The best things in life: Part One -get glory with these hands-

Log start: 12:48am June 30th, 2010

-get glory with these hands- <-- not only is it an H&MC song, but also the theme for this post :p

The best things in life sometimes you don't notice yourself. Sometimes, you don't even know it's happened until someone tells it to you. Sometimes we're just so oblivious to it that we miss it completely. Well, that may happen more than we know it, but today i caught a glimpse of it and i must say that it's pretty wonderful :p

So, if you actually read this blog and you know me, you'd know that im a lifeguard. As a lifeguard on duty during the summer at Queens College, we teach a summer camp that houses around 1,000 or more children. These children come in daily for about 8 weeks, they play games, they meet new friends, and they go to activities. Activities such as swimming are part of their daily routine for 8 weeks.

Now, let me explain something first. When i first took the job about 5 years ago, i thought children were cute and amazing (like me). LOL. I just assumed that everyone had a positive attitude about learning how to swim and that i'd turn them into tommorow's Micheal Phelps.

*sigh*

5 years later, i start camp going... "ugh... another year..."
I know that i've made an impact on these kids, i've taught them a skill that they'll keep for the rest of their lives. For example, this little asian girl named Elizabeth. I've taught her in camp for 5 years, from when she wore a lifejacket to where she is now as a level 6 (highest level) swimmer that there is. I know that i wasn't the sole cause of her amazingness at such a young age, but i was part of it. Knowing that these kids aren't wasting your time and that they've actually picked a skill up because of you is something so amazing that you must experience for yourself. (No, i don't want to be a public school teacher, brah. Don't even jinx me like that.)

Sometimes i take this for granted because not everyone of these kids are sweet little kids, some are demon children and they ruin the experience. But these little kids who make something out of it is all i need to fuel myself everyday when i teach them. The thought that maybe just some of them, even maybe just one, will make something for themselves, and when i'm in my chair one day reading the newspaper or watching the TV and i see one of these kids on whatever im watching/reading, i can go "Awesome" *pats self on back*

Isn't that the primary purpose in life? to pass on information to younger generations so that they might later pass it on or make it better. (i make myself sound sooooo old)

Nothing much to talk about today though, since it was the first day. But when i got off of work today, i was walking next to a counselor (basically the teacher equivalent of a class) who was with a small little kid, no more than 10 years old and she asked him "what was your best part of the day?" and the little kid replied "SWIMMING!" the counselor asked "swimming was best part of your whole day?" and he replied "YES! I LOVE SWIMMING!"

After a hectic first day back at work, this is all i will ever need to keep myself going. Knowing that we (as a team) can make such an impact on a little kid who could of chosen something like playing games, or colouring, or even having lunch, but he chose swimming instead. You can't believe how happy that makes me. It's like my stress level just goes from 90% to 10%, all the anger that i've built up throughout the whole day from annoying kids, you just forget after realizing the impact that you've made.

Sometimes, fame/glory/things just come to you, but what's the fun in that if you can't achieve it with your own hands? Knowing that all the effort you put in something actually means something one day makes all the difference in the world.


Edit: Sometimes the best things in life we take for granted, or don't know it's there. But when we realize it, it's the thing that keeps us running in life.

HakoneDayDreamer, Self-satisfaction +1.

SNSD vs After School

Log start: 7:43pm June 16th, 2010

I will never give up my love for my 9 girls from SNSD <3
but this week, i found a korean pop group that comes in a close second.

This group, After School which has 7 members as opposed to SNSD's 9 is sort of SNSD's alter-ego.
When you think of SNSD, first thing that comes to my mind is cuteness. SNSD are cute girls that are around my age :p
After School are slightly older girls, they average about 3-4 years older than each SNSD member :o
but this is what makes them their alter-ego! if you youtube one of SNSD's older vids, or even their 2nd to most recent one "Oh!" it's cute. you know that they revolve around cuteness as a theme.
But if you youtube After School, you can see that they're a more mature version of SNSD, with a lot more rap and more "mature" singing... it's not something that you can explain with words, so just check it out yourself!

