February 5th, 2012

give me yo money!

Tonight, I had a family dinner at my aunt and uncle's house to celebrate my grandfather's birthday and anniversary. Of the many interesting conversations that came up, one of them stood out in my mind.

My cousin lives in New York. He's a little younger than me, about a year or so, and lives together with two of his friends in a "bachelor pad" in Spanish Harlem. He was out one night with partying with some of his other friends; one of them had just broken up with his girlfriend and needed "his boyz" for some companionship. After the night drew on and the time became 1:30AM, they went their separate ways and headed home. He boarded the subway to take him back to Harlem at which he got off and started to walk through that part of town to reach Spanish Harlem. As he walked on the street, slightly intoxicated, he heard footsteps behind him. The second he turned around to check behind him, a guy leapt onto him and punched him across his face. My cousin, now on the ground, folded both of his knees to his chest and then unleashed a two footed kick onto his assailant throwing him backward. The assailant hung onto my cousin's jacket as this happened and put a big tear into it. Now, standing apart on the street, my cousin looked at his attacker face to face. He really liked that jacket and now that it had a big tear in it he was pretty pissed off.

"Give me your money" said the mugger.
"F*** Y**" said my cousin.
"No. F*** Y**" said the mugger in reply.
This went back and forth a few more times. Then…
"I have a gun" said the mugger.
"F*** YOUR GUN." said my cousin without thinking.
Then he thought better. He remembered telling his friend a while back about how getting mugged and losing your money wasn't worth losing your life. He better follow his own advice.
"Hold on." my cousin said and he took out his wallet. Browsing through it he found he had a 20 dollar bill, a 10 dollar bill and three 1 dollar bills.
"Screw this. I'm not giving him all my money." my cousin thought to himself.
"I'll give you thirteen dollars." he said.
"Screw that. Give me your phone."
My cousin pulled his phone out of his pocket. It was one of those really old cheap phones. Probably not even worth much of anything.
"You want this piece of S***?!?!" my cousin said holding his phone high above his head.
"Give me all your money." the mugger said again.
"No." my cousin replied.

This went back and forth a few more times and then silence. This had reached an impasse.
My cousin took a step backwards. The mugger took a step backwards as well. Then they both took another step backwards; each matching the others movements.
Then both of them turned around and walked away.

My cousin was going to call 911 but later flagged down a police car. He works as a volunteer police officer in New York (aside from his regular job) and so they took good care of him and helped him file a police report. In all likelihood they would never find the guy that assaulted him. However he needed it for insurance purposes to file a claim so it had to be done he explained.

A crazy story. The serious nature of the mugging aside, it was hilarious and thoroughly entertaining to listen to

February 3rd, 2012

new character

I will call her "weed girl." I'm not sure exactly why but she's one of the people that live in the building that have "caught my eye." "caught my eye" not in the sense of an attraction but more in the sense of a curiousity.

She must work some sort of "shift" job. This morning marks the first time I've seen her in a quite a while even though she parks her car nearby to mine. As I was pulling into the building super early this morning she was also driving her Subaru WRX in as well. In the past, I'd only see her late at night; walking to and from her car as well as...

It comes up as a point of conversation between my coworker and I as we both live in the same building and both know of "weed girl." If either of us found ourselves coming or going home at about 9:30 - 10:00pm we'd occasionally run into her. It'd be announced by the shifting of the breeze and the pungent odor of 'weed' carried on it. Wondering where it came from, I'd often glance around and see her in her Subaru; a small orange flame and the outline of her petite silhoutte. Pretending not to notice her, I quickly shift my glance and head towards the elevator.

After the first time I noticed her, I started to keep somewhat of a mental tab. Eventually I came to the conclusion that she was pretty chronic (no pun intended) as it was a pretty frequently occurrence. On some nights where I'd be going out and coming back late at night, I'd even see her out there twice in the same night!

Talking it over with my friend, I guess sometimes you just form random curiousities about strangers. It's not something you obsess over, of course, but it's something you wonder about when that 'trigger' happens; maybe you see her in the elevator or driving in her car. What does she do for a living? Why do neither of us ever see her with anyone at all? What's with the strange hours?

Just one of those mysteries I guess; filled with intrigue and curiousity.

February 2nd, 2012

burnout(?)

I am feeling it nowadays. The stresses of being pulled in a lot of different directions at work. Trying to push yourself to be good at more than one thing is impossibly difficult. Knowing that others rely on you often compounds the problem. On one hand, it's a great learning experience, opportunity at leadership, challenging oneself to be "more" and controlling oneself's professional destiny. On the other hand, it leaves me feeling mentally tired at the end of a long day. Everyone likely has some self doubt at times; it's how you deal with it and overcome it, right?

Outlets. I have a handful recently. I desperately need them to kick back and relax. Foremost among them is reading; not the "tech books" I used to read but just plain "stories" and quiet time. Close off the world. Imagination. Silence. Golden.

When the silence becomes too much, I reach for the guitar, strum a few chords, pick a few notes and I've found it adds a bit of mental stimulation and dexterity to my day. A welcome change.

Diet and exercise. People always told me that exercise was a form of stress relief. I never really understood until I started consistently doing so daily. Now I'm beginning to understand what they meant. Even if just a few minutes each day, the time spent seems to push the problems of the professional day to the back of my mind, renew a sense of clarity of life purpose and kick up the self confidence just a tiny notch; everything is great.

And I guess, just when you think you've reached the limit, with the right approach you may find you can push yourself just a little bit farther each day.

February 1st, 2012

new game

It's been years since the last one had arrived. However, yesterday, the latest game in the series was released and I definitely wanted to play through it.

The Final Fantasy series has always had a special place in my heart. Not because of stunning graphics or interesting gameplay (although those things do count) but always moreso because of the depth of the storyline and unique musical score. I've always been a sucker for the latter points. It's the first video game series that had ever made me cry or feel bonded and attached to the actual characters in it. Real empathy or emotion towards a video game is hard to find and harder to comprehend once you realize it's there.

Nowadays, I tend to avoid playing video games in general. There are a few that grab me now and then. I especially try to avoid the multiplayer ones that have no finite end as they can easily trap you into a 'timesink' (where has the time gone?!?!). Ones with educational value are among the ones I try to frequent as well. I must admit that they are also a good way to "blow off some steam" or kick back and relax with; something I've desperately needed with the stresses of my work career nowadays (it's crazy..). All in all, "moderation" is a good word to keep in mind I guess.

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