Some interesting bits
I've lost too much sleep lately. Perhaps it's because of a little thing called Jade Empire. Yes, it's good. And alluring. And since I play as a noble monk (looking as the Shaolin-style), it's easy to put time into. That, and I also started up a super-strong female, who's evil. For some reason it's a lot easier to make the character behave in an utterly evil way when they're female.

Yeah, so, the interesting bits. I found a rather large mark on the back of my thigh. And NO, not a good mark. Turns out it was a spider bite. So I went to the doctor to make sure it was all cool, and it was, thankfully. It's starting to go away. But it was one of those things that I didn't even realize I had it, since it was out of sight, until I starting feeling it itch. I should have taken a picture of it when it was really bad, but I forgot to. Sorry! I did find out from the doctor, though, that brown recluse (AKA fiddleback) bites aren't ALWAYS bad, only on occasion. But when they're bad, they're really bad. I don't know what kind of spider bit me, but thankfully it turned out okay.

And yesterday was an interesting day at kung fu. We have an eight grader who's rather large (as in tall and heavy), and he pushes at learning how to spar. So he asked me to spar him last night, and spar him hard. A few people stuck around to watch, since it's very rare any of the senior students don't go easy on the beginners. I left at least a few footprints on him, and put him to the ground a couple of times, but he seemed happy I did. I still haven't completely unloaded on him, but I think pushing him that hard is helping him learn faster. Hopefully he'll learn control with it, though. I'm still looking forward to rumbling with sihing when we get past the exhaustion drills in full-contact training. He's anxious to get in the ring to see what it's like to actually hit someone full force. I'm a little interested to see that, too. Hopefully the hospital won't need to be involved.

And this weekend was two people's birthdays. First, and most important (naturally) - my mom's! It was her birthday. So we went out to eat at Flavors. It's a bit pricey, but it was very, very good. I had the Atlantic Salmon. Mmm, tasty.

The other birthday was actually sihing's! On the same day. He's a big 19. He spent most of the day with his woman (pssh, go figure), but I'm taking him out to eat when he has a chance. Somewhere cool. On his birthday we had full-contact training, and since Sifu was out of town (he was looking into getting a movie script for his book - yes, Sifu wrote a book), sihing was in charge. And since it was his birthday, he took it easy while pushing us around. I think he enjoyed it quite a bit.

I'm thinking for my birthday, I'm going to go somewhere nice. Somewhere like Incredible Pizza! I've never been, and I hear it's... incredible. Maybe take some friends, and have a jolly old time. But that's still a ways away.

Oh, and there was a storm over the weekend, which sadly interrupted my nocturnal enjoyment of Jade Empire when the power blinked. Which finally convinced me to get a new battery for my UPS. Which is quite expensive. As my UPS is one I snagged from Williams when they were liquidating. Yes, it's sweet - if the power goes out while I'm watching a movie, I can keep watching the movie on battery. For an HOUR AND A HALF. Everything in my system plugs into it, and it makes things happy. Only bad thing is the battery costs more than what I paid for the UPS. But it saves possible other costs, which is good.

Well, it's almost time to get back to more full-contact training, so hopefully I'll survive. My legs are getting a bit stronger. And more muscular. Which is cool. As well as the arms and shins, with the conditioning and all. I'm finally able to kick the metal pole hard, and rattle it a bit. Someday I'll bend it. But probably not for a little while. Anyway, since it's time to go, it's time for random linking! This is one I liked, in the news. Some people know I like when I find TREASURE. Well these guys found it. Yeah, found it big time.
- posted by Pootenheimer @ 5:08 PM | 0 comments

 
Friday blogging
It's Friday! Yaaay! I'm about to leave for the weekend (from work), but I thought I'd go ahead and put a quick blog down. I have been into multimedia lately. So that's the topic for the day!

To start, 24. Season 3. It's so good, oh man. I'm on the last disc, so I'll be done with it this weekend. Just maybe by the end of the day. It's difficult to stop when you start. And a lot of people say they don't like it - generally these are people who see one episode in the middle of a season, and stop there. If you're going to do it, do it RIGHT, and start at the beginning. They rent the series at Blockbuster now. If you have any curiousity, I recommend renting Season 1, the FIRST disc. But be cautious - it may pull you in. I actually talked to a friend of mine's girlfriend at Blockbuster (I ran into the two of them on my lunch break), and although she hated the movie Hero (it's not for everyone, I admit), she did say she loved 24. My friend (Jerry) picked up the first two discs of Season 3 for a weekend they had nothing planned for, and although she was skeptical at first ("What, a TV show?"), she ended up hooked. And that's how it happens.