Here's a vid of After School's vid "Because of You:"


Here's a vid of them doing a dance battle with SNSD:


what really captured me was the beauty of one AS member, Uee.


if you watched the dance battle vid, she's the one in the front with the blue jacket, her smile and face is just so cute :3
not to mention her cuteness in the "Because of You" MV and her nice legs. LOL. oh man...

ok, more about Uee's cuteness another day. After School is just the same as SNSD in a sort of way, they're just more mature and reach to kind of the same audience, but in a different way.
i admit it, nothing scares me more than an asian female who can rap. half the girls in this group raps O_O"
but it's in a way where they're awesome. in a graceful sort of way, unlike CL of 2ne1 which is just... freaky -_-

so yeah... After School vs SNSD. i honestly love SNSD, because they're just amazing, but After School does come in a close second, mainly because of Uee. :DDDDDDDD

so cute :p

HakoneDayDreamer, i can't believe i just typed this post out... -_-"

misconceptions

Log start: 8:52pm June 12th, 2010

People often believe too much of a persons words without confirming the truth.

Let's take for example, my work. If I were to give permission to a child's parent to register them in a swim class, i won't ask them "do you know how to swim?" "are you good at it?" because as a kid, they'll say "yeah! my parents say i'll be micheal phelps one day! i can swim faster than everyone here"

and then what happens? they register, teacher tells them to hop into the pool in the deep end and they sink straight to the bottom.
^ hypothetical situation - i'm not that irresponsible...

but imagine that the above was real, why would i believe a kid? i was once a kid, i know how their mind works, they always think that they're the best, but in reality they're not.

Reality: what the world really is.

That is why there are procedures, you have to test the child and then you have to confirm it for yourself. great for them if they really are the next micheal phelps, but there are only so many swimming prodigies out there, so chances are, you're not actually good and you're just being a little bitch lying to me.

True story for real life. why would someone believe something that's said about someone else from another person??? <-- confusing line...
here's an example

3 People: A, B, C
A talks to B about C
B believes A
C is automatically the asshat because B doesn't double check with C to confirm something.

even in math, the professors make you check your answer, what happens when your answer is wrong? you change it! durrr. but if you never check, how do you know your answer is wrong? get what i'm trying to say?

Today at the store, i overheard two asian ladies saying
"wow, did you hear about _____'s son? my son says he drinks and does drugs!"
"WOW, REALLY??? don't tell her mother that, or she'll be sad... i'll never look at him the same way again..."

this is how shit starts. lol.

although what was said may or may not be true, without a proper explanation from the kid, he'll just be guilty instead of having the chance of not being guilty.

everyone racks up shit like this everyday, myself included in that equation. someone says something, you go "OMG!" and you never double check to see if facts are right.

it's like playing a continuous game of Telephone without checking with the original person, how are you going to know if your story is right without checking with them???

KNOW WHAT I'M SAYING!?!? lol

misconceptions grow from these kinds of behaviors, these misconceptions create drama, and drama destroys everything.
something that could of easily been prevented and yet we all choose to let it go out of hand and let it destroy because it's just "too much work" sometimes to get the job done right. how would you be able to live with yourself knowing you destroyed everything with your own hands AND that you had the option of choosing to not destroy it from the very beginning.

doesn't make sense to me... maybe somethings aren't supposed to make sense and our human perception cannot master that emotion.
whatever it may be, there are always problems, but we choose to deal with them or not, sometimes we choose not to deal with them more and that's where misconceptions start and end up destroying.

HakoneDayDreamer, i wonder how much of the past i can fix with a time machine... no use pondering now, although i'm pretty sure me and everyone of you that's reading this will end up repeating all of this in real life... humans are so flawed, lol.

Probability vs Intuition

Log start: 2:52am June 12th, 2010

I'm going to share this post on facebook, but there are some previous posts that i haven't posted there, so check those out too if this is considered "good reading" for you... although, i can't grasp why this would be good reading for anyone, even myself... it's just mindless ranting sometimes, lul.

This post is dedicated to that nice asian man who i had a chat with at the casino.
that's right folks! Brian's maiden voyage to the casino. i went from being +65 to only +10 when i came out. at least i was in the positives lol.

A little story to that actually. i was actually DARED to go to the casino. blimey bastards making me go by myself to "test" it out. i hate you all and when i see you, you're all going to get a Brian Special drink mixed for you. ass hats.

So, the night prior to, i was reading on probability and statistics of these games to help myself out a little. i knew previously from playing texas hold em that it's not just probability, but i'm not high enough of a baller to be let on the texas hold em tables at the casino, so i had to settle for a few games that i knew about, and some other games that i read about for the next time i go.

funny enough, i lost money on blackjack... it seems like betting low isn't the way to go in ANY casino games and betting all the time isn't the brightest idea ever... lol...

I was standing for 2 hours at this asian table game called "Sic Bo" (asians use a term 大小 to call the game) looking at how everyone plays. ALL of the asian people were crowded around 3 of these tables, i couldn't make my way to the front row for 30 mins...
i analyzed the game slowly and slowly partook in some betting and that's where i got lucky and went up +65 on my 2nd bet, lol.

but there was this one time (where i didn't bet) that one die was stuck on the bowl thing and the dealer called a re-roll. this old asian man next to me had placed money on #5 and the stuck die was going to add up to 5 for him. when the dealer called a re-roll, he got physically mad, LOL.
and thus stars the chinese dialouge and narrative - the parts in quotes were said in chinese -

"the dealer is cheating! let me see a manager!"
the manager came over and went
"how are we cheating? everyone saw, everyone else is happy. relax"
*insert chinese curses here*
manager - "if you're not happy, fine, go play at the other tables, but don't cause trouble!"
and the old man turned to me and said
"my mind told me that it was going to land there, so i went for it... i was going to win BIG, ya know"
me - "too bad that die got stuck"
him - "they just suck... damn... now i can't feel the chi from the dice... bye kiddo"

and for a good 10 minutes, i thought to myself...
the feel of the dice... intuition... does that mean my probability was the wrong approach?

then i finally realized and in my head i went "LAWLS. yeah right... my college education so far teaches me differently."
but these people have probably been here for years playing these games, how can a rookie 21 year old come with the mindset of being better than everyone there?

so by the end of the day, i decided to settle that gambling is a cross between probability and intuition. you can't blind call everything, yet you can't predict everything with only statistics.

in texas hold em, you fold when you feel that your hand is shit.
in mahjong, you build your tiles according to the feel of the tiles.
in blackjack it's easier to go by statistics

i lost my train of thought... and after typing all of that out, none of what i'm thinking makes any sense...

but... probabiity and intuition, you must have both to win.
i remember a this table, there were these 2 asian guys in their mid 20's all suited up and they made 4 bets within 20 mins, all big bets, and they won all four. they won so much money i started to think to myself "intuition... if only i can get my hands on some..."

it sucks being a rookie at something, intuition can only be built over time as you play more and progress more into something. as a first timer, all i have to go by is statistics and probability... at least i know i have more of that than other people -_-
because i also saw asian ladies bet with their "intuition" and lose big too... so i dunno... i need to grasp this concept even more.

and omg... there are so many ballers at the casino -_- i was watching this 50 dollar minimum blackjack table for 10 mins, and this asian lady in her 30s was just betting like no tommorow, and then when she lost her chips, she just took out he LV wallet and exchanged 500 dollars on the spot and began to play again. im like wuuuuuut >_>

yeah... maybe when i have more of this intuition... but i don't plan to make this a habit or a profession... or else, what would a college education be for? LOL.
next time, it's merely going to be a past time and next time, PEOPLE ARE COMMING WITH ME.

Idiots.


Probability vs Intuition: you need both.


HakoneDayDreamer, can't wait to be a baller, lol.

Defining the Kitty... again...

Log start: 1:14am June 10th, 2010




I found my hello kitty bandaids today whilst looking for my waterproof ones.
today was supposed to rain, so waterproof bandaids make sense o_o but instead, i found my old stash of hello kitty stickers.

i remember a month or two ago, i mentioned something about "nice, i love hello kitty!" and then i was questioned... "wtf? really? hello kitty?" so i'm like "yeah, what's wrong?"

i don't exactly remember the rest of the conversation, but that's how it began...
to this day, the answer that i like to give people who question my love for the kitty is "shit happens..." sometimes you can't control what you like.
i mean... hello kitty... how does that appeal to a 21 yr old guy??
it doesn't even make sense to me sometimes, but i tell ya, when i put the bandaid over my wound today (that's a result of a flaming marshmallow) i looked at it and i sensed a bit of tranquiity. looking at it made the wound not sting and it actually lightened my day.

