VllaskoCom ~^! somehow different from today

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

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.

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.

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.

"ambulance"

One of my coworkers was retiring from the company after many long years there. After a late night hanging out with him and a bunch of worker friends, I found myself walking home. A man approached me on the sidewalk. He looked a little sketchy so I'd typically be extremely cautious of him. However, it was a busy street corner, well lit and I was with a friend so I let my guard down a tad bit. With slurred speech he asked me a question I couldn't quite make out. I asked him to repeat it again and he asked how far it was to . I pointed out a direction and said it was about a block more. He sat down on the sidewalk, put his head in his knees and asked me to call 911. So I did. I asked him what he was feeling so I could relay it to the person on the other end of the call. If I had to guess he was totally stoned, drugged out to the extreme. I'd be a little nervous for him except that he seemed to be responsive for the most part. In any case, the ambulance arrived REALLY FAST. In minutes. Definitely I was blown away by the responsiveness of the EMT. I hope he's ok in the end. Lights flashing, sirens blaring, what a surreal night it's been.

sing along

Today, I've got a song terribly stuck in my head and find myself absolutely 'having' to listen to it. It's a somewhat funny situation as it's a korean pop song and I understand next to zero korean words. Even still...here I am singing away trying to imitate the korean words as best as possible! It'd make a pretty entertaining youtube video I suppose.

fortuitous coincidence

This week has been ridiculously hectic in terms of work. I very much needed an outlet to "kick back" and unwind. Luckily one of my friends I had met through work, was also feeling burnt out for the week so we rounded up some people and went out for some dinner and drinks. It was fairly late. The place we ended up at was pretty crowded. It took a good chunk of time to finally get a table but we passed the time by "catching up" and socializing. Upon sitting down and ordering some food I spotted someone I didn't expect to see out at night; an employee at the same company I work at. He had a baby a year ago and I figured he wouldn't be out by himself at that time. Anyway, he sat down at and we started talking up a storm. He said two of his friends were coming down so we got some more chairs to add to our table. When his two friends showed up, I was totally surprised as one of them was a vendor we do business with. I didn't even know they knew each other?!?! As we talked supposedly they were good friends and go way back; years and years. Jeez. It's no doubt happened before but I'm still consistently amazed at how small the island I live on is. It's also a pleasant surprise to see the "other side" of people as I found out more as the night went on. I turned and looked over at the digital clock on my mobile phone. It was 12:11AM. I shoved the phone back into my pocket and started to dive imerse myself in another story going around the table. "Where had the time gone?" I briefly thought to myself. I didn't care...

money monster

Amazon.com is eating my money a little bit at a time. I've bought all sorts of smaller items lately: ebooks, music scores, cat toys and household items in the past few weeks from it...amazing... must...watch...out...

New Act

I swear... I am getting super frustrated with certain songs (or should I say just one 'song' *ahem*) in Rocksmith. I was doing just fine as I entered "New Act" and then a song comes along that makes me think "wtf...I'm soooo terribly newbie again!" As if I didn't need humbling up until that point...ow. Just when I thought I was getting the hang of things...a total wrench thrown in the wheel. *cry* *cry*

dodging stereotypes

When I meet someone for the first time, I typically avoid asking them the innocuous question of "what school did you go to?" It's not because I'm not curious but rather because that question is usually reflected back at me. The private school I went to has a positive reputation for academic and athletic performance. That being said, in local areas, it has a significantly bad reputation of character; people that go to the school are often seen as snobbish, rich, privileged and otherwise downright mean. This is typically perpetuated each year by schoolgoers yelling inappropriate and snobbish comments at local football games, the occassional local vandalism or fights breaking out, and otherwise general things like the belief and behavior that "you're more privileged than everyone" just because you went to that school. It makes me perturbed just writing about these things because I think back on some of the examples and events I experienced. I was one of those students who never went to the high school football games. I just never found them entertaining. Partly because football wasn't my "thing" but mostly because I knew the way certain people at my school behaved there and that idea just never sat well with me. It reminded me of the "ugly" side of people. Looking back, I'm happy that I never did and I can't say that I've ever regretted a decision like that. I typically avoid the "private vs public" school argument. I've met some really gifted and intelligent people come out of both sides. I've also met some people of really great character and integrity come out of both sides as well. The people that impress me the most, are those that have made the most out of the least. I guess this particular point transcends the "public vs private" argument as I've known private school students working a job on the side to "get by" and still managing to excel in academics. I've also seen public school students rise above adversity and go on to do terrific things. One of my good friends is an example of that. He lived on his own in Hawaii at a young age while his parents moved back to Japan, working a job while going to a public school and then going on to pay his way through college. Whether he knows it or not, to this day he is one of my role models (I do express this to him on occassion). I work with him everyday and admire his infallible integrity, sound judgement, patience and friendliness. I aspire to be like him in so many ways. Another example was my ex-gf. I likely never verbally conveyed to her the depth of admiration I have for her situation; unfortunately, given current situations, it'll have to remain unspoken. Anyways...I'll avoid elaborating more on that as I'm sure I must've in passed entries on different topics. A shining example nonetheless. Having never had to experience either such situation or a situation even close to them, I can only appreciate those accomplishments from the sidelines. People may say that going to a private school is a "privilege"; I can't argue with that as it does typically cost a lot of money and unfortunately, because of that, isn't accessible to just anyone. Having gone to one myself, I can say that I can't change the fact that I went to one. However, as an individual, I can make sure that I don't let it influence the way I treat people I meet and those around me; try to treat each one as a "human being" and otherwise leave any personal judgements I may make to be based solely on the merit of the individual persons' character. When I was younger, it used to be a big deal when meeting new people. The second people knew what school I was from, I could see the gears turning in their head; preconceptions of myself were already being formed. I'm fortunate that people, as a whole, are very accommodating and after talking to them at length that preconception fades out. Nowadays, the "school" question comes up less and less. Perhaps because the people I usually meet are older in age. By the time the "school" question comes up, I'm already comfortable with the person and merely "casual conversation" is all the resultant of that question becomes. Even still, although not as brightly, past history burns in my mind and it's a question I typically avoid asking.