyone who has not graduated high school. But for a professional banking personnel to say "money center" is completely outrageous.
Not only did she mock me for using two-dollar bills, questions what I use money for, completely ignore the banking business ethics, but now uses incorrect terms when dealing with a customer.


This is the kind of shit that makes me want to shove tables over.

I know that two-dollar bills aren't common but that is to be expected from people outside of the banking industry.

I'm going to eat lunch in rage now...
HakoneDayDreamer, i'm writing nasty e-mails to HSBC

Monday, August 1, 2011

Pokemon Trainer

Log start: 8:42pm August 1st, 2011

This is a true story of how I became a real life Pokemon Trainer. Stay awhile and listen.


As a swimming instructor, I see hundreds of children daily. I encounter children of different ethnicities, different backgrounds and most importantly, different personalities. It's the range of people that I get to see daily that makes this job, with a worse pay than other lifeguarding jobs, worth it.
One of the most unique child that I had taught ever was a little 7 year old Japanese girl by the name of Annelise, or Pikachu, as she would demanded me to call her by on the first day where I introduced myself to the class.

Aside from now having to teach an electric pokemon with affinity for water, I had soon realized a few days after camp had started that Pikachu and her classmates were one of the most diverse group of cute little 7 year old children that I have ever taught. No matter how much they annoy me or do something wrong, I couldn't bring myself to yell or be mad at any of them. Even when I was explaining backstroke to the class and a girl named Miriam had splashed me in the face when I was in serious mode, or when little Pikachu herself had round-house kicked me right in the family jewels when I was supporting her freestyle, I would be ticked off for a slight second and when when I looked at the class as a whole, smiling and chatting away at the wall I would suddenly reminisce of the past where life was so much simpler. They were at an age where they could truely do a lot of things without serious repercussions. Nothing in the world would matter to them. Politics, religion, who stole whos land, who owes who money, who didn't make it to what college, whose professor is the biggest twat, whose 100 fly time is faster than whose, whose skanky girlfriend is sleeping with who, who is now in the unemployment office looking for a chance to survive, who needs to save money in the bank, who needs to wake up and get to work in time, and who needs to suck up to who to advance in their offices.

All the drama and all of the things didn't matter at that age because you could just sleep it off and the problems would be gone the next day.
Youth, the thing that everyone yearns for but none can re-live it once it has passed. We take youth for granted when we are young only to regret it when it is gone. The hope for tomorrow, a new generation and a chance to craft someone into the image that you want them to be.

That is me. A lifeguard, an instructor, a teacher, the creator of futures.

In a sense, the nickname of Pikachu isn't really a bad nickname for this. I have thought of myself a a Pokemon Trainer ever since she became my student, and i'm not doing things far off by teaching this Pikachu things so that she may gain experience points and then even evolve. I am also doing a darn good job if I can teach an electric Pokemon some water moves.

Just as Ash did with many of his Pokemon, I will do the same in training them and then letting them free into the world hoping that they make something of the many knowledges that I impart them with. If teaching wasn't such shit pay and physically draining, I would actually do it as a living. I am now teaching a student, Alexandra, towards the end of the day where I have had her as a student ever since she started swimming in a life jacket. Now she is one of the fastest swimmers that I am instructing, just shows how much difference you can make on a student. At the end of the day, that's all I need to make this job worth it.

No matter how much you love something, unless you have the passion to continue with it, it will slowly die. My days of a trainer are short lived but I will have all of the good memories to say that I made an impact on whatever I did. I have always took this job for granted from the first day I started working. I became a lifeguard because my high school swim coach said it was one of the best summer jobs a teenager can have. He wasn't kidding, but at that time I was looking more at the dollar signs than what I was doing as a bigger picture. It wasn't until the second year that I was a lifeguard that I finally understood what being a teacher was about. During the summer where you teach them everyday, you do not notice the little pokemon getting better and better at swimming. It is not until you see them again after a year that you can compare them to the first time you met them.

The beginning and the end, what is the difference between the two?
That's the part where you fill in your story.


HakoneDayDreamer, maybe being grown up isn't that bad.