sometimes, that's all it takes to be happy. some small thing that doesn't really stand out and you might not even realize it, but when you see it, you 'll say to yourself "why is that so awesome?"

putting it into context, try and imagine James Bond. you see bond on a mission, you see bond having happy time with his woman, you see bond kill. then you see bond at a pet shop hugging and kissing puppies or something...

i'm not neccesarily obsessed with hello kitty and all of her items on the market, but sometimes seeing her will just brighten my day up and give me that boost of energy to go "YOSH! AJA AJA FIGHTING, SON!" <--- see what i did? japanese/korean/english reference LOL. *pat myself on the back*

i'm going to have to stop here tonight, my eyes are moving left and right involuntarily which means i'm REALLY exhausted and i need sleep.

imagine any Sims game. my fatigue meter would be -9000 right now in a 0-10 scale... so yeah..

HakoneDayDreamer, for your sake... don't diss the kitty -_-

Accident prone

Log start: 4:23pm June 7th, 2010

I usually never hurt myself a lot.. but it's been 2 days and i've already counted 3 accidents that i've probably imposed on myself due to stupidity. lol.

so yesterday i was baking these amazing chewy cookies, recipe from alton brown, and i slipped out of the house for 2 hours after they were done. i came back thinking that the cookie sheet was at least warm to the touch. so i grabbed it with my palms (my fingers were holding a cookie, LOL) and baaaammmm burned -_-

i know, i know. i should of used an oven mitt >_> i seriously thought it was okay to touch lol. but apparently not...

then later on that night, i went to dave and busters with a few people and i ended up spraining my left wrist playing video games.
dude, you don't know how bad it is while playing an intense game to rack up tickets and suddenly you feel the sharpest pain ever in your playing hand...
i thought about shaking it off and having a gin and tonic at the bar.. BUT THE BAR CLOSED. RAWRRRRRR. good thing i wasn't driving o_o" i would of been in soooo much pain...
i did manage to get a stuffed Kenny from south park though :p and that's being displayed in the back of my car as a result of my pain, hahaha.

THEN today. my neighbor called me out to play handball.
i was deciding if i should go or not, seeing as how my left hand is completely immobile and my right palm burn still stings when i touch it...
but deciding between staying home or having a chance to hurt myself outside... i chose handball.

baaaaaddd choice. i played about 3 games and as the 3rd game ended my right ankle does a twist. good thing i was thinking fast and countered it... so now it's only a semi-twisted ankle instead of a fully twisted one...

oh god... i have to stop doing things when im hurt or else i get more hurt -____-

the week just started too, i was planning to go practice some archery tuesday and wednesday, but i think i'll take the day off tommorow to rest... i don't want to get hurt from archery anymore, lol.

from archery, i've only hurt myself seriously twice. once was when i first started archery, we have these club bows by PSE from the Optima series. i was hyper-extending my arm and as a result, my elbow was hit by the bow string and i was the first ever in club history to have an open bleeding wound from a bow. NICE. XD.
the second time, i picked up the president's hunting bow and shot it. again, i was hyper-extending and ended up with a bruise that was there for a good 3 weeks. there's still some after bruising that's still visible...

why do i do this to myself? lol...
i know i'll get hurt, but i jump into it anyway.

meh. as my swim coach says, "no pain no gain, idiots."
it hurts though -_- i want to trade in these pain points for skill points ASAP so i stop hurting myself LOL.

HakoneDayDreamer, ouchies...

My bartender listens to David Choi!

Log start: 2:04pm June 6th, 2010

It never ceases to amaze me how much you learn from random people everyday. Yesterday night, i decided to go to one of my neighborhood bars by myself (mainly because it was 2am and i don't want to bother people at that time... lol)
At the bar, i sat in the middle of all the seats and ordered a Gin and Tonic from a cute female bartender.
Whilst sipping on my gin and tonic, since i had no one else to talk to and the other ppl were either a)partying up a saturday b)looking to get drunk c)prostitutes d)guys e)old people, i took out my rusty, yet trusty, blackberry and checked the world news. don't judge me... i know a lot of people say politics are stupid, but the truth is, it's what runs the world.

