wuzup... hows life and all.. fur me all going well i geta get out of school in less than a week(hk time)

its all cool i geta go 2 l.a. fur a wile ta doze off and all those good stuff. then i come back and my frend from canada is coming 2 visit. so it all gos well. But living through school to get 2 all these things is impossible especially the last week of school it killing me literaly. It also sucks that Colorado lost to detroit in the nhl confrence finals. But it rocks that the lakers are looking to take the championship home AGAIN!

It also rocks that most of my fantasy league teams are kicking @$$( as in donkey of coures...). But it sucks cuz justin is taking over my ps2 . And he's threanting me and stuff. Its also good that justin invited us to watch a movie and have dinner wit him which took up most of his pay check. Its also good 2 know that im going 2 get a passing report card grade fur all my subjects(phew). If u look at the pictures of me in the website theyr all the ugly ones so just tell justin to change um or threaten him 2 do it is fine to... (Hint: threatening sounds better). Ya if u actually liked dis more than justins stuff(wont blame ya) just email me at u_da_man64@yahoo.com.

Dude of the day: me
Game of the day: SSX Tricky(ps2)
Movie of the day: Star wars ep 2
website of the day: http://www.coffeebreakarcade.com/index.html
Team of the day: Lakers
Loser of the day: Dominet Hashek (sumtin like dat)
msn screen name of the day: >+++D
Song of the day: Forgotten-Linkin Park
Album of the day: The enimen Show
Joke of the day: Cuban Delicacy
A tourist has been visiting Cuba for a week. He is leaving the next day and he still hasn't tried the food. He goes to a restaurant and sits down to order and then sees what the man next to him has. It looks very tasty. The waiter comes to take his order and the tourist tells him he wants what the other man beside him is having. The waiter says there is no more left. The tourist then asks him what the meal is and the waiter replies that it is the testicles from the bull that lost the bullfight earlier that morning. He tells the tourist that if he comes back tomorrow he'll save this meal for him. The tourist thinks, "What the heck, it'll be my last day here," so he comes back the next day and the waiter has his food prepared for him when he comes. The man eats the meal and thinks it is delicious. But he is confused about one thing. He calls the waiter over and asks him why his meal looked smaller than the meal the other man had the day before. The waiter replies, "Oh, sorry sir, sometimes the bull wins."

So I really have to ask: what the heck's so entertaining about soccer? It's a pathetically boring game, low-scoring, low-violence, players look like ants on a huge playing field, and it's SLOW. Why does such a simple sport grip the entire world?

Why not hockey instead? Football? Basketball?

Because soccer, or football as they call it here, is the only true international sport. The only other recollection of such high TV ratings and paralyzing an entire continent for sport is during the Olympics, another true worldwide event.

Hockey is a Canadian game. Baseball is America's pasttime. And North American football...geez, don't even mention the word around here.

Other sports are starting to catch up, however. Whereas hockey is almost exclusively limited to cold weather countries, basketball is starting to grow pretty big all around the world. But it'll probably never reach the heights that soccer has. Why?

Because it's a simple game.

Even the most intoxicated fan can still understand that in "football", you use your feet to kick a ball into the opposing net. That simple. No line changes. No faceoffs. No three-point or free-throw line. You kick the ball into the net, you get one point. That's all there is to it.

What shocks me the most is this: while I have never shown any kind of real interest in soccer back in Canada, I've all of a sudden become fascinated by football here in Hong Kong. I'll groan when there's a missed scoring chance, cheer when there's a well-placed goal, yell at the ref when he misses a penalty, and actually watch the Chinese team even though they suck ass.

Weird.

Song of the moment: Twisted by Fused. Figures.

I went to Shenzhen yesterday to meet with a client from El Paso. Pretty nice guy, he's like an older, hispanic version of me - when he goes to Mexico the locals can immediately tell from his Spanish that he's not from around there. Here in Hong Kong, the locals can immediately tell from my Cantonese that I'm not from around here. =) Really friendly and interesting guy though. Gave me his business card and said if I ever went to El Paso that he and his family would house me up no problem. He's got 4 kids - 30, 27, 14 and 11 - and my first reaction was WOW, you've gotta be kidding me....well, the 14 and 11-year-old kids were actually adopted when they were babies. That's what really impresses me. I initially thought he was just a really smooth businessman, but turns out he's a real straight shooter. That's rare in the world these days.