Monday, May 30, 2011

The Art of Social Integration: Part One: Respect

Log start: 12:35am 5/30/11

Today as my friends and I were walking out of a Ruby Tuesdays on Long Beach, LI, at about 11pm, a 4x4 with 3 white kids drove by us and called us tools.

Now, I understand that Asians look like funny people to Caucasians and that we are all different, but there is no need to do a driveby calling us names. Especially when there were 11 of us.

Inside the restaurants, we engaged in constructive conversation involving politics, religion, everyday life, and making jokes to lighten up the atmosphere. Our waitress was the best waitress we ever had, we all learned something, and it was one of the rare times (that i find) that it was a serious conversation about serious topics in the world.

Now, I do not claim that we are scholars that know everything, we know that it is quite the opposite but if all of us ever learned one thing, it is that you must give respect to get respect. It is not given to you and if you choose to be dicks, do not complain when the world starts being a dick to you.

This leads to my own personal views of respect where my sub-concious sort of does this weird thing and I don't realize it until some time after. At times I feel as if my sub-concious is stronger than my concious mind, and i can see how that happens...
My sub-concious automatically places people that I meet in groups of people that I automatically show respect for and people that I don't necessarily care for as much. At times I treat certain people one way and others differently and it doesn't strike me until I really think about what I did.
I'm tired right now so i'll make the long story short and have the simple version up whenever I feel like it... (procrastinating already...)

If you're a dick, be expected to be dicked back.

Wish I could put it in a better phrasing, but this was the only way I found it to be comprehensible at this time. I have the ability to not judge people at soon as I meet them. I am more of a mirror. What you see is what you really are.



To be continued...

-HakoneDayDreamer

Thursday, April 21, 2011

VACATION? About time.

Log start: 9:08pm April 21st, 2011

/log I feel like a fatass. /endlog

between flipflopping between a pack-rat and a fatass this week, i think thursday was the only day of my spring break so far that i got to sit down with minimal interruptions, eat whatever the hell i want, and take random naps whenever i want!
This is honestly the vacation i was looking for.

no alarms
no boss calling me to go to the pool
no brother barging into my room in the morning to tell me how crazy and forgetful my dad is
no archery things to worry about (this one is pushing it)
NO PANTS
no random remarks about how i didn't get 1st place in an archery tournament when they saw my 3rd place plaque

just overall a calm and soothing day.
this is a vacation
this does not reflect real life
this does not reflect what i want everyday in real life

The fact of the matter is, i know what reality is and i can distinguish that between a vacation or a dream.

You can't have too many "real" vacation days or else you'll become a fatass like me. Honestly, today i had (counting from 12am to the right now 9-ish pm) an order of halal lamb over rice, 6 donuts, countless boxes of herbal tea, 2 bowl of noodles, some funky dinner combination that my mom made, 3 beers, and i don't even know.
There is no point of this, it's just doing what you want, when you want to, without any regrets. That's a vacation.
I've been on "vacation" where it isn't really a vacation. A vacation where you need to drive, make it on time to some arbitrary location, worry about this worry about that. Come on. That's not a vacation.

A vacation is where you can lay down somewhere and someone massages you.
A vacation is where you can sit down with a drink in your hand looking at the sky and think about what the cloud formations look like.
A vacation is where the amount of pleasure is exponentially greater than the amount of stress accumulated.

The best vacation that i've been on thus far was when i went back to china not too long ago.
Everything converted from american dollars is dirt cheap, back when 1 USD = 6.8 RMB and a bowl of XL noodles with extra meat is 2 RMB, when a 30 min leg massage by a cute chinese girl is 30 RMB, a total body massage is less than 100 RMB.
That is a vacation. Getting pampered, eating things that you know are unhealthy for you but you eat it anyway because it tastes amazing.

There's time after your vacation to detox, and there's time after vacation to feel like shit from school/work/life, but there are only so many calander days where you can relax and just not give a flying fuck about what's going on in the world.

Sadly, this is probably the only day in a long time where i am able to enjoy a "real" vacation.
School begins again next week, finals soon after, and then i need to worry about work.

Oh, the good ole days where i had nothing to worry about.
Sadly, even i have admitted defeat in the age department long ago...


Looking forward to the next day i can eat half a dozen donuts within 24 hours and not feel guilty about it.

HakoneDayDreamer, PACK RAT. YEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAHHH.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Parallel Universe pt. 2

Log start: 4:08am January 18th, 2011

Continued from Part 1::
If you have not read part 1, please do so@@
_____________________________________________________

On the interstate, i finally spotted operating vehicles. I don't know where people are going but they seem to be going in the same direction as i was, away from the city, and at pretty high speeds too. People were much friendlier on the interstate than they were back on the streets, i didn't understand why. As people drove past me, they let off the occasional wave and smiled back at me. Maybe their intentions are good and hoped me the best of my journey, but i was getting a little paranoid myself. You can't blame a person for second guessing everything at a time like this though since i just went from the streets where people would stare at you with weapons in their hands to the interstate where people are saying hello whilst driving past you. Even though i didn't understand the gestures fully, i was still wondering where they were heading to. Could people of found a nice spot to witness destruction as i had? Are they going to meet up with their friends and families for the last time? Or maybe they were headed to some mediocre evacuation center that promised them safety from everything? Either way, i was curious. After you had established what you were doing for the last days of your life, you can't help but wonder what other people had thought of. The curiosity of a human-being could be seen as a great weapon to either further human advancement or to completely destroy it. After centuries of innovation, we have developed all kinds of technology that could help us in everyday life. The greatest example would be the car that i'm driving in and the weapons that are inside of it, otherwise, i would of been forced to be on the road with a horse and carriage whilst defending myself with a rock and sling... that wouldn't be too pretty. Then, there are other times in history where innovation was quite questionable, taking a look at the large hadron collider that they built not too long ago, i start to wonder if this destruction was really brought by a higher being, natural occurance, or ourselves... Ultimately, it doesn't matter who we blame, because it won't matter in due time, but i would like some answers anyway so i can pin the blame on someone, whoever that person or being may be.

As i had mentioned before, the interstate was clear of cars except for the few brave souls who were willing to venture out like me. This struck me as odd because you always see in cinema roads clogged and horns blowing off everywhere to get people moving in an inevitable traffic jam of fail. Just seeing how different it really is in real life as it actually is happening is quite strange. Some things do remain the same: abandoned cars, cars that are lit on fire, and police blockades that have been torn down by angry citizens trying to get to places. I've been driving down this path for about 10 minutes and i've seen my share of weird things already including random farm animals running towards the city, naked people with picket signs that say "THE END IS HERE", people having picnics on the side of the interstate, and even scenes as odd as people having sex on top of their cars. Whatever floats their boat, i guess. People are entitled whatever they want duing their last days, i'm not complaining about it in any sense. It's just weird to find people doing so many different things because it just comes to show how many different types of people there are in the world other than yourself. In your mind, you find the path that you choose to reign supreme over everything that anyone else in the world chooses to think of, but as witnessed within these past 30 minutes alone, that does not seem to be the case. I was always so focused on myself that i never saw the world as a whole. Beside me, there are billions of other people out there living billions of different lives with billions of different personalities. Selfish little me couldn't see that until today, what a disappointment. Although you realize that these people live different lives than you do, the way that you were born, raised, and developed ideals tell you that you are disgusted by some of the ways that people choose to live their lives. You realize the fact that they're different, but you cannot accept that it should be how they live their lives, no matter what people say to you. Some people have this silly notion that says that if you can't accept other people for who they are, then you're just a conceited asshat that just doesn't care about other people. Gee, how i resent that statement. They're so blinded by their own beliefs that they fail to see what they're doing is actually going against their own beliefs. There should be no one in the world that should tell you how to live your life. What can possibly give someone the right to? Thinking back a couple of years, there was this one time a Jehovah's Witness rang my door bell and tried to pusuade me to go with him to his church so that i could see the truth. If there are one kind of people that i absolutely despise in the world, it's Jehovah's Witnesses. Usually, when missionaries come to my door step, their first words are "son, have you been exposed to the gospel?" Usually, since i have nothing better to do (sadly), i have a nice friendly chat with them. Most of the time they end with, "well, son, i'm not trying to covert you or anything, but if you have time, here's our flyer, you can come down anytime you want, it'll be a blast!" Whether i choose to or not to believe is my own decision and they recognize that. I respect people like that very much. They lay out all the options for you tell you something about each of them, and then go, it's your choice. But, whenever a Jehovah's Witness comes to my door, it's a whole different story. Their first words usually are "Do you believe in God? You've never seen God before in such a way before if you don't join us. We are the truth, and the time to repent is almost here. Don't listen to all the fakes out there, come to us, now."............ Okay, Shakespere, the stairs are behind you, and you best walk them whilst facing me, because that way, if i decide to swing my fists at you, you might have a slight chance to dodge them. What a weird flashback... looking at these people doing different things, on the interstate of all places, made me think of the way i chose to live life and the ideals that i have about it. It's not like it matters anymore, but for what it's worth, i finally realize that even i am at fault sometimes too. You just can't accept the fact that you've done wrong sometimes too, it's not regularly in human nature, but it worries me that it had to take the whole world's destruction to let me see the picture outside the box.

Before reaching my exit on the interstate, the influx of cars began to pile up. I shouldn't of expected anything less since this was an area that is saturated with shopping centers, supermarkets, and in general, places that you could use as a shelter from the outside world. What struck me as weird was that people were actually following the laws of traffic at this time. Not understanding such a concept at this time, i trampled through the weak barricade that separated both sides of the interstate and went up along the Do Not Enter way in order to avoid this traffic congestion. Needless to say, the cars behind me followed me and probably wondered why they didn't do it themselves. On the main road after exiting the interstate, you start to see the true colours of disorder. I thought people running around with weapons near my house was bad, but this is about 100 times worse. People are fighting each other on the streets and angry mobs are breaking into stores to loot whatever supplies they can find to help them stay alive. Seas of people are trying to break into already barricaded fortifications in order to find some sort of salvation from the outside world. You can't help but feel pity for some of these people. These people who are traveling with families, people who have no where to go, people who just want to be at peace are all threatened by the outside world. Lucky as i am, i found salvation beforehand, but these people will go to the end of time without any luck at all in their quest for shelter. It's a mean thing to say, but even until the end of time, the theory of survival of the fittest still plays a huge role. The fact is, there isn't enough shelter for everyone to hide under because even if you take thousands of, what i assume to be, good people with good intentions, you still end up with confusion and disorder. They're trying to break into safe houses and they're trying to tear barricades down so that they can be safe. This is not a war, destruction cannot bring peace in this situation, this is not a time where you can be too generous without getting hurt or killed, so ultimately, there is no right or wrong, no moral or immoral because to survive, you must outlast the others, and this is what has to be done. For miles, there does not seem to be any tranquility anywhere. Desperate people have even tried to open the door to my car seeking help, but i know better than to let anyone in. Even when they get too rough, keeping them off is as simple as pointing a pistol to their face. Even with the resolve to pull the trigger to defend my last values, my hand shakes wildly as my finger lays gently on the trigger ready to take action. It's one thing to be physically prepared, but it's another to be mentally prepared. Those who were not born and raised as a killing machine usually have a hard time becomming one. Those who do become a killing machine later on in life are forever changed. It was about 6 years ago when one of my high school friends joined the marines. I haven't spoken to him much after high school, but we still made contact once in awhile. Since he didn't have many friends back in high school, he sent his letters to his family and myself with the details of what's happening with his life on the battlefield. Compared to the last letter that he sent me before he came back from active duty, his first letter was just a fairy tale of the life he once had. Once a shy fellow who couldn't even talk to a girl, he is now an angry cold-hearted 6 foot tall white man who would not hesitate to knock you in the face as hard as he could at the bar if you even came close to into his personal space. Wishing destruction on everyone around him with the eyes of a cold-heartless murderer, the person that i once knew many years ago is alive no more. The second i pull the trigger, i fear that i would become what he is rather than stay the person he once was. I will not pull the trigger until i absolutely need to and even then, i would of unwillingly become my worst nightmare.

As i pulled up to my sought after location, i wondered how my friends had secured a faciity that was this size. It is a large office building of about 20 floors complete with an entrace to an underground parking facility. Completely fortified, the first ten floors were sealed off with plywood and metal fencing. There was no way to get into the building beside the front doors and through the entrace to the underground garage, and even then, those entrances could be completely sealed from the inside. There were barbed wire around the whole building and large football stadium spotlights on top of the roof that could light up the whole area... talk about massive. This is something that i have to get all the details on when i make my way inside. To my dismay, as i drove up to the building, there were signs of blood on the floor. Even though i was unfazed by the thought, i still wondered how many people tried to seek refuge in this impenetrable fortress and failed at the task.
This building looks as if it was mirrored from a zombie apocalypse horror movie. I just hope it doesn't turn out like one because at the end of most movies, the people inside the buildings are so overwhelmed that they are taken over by the sheer mass numbers of the zombies. Then again, humans are different from zombies as they actually have some form of logical thinking and value their lives somewhat.
As i drove to the entrace of the parking garage, i finally knew why this building was still standing. From three sides, there were about a dozen rifles being pointed at my car and i would be lying if i said i didn't almost take a shit on myself. It feels completely different on the other end of the barrel not knowing when the opposing side might pull the trigger. Judging from the shape of the rifle, my guess would be that they're mostly hunting rifles that were probably looted from the outdoor sporting goods store that was not too far from here. Hunting rifles are mostly made that they cannot fire off continuously without reloading with a hand lever much like more powerful sniper rifles with higher caliber ammunition. Although i was scared that a dozen rifles were pointed at me, i chuckled a little on the inside knowing that if there were ever a full scale angry mob invasion, this place wouldn't stand a chance. The only hope that this place has is left on the forticifation of the building, hoping that the people inside shooting can reload fast enough after each shot before the fencing and barricades fall victim due to the overwhelming number of people.
I signaled the inside via a series of headlamp flashes that were given to me when i was invited to come over the phone: 2 short flashes followed by a flash that was 10 seconds long and then ending with 3 short ones. After confirming my identity, the guns were lowered and the gate was opened and i entered the parking garage.

Salvation at last, i thought, here i might be able to escape from reality, help out with everything so the fortress is all well, and maybe live out my remaining days with the people who i trust the most in the world. On my way here, there were numerous fortifications just like the one that i had just entered. I had no doubts that each one of them held a unique group of people, people who were just like us, thought the same way as we did, people who would enjoy their last days in peace and not by raping and pillaging and destroying everything in sight. People who had at least some sort of motivation previously in their lives that have come to accept the fact that there's nothing left we can do but wait it out. When will it end? Will it end? Are we making a mistake? Surely billions of other people who are doing the same aren't wrong. When there were still television broadcasts about this, i questioned whether this was real or not. Everything seemed faux and i was reluctant to believe it. I hoped that tommorow would return to normal and i hoped this was all just a bad dream. I didn't want to die and i still don't want to die, but death is always inevitable, end of the world or not. There are just things in life that never seem real, you doubt that it happens because in your mind, it cannot happen because it just doesn't seem logical. What i have learned these past few days was that nothing can be illogical. Phenomenons that cannot be explained now doesn't meant that it cannot be explained later. A hundred years ago, the people of the time would of never dreamed of even having what we have now. We, as a society, advanced in technology and understanding faster than each generation can handle it. As soon as some ground breaking technology is revealed, another ground breaking development will be achieved a few months down the road. Technology will lead to more technology and each time it happens, it will happen at a faster pace, but when will the cycle end? When will we of reached the limits of development? Can science explain what is going on outside? Can religion support with facts the events that are happening outside? That is why we fear what is happening. We fear what we do not undestand and we try and ignore what we fear, but facing our fears become inevitable over time. Numerous people had predicted the end of the world but not a lot of people belived it. They feared death and they chose to believe it only as a myth. The problem does not lie with society but with the people who control it. The people who choose to feed us information peice by peice, people who do not want us to realize the truth, for we would rise up and revolt. Greedy anonymous people who stand on top of the world who have had the world at their fingertips since the nation was created... how sad. Ironic, the people who once had their fingertips around the world were the first ones to be taken out by them. Scary what human rationalization can achieve. That is where it all started.

This is where it ends.
_______________________________________________
Part 3: soon



HakoneDayDreamer, notes: got a little off track... oops...

 

Free Blog Counter