As i finish my first gin and tonic, i already read up on some of the major news, oil spill, people complaining, sarah palin being an idiot, people STILL complaining about arizona's immigration laws.

as i finish my last sip, i order another one... (i think i'm in a gin and tonic phase... i love that drink right now xD)
as the bartender is mixing up another one, i asked for it in a highball glass, which is 2oz more than the traditional rocks glass that it's served in and i asked for the extra cup space to be filled with more tonic water.

funny how conversations start up. during this second gin and tonic, i didn't pick up my blackberry at all and this particular drink lasted for a good half hour o_o"
the bartender says to me "feeling bitter today?" and she chuckles.
so i respond "not really... why?"
and she goes "im sure you already know that tonic water is a bit bitter, and people usually ask for more gin, not the tonic, haha"

from there, she attempted to recreate my life story just from me asking for a bit more tonic water... it's funny how bartenders find the significance behind special order drinks that people think up. i guess that's a job of a bartender that i still haven't mastered yet.

usually, when i bartend other peoples drinks, i usually first scan them from head to toe and try and read their facial expression. from there, i modify the drink to what i think will suite their daily moods. every bartender has their unique style and it just so happens i run into the story teller one... and here i wonder why their stories are always right... lol

so she ends up hitting the spot dead on... i'm not going to type out the story that she said because dudes... cmon... privacy on the internet please, lol.
but by the time she finishes explaining everything, i'm just sitting there in amazement. and she goes "yeah, im amazing, i know" in a sarcastic voice, XD.
and i respond, "better believe it"

then she offers me her own version of gin and tonic, on the house :D
so she starts mixing a regular gin and tonic in a highball glass and then she stares at me and says
"instead of the extra bitterness this time, let's try something else. let's fill that extra space with a little more spirit *adds 1 extra shot of gin* the perfect gin and tonic is built from high quality gin and tonic that's not out of a soda gun. and by adding this spirit, i hope that it will give you more spirit and colour to your life. analyze every obstacle in your life with this spirit and plan accordingly. last but not least, instead of lime, here's a lemon chunk and half a shot of lemon juice *adds 1/2 shot lemon juice* lime is green, you're not green, you're asian, so here's something yellow! HAHA. and beside, lemon is different from lime flavourwise and there usually isn't any citrus in gin and tonic, but here's a shot of sourness to symbolize what you plan to do in every situation. whether you choose to attack it in full force, like what this lemon will do to your drink, or however you choose to deal with it. don't look back and just do it."

she makes herself the same drink and we had a cheers to a good life.
before i left, she told me to go to youtube and search up "that girl" by david choi.
so im staring at her like "LOLWUT" because i know of that song too ->check previous blog post<- and i thought he was only known in the asian community or anyone who keeps up with wongfu. but here's a short little white girl in her mid 20s telling me to listen to david choi... i was honestly shocked. O_O"
and she tells me that there's more to the song and she told me to click the little link that is displayed at the beginning of the video that tells the story behind the song and video.
usually, i don't click those because i think that it's a waste of time, but she told me to do it.

here's the link ->
http://wongfuproductions.com/2010/05/new-music-video-released-%E2%80%9Cthat-girl%E2%80%9D/

Alcohol is not there for people to get drunk and party. i mean, sure, people drink it to get buzzed so they have excuses to do stuff. but that's not what alcohol is about. i got into bartending because it's an art, an art that defines people. what people order, what people drink, what people think. everything is reflected in the drinks that they order and from this awesome bartender, there's always a story behind everything. many people don't get it and either don't try it or abuse it to the point that makes the spirits useless.
think of alcohol as a yin for your yang. some extra energy to balance out the imbalance that you have in yourself. if you abuse it, it will abuse you.
there are days where i can drink more than i usually can before i turn red or feel the alcohol, and there are days where one shot is almost a total wipeout for me.
there's always a nice amount that you should intake to balance everything out.

listen to me... i sound like an old man explaining alcohol and its uses -_-

but there's always a story to tell from your drink, no matter what your mood is.
it's the life and job of a bartender to predict and re-create these things.
and i just met one of the best bartenders of my time.

i re-created the drink today and i can safely say that it didn't taste as amazing as it did last night, it could be because im not using top-shelf stuff... but i'll leave that for another day.

so... the best bartender that i've met yet listen to david choi... and she's not even asian o_o"

the chemistry behind alcohol... people don't realize the significance of it.


HakoneDayDreamer, i have a new favourite place to drink xD