We visited a factory in She Kou and man, I have to tell you, it's one thing to hear about the third-world country conditions. It's quite another when you're actually living it. I thought I was gonna pass out from the fumes of the toxic paint that the workers were using, and the factory hygiene was well beyond anything I was willing to touch. George (the El Paso guy) commented, "Geez, imagine how high the workers must be when they finish work and go to bed..." I was getting high just from the few minutes I was inspecting their work.

It also makes you realize just how much money companies are making through the exploiting of poor, desperate workers. Nine West in particular, do you have any idea how much it costs, on average, to make a purse? With genuine leather? USD $3. They sell in the States for USD$90. That's a 3000% profit margin. They offered some purses to me for free.

It's sad really. I tried talking to a few workers, and even in the conditions they're smiling at me. I offer them encouragement and tell them to keep up the good work, and even something simple like that lit up their faces. Imagine how their boss must be treating them when I'm not around.

I have to admit though, taking my little cousins out for the day with Jo along really helped me off my pissy mindset that I've had for the past few days. Or maybe it's just cuz I like spending money? =) Whatever it is, it's worked wonders, that, along with driving 290 yards dead eye straight at the golf simulator downstairs at the health club four times (my arms are sore as hell tho), and with the most restful sleep I've had in a long time just now (I passed out at 7pm and just woke up...haven't even had dinner yet). Yeah, I'm in a much more pleasant mood now. =)

Attack of the Clones was pretty good I thought. Much, much better than Episode 1. Though I kept hearing about how there was too much romance in the movie and how bad it was, I thought it wasn't that bad...there wasn't any more romance than there was back when Luke and Han both went after Leia. Besides, I thought it gave a little more spice and variety to the movie instead of pure lightsaber swashbuckling, and I'll definitely take romance over a movie about kids podracing anyday. I'll give Episode 2 4.5 stars out of 5.

I completely revamped the links in Wasteland. A lot of friends have more than one web presence, so I made a chart listing who's got what where. Check it out here. And let me know what you think of the new format.

Ray, glad to hear you made it out of exams ok...

Song of the moment: 3am by Matchbox 20 (piano version). Duh, what other song could it be...

I hope to change the front page to a fully-functional blog version soon instead of just using the blog for an archive. It's so much easier than having to post up twice, and I only have to deal with uploading on FTP once and that's it. I already started on trying to make the archives and the main page look alike as much as possible...

I'm gonna go try to crash some more. I have to wake up early to go to Shenzhen tomorrow and meet with some clients...work is getting more and more interesting everyday =)

But until then, I will never understand just how could a 25-year-old man be so juvenile and immature as to act like a 12-year-old child, while giggling like an idiot and sending it to his friends.

This time, Brian, you've pushed me too far.

Because I need closure.

Until things are settled, resolved, or at the very least brought out, I'm the type of person that will have it eating at me forever, no matter how hard I try to get rid of it, or forget about it. There must be fifty billion different things that still gnaw at me today.

Problem is, the way I go about getting this closure half the time is not a very good way of getting it, and most of the time, I end up regretting what I just did after finally getting it. And I ask myself:

Was it all worth the trouble?

Hindsight is a beautiful thing. If I could live my life in hindsight, I'd be the closest thing to a perfect man. (given, of course, that I could never actually be perfect because only God is perfect) When I'm in the process of getting closure, anything is worth it to get rid of this annoying itch. Once I've gotten it, I look back and say, "I went thru all this trouble for THAT? And look at what it's gotten me." Why I still continue to do it, even though I know it, is beyond me.

Maybe I do things for the thrill of the chase? Or maybe I do it because I'm consumed with guilt or anger? Is it for selfish reasons, or is it that I truly want to resolve it for the good of the situation?

Or maybe is it that I'm just a typical only child, a spoiled, bratty, cry-til-I-get-what-I-want guy?

I don't know. I'm hoping to find out soon.

Everyone in the office is really nice, and it's pretty weird cuz I've never worked in such a small office before. There must be like 15 people in here, tops. I'm the only one with two computers on my desk - and here's where it gets good - I don't understand either of them. You know why? For a computer expert, I still don't know how to use an iMac and Chinese Windows 2000. I'm supposed to understand how the iMac works, load up everything so we can get our online system going (a lot of files are Mac-only), and set it up over the Chinese Win2k.

I'm screwed.

Lucky for me, I have access to the net here at the office, and I had to resort to asking Carolyn and Andrew for help. They could only help me so much, though, and only with Win2K....so anyone know how to use Mac OS X? If anyone out there knows how to use it, HELP ME!!!!

What's sitting in my stomach right now: Portugese food laced with Hong Kong germs that's making me sick.

Until next time, I hope I'll understand these bloody systems soon.