And as far as movies goes - this weekend Kung Fu Hustle gets released. I purchased it while I was overseas, so I've seen it. I'll say this - it's crazy. If you go in not expecting too much, you'll probably enjoy it. It's mean to be a ride, and I've heard a lot of people saying they enjoyed it, so I'll say it's probably worth checking out. It's by no means a traditional kung fu movie. It's closer to being a live action cartoon. Fairly wild stuff.

And games! God of War continues to be awesome. Even though I finished it this week. The story is very well laid out, and it was quite cool to get to the end. I may even play through it a second time, just for the enjoyment of it. So now that it is finished, a bigger (and possibly better) quest is now here! Jade Empire. I didn't really look up anything about it, because I mixed it in with a few other games (in my head) that really weren't TOO great. And then I read the review. It's a role-playing game. Set in China. About martial arts. It's like it was MADE for ME. So yeah, I have to get it. Hopefully it'll be just like my dreams.

Okay, that's all for the quick blog today. Hope you're having a lovely evening. Random link! For gamers everywhere, especially those who have played Final Fantasy 1, 2, or 3 (American numbering). It's rather amusing.
- posted by Pootenheimer @ 5:06 PM | 2 comments

 
Hong Kong part 2
Yes, finally. I have other stuff, but since I'm sort of behind on my tales of the East, I'll do that first.

It's the second day of my trip to Hong Kong! The first full day, really. Getting up bright and early, jumping on a bus that's for a tour we have planned out, with a tour guide and everything! We got on the bus, and it was headed straight for downtown Hong Kong. We started in Kowloon, the south part of Hong Kong, but the real city's on the north side. Woo!


Hong Kong, here we come!

There were a lot of things to see when getting into the real city, so I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.


The buildings are kind of tall.


They have walkways across the streets.

So we got to where we were headed (the first place), which was to a train station. From there, it was uphill on the train, to get HIGH.


It goes UP.


We're happy to be on the train!


It did make for some nice shots, from the train.


Look! It's me! In Hong Kong!


It's ALL of us, here.

I did get a decent number of shots from the area we were, which was above the city. So here, let me share a nice one or two!


The massive picture. So lovely. Luscious, even.


Everyone's taking pictures!

Back on the road. But it didn't mean we still couldn't take great pictures! And really, there's too many to put here, but I'll put some good ones.


It's pretty. Pretty big.


Some people's houses are nicer than other.

It seriously was the cleanest city I've ever seen. But I guess there were reasons for that.


If only we had this HERE.

Jason and I went off wandering when we stopped again, and we managed to find a temple, which was quite cool.


Framed nicely.

Next on the trip was lunch. Lunch! At a large floating restaurant. Actually the Jumbo Floating Restaurant.


We had to take a boat there. A COOL boat.


The restaurant was, indeed, jumbo.


Random artsy shot.


There were friendly people there to greet us!


Our tour guide, telling us more about the restaurant.


They had a very nice throne thingy set up.


Being guys, we abused it.

Okay. Whew! That's enough for now. Looks like day two will have to be separated into two days. It's hard work getting all these pictures picked out and sorted, you know. And the second day WAS full of a stuff to look at. So more later!

Ah, the weekend is over. Sadly. I could use more of one. It was a busy weekend. Friday was fun, though. Interesting, indeed. I helped by playing guitar with the Newman choir for a Charismatic mass, which was a totally different experience. A lot more of people definitely getting into the vibe of things. Freaked out a few of the choir members, I think. Most of us had never experienced any of it. The whole speaking in tongues, just vocalizing what you feel sort of thing. But the priest was cool. He liked to sing. Which he did quite a bit of.

So I passed up on kung fu to go play guitar at mass. It's interesting when my choices are to either learn how to be violent in a more efficient manner or else to help people practice their faith in a very peaceful way. Was kind of like that all weekend. I was late to a TEC (a type of Catholic retreat) reunion, because I had to finish my full-contact training on Saturday. So it was lots of pain, followed by lots of fun. Just hanging out, doing a barbeque thing, some ultimate frisbee. Very good stuff. A good day!

And today's been about the same thing. Started with lion dance practice (for our tournament coming up), then went to church. Church was good, three guitarists with guitars that managed to stay in tune. But it's been a long night, and I think I need to get my 24 fix and get some sleep. Hopefully all of you had a lovely weekend. The weather was incredible this weekend - makes me glad it was on the weekend, when I could actually get outside and enjoy it.

Okay. Long blog, ending commencing now! Random link insertion here! This one's from Wired magazine. It's a story about some kids. Rather smart kids. Makes me think of opportunities, and how we should be grateful for the ones we have.
- posted by Pootenheimer @ 12:23 AM | 0 comments

 
Man, I have been BUSY
Yes, BUSY. The whole weekend was chock full of things I had to do. Most of it was involved in helping a Catholic middle school retreat called ERIS, that a friend of mine started several years ago to raise money for a friend of his for medical expenses. It's kept up every year since, and each year we find a new cause to donate the money to. I won't say too much about it, other than the fact that we did a few skits, and apparently I make a good Satan. I guess throwing a little kung fu into the mix might enhance the evil. Or something like that. But yes, the kids seemed to like the whole retreat (it was for a day), since some of them admitted it was the best day they'd ever had in their LIFE. Which I think means they liked it. But it's all run by young 'uns, college kids, and the occasional old fart like me. But it was fun.

So Sunday was a little bit of relaxing, sleeping to recover from Saturday, mostly. And lion dance practice, which we're starting again, to get ready for the tournament in May. Which, sadly, coincides with TU's graduation. I should talk to Sifu about planning his tournament a little better in the future. I've already been lined up to help with his tournament, though, so I think that's the plan.

Lately it's been mostly kung fu, and I went ahead and got Season 3 of 24. Man, I had forgotten how much I love that show. It's not for everyone, and a lot of people think it's unrealistic, but I happen to think the opposite. I think it's believable, it's just coincidental that a guy has so much bad happen to him in one day. Or, by now, three days. Not all in a row, naturally. Some people do have rather bad luck. But the way the unroll the plot line is exquisite, and it's easy to get sucked in, if you don't resist. Kind of like Naruto... But yes. I like the characters a lot. That, and Elisha Cuthbert is one of the most attractive actresses on the planet. I guess you could say I'm a fan. I do think one reason I like the show so much is because even if you're having a bad day, they're having a worse one, and it makes everything seem so much nicer by the time the credits roll.

And yesterday was the second day of our schedule of pain at kung fu. Sifu's training us rather hard. And by hard, I mean pain raised to the power of insane. So far it's only four people each class, and not always the same four, although Justin and I seem to be regulars. Sadly, I had to miss Saturday, but Sifu wasn't there, so I don't think it was as bad. Because he was definitely there yesterday, and I'm STILL sore from it. I learned a few things. One of these things was that after three hundred crunches in a row, it's not your abs you feel so much. It's your neck. Since it takes a decent amount of time to do three hundred crunches and you're always pulling your head up with each one (not with the hands), it's more exposure to exercise to pull your head forward than you normally ever get. So yeah, there was that, the fifty pushups was kind of a relief from the rest of it. Sifu's bumped our horse stances (before and after all the other stances) to two minutes. The first one is doable. After doing a minute of each other stance, the final horse isn't quite so easy. It's thirteen minutes of continuous stances, and even Sihing admits that's probably the hardest part. I'm still quite sore, which means my muscles are worked, which means they will probably get stronger (and perhaps more developed), which is COOL. I'm thinking I may start feeling sorry for any of the other students who spar with any of us, the ones going through this training. Especially anyone going against Sihing.

As an aside, God of War continues getting better, as it progresses. If you like gaming at ALL and have a PS2, you need to check it out. But it's not for kids. 'Nuff said.

Lately I've realized how much I've missed playing guitar, which has inspired me to play more. I do have a lot of stuff I've recorded, but I'm too shy to post any of it. Nothing with words (yet), but just stuff I start messing with and say, "Hey, not too shabby, maybe this could turn into something." I think perhaps I need to invent a time generator, put that on the top of my list of things to do. Then I'll actually have TIME to do all the things I want to do. You know, rock star, kung fu master, brilliant computer geek, etc. As it is, I have to focus on one thing at a time. Although I've started putting a little bit more time into the brilliant computer geek thing. I'm working on coding up the Karatsuba algorithm to use for my thesis, to try advancing it beyond where it was. It's been almost a year, and I sorta miss it. So back to the drawing board! Err, coding board. Screen. Whatever.

And taxes are due TOMORROW. So if this is news to you, it might be time to file an extension. I've got mine out of the way, which is a pleasant thing to reflect upon. Ahhh... yes. Random link! Okay, here we go. Some things scare people. And for some reason, if it's really scary, it tends to be believed more. Why is that? Here, an example. Do you believe it? Careful with how easily YOU believe things.

P.S.: The weekend was TOO FULL. More pictures this weekend.
- posted by Pootenheimer @ 4:37 PM | 3 comments

 
Friday, but no pictures today
Sorry, I have no pictures available right now. So my Hong Kong trip review will wait until the weekend, most likely. But that doesn't mean I can't blog!

This week has been interesting. Work's pretty standard, getting a few things done, which is good. The notable thing was the concert I went to with my sister yesterday. We went to see Cake! They're actually really fun in concert. They played on campus at TU, along with two other opening bands, one of which I don't remember the name of, the other of which was called Gomez. I'd never heard of them before, and apparently they're British, but they turned out to be quite good. It was a pretty good example of different qualities of bands. The first one was all right, but it was sort of an, "Eh, when are they going to finish?" feeling in the background. The second band was more of a, "Hey, they're pretty cool. But they're playing for a while. How long are we going to be here?" And then Cake came on, and it was just a, "Hey, this is fun, I'm not even thinking about the time anymore!" They did a good job with the crowd, teaching a few song bits for everyone to sing along, then bringing the instruments back in full force. And splitting the crowd up for singing parts, which creates competition (in the lead singer's eyes), which makes it better. One time it was guys and girls, and another it was halves of the room. It was in the Reynolds Center, and the tickets were for specific seats. We had okay seats, like halfway back, on the left side, in the middle. But since we both had TU IDs (well, I had mine, and my sister knew someone there), we got special wristbands and got to go on the floor right away. We waited until after the first band was mostly done, then decided to go ahead and hit the floor once they let everyone on in. We managed to get right up next to the stage against the front barrier, on the left side, very good location. Sucky thing was that we were in front of the bass amp, so I almost felt my hair being blown back every time the bass drum was hit. It wasn't loud, though, just strong, so it wasn't too bad. It was a fun night, though.

And the rest of the week has been mainly kung fu. I took Monday off instead of Wednesday, because Wednesdays are now reserved for full contact training. And we had our first one this Wednesday. Sifu broke us in. Key word there being "broke". It makes the standard classes relaxing in comparison. I loved it. We start with some stretching of the leg joints, with leg lifts, which is basically like kicking your leg in front of you high up, without bending your knee at all. And then it was into stances. Oh yeah. A minute of each. Which makes ten minutes of sitting in our stances, all very low. And yes, there was wailing and gnashing of teeth. And people collapsing. We finished that, and that was our warmup. After that, training through various techniques, conditioning exercises, usually for a minute of each, doing them hard and fast. No real breaks, just the occasional minute to get some more water in our system. Imagine that for about an hour. I'm still feeling it a bit in my legs. And I have some nice bruises from it. One of the exercises was kicking the bag. There were four people there - two of the guys got the soft bag, which has water-filled base as an anchor. Sihing and I got the heavy bag, full of sand, much of which has settled into a rather solid state of being near the bottom. I think we successfully broke most of that up into a softer place with our shins. It was all that, and we had a nice warm-down by doing a hundred crunches. Which actually was relieving, compared to the rest of it. We'll be doing this type of training regularly to get in shape for full contact sparring, although I personally won't be competing in tournaments. I think it's just a great way to get in shape. That, and I think it might partially be because I'm masochistic.

In the fun stuff, I've decided God of War is excellent. I haven't had many things that could drop my jaw so repeatedly. I'm simply impressed with everything. The graphics, the sound (the soundtrack would easily fit into LOTR - orchestra, choir, the whole nine yards), the FUN of it. It's definitely not for kids, though. Plenty of everything in there. But that's part of what makes the main character so vivid. You don't question whether or not he'll do something. If it needs to be done, no matter what it takes, he'll do it.

And that's my Friday blog. Now for random linking! I was looking at the main character of God of War, Kratos. Made me think of what guys think of when they think of REAL men. Well, the model, the testosterone-filled epitome of what most guys consider a REAL man... I would say is filled by this guy.
- posted by Pootenheimer @ 12:22 PM | 0 comments

 
CHINA... the beginning
Okay, it's about time, I know, I know. But here, I'll give you some good details about my luscious, luscious trip. And pictures. I took way too many. I'll just say I bought two memory cards for my camera and filled them. And how big were these memory cards, you might wonder? One gig. EACH. Yeah, a lot of pictures.

But first! Gaming and kung fu! Gaming? Yes, Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow was released. And I've been waiting for it. It's a thing of beauty. Seriously. And it has a cooperative mode in it, that I need to try out, when I find someone who also got it. Coop online, for single-player stuff. Being friendly is fun! Yeah, all the gaming stuff has kind of flooded together, as it has a tendency to do. PSP, Splinter Cell, and God of War. Yes, that's right. It's got everything in it that's bad (as in naughty), but it's a vicarious outlet in a very nice way. Penny Arcade had a very nice view on it. I've only played a little bit of it, but it's well put together. Reminiscent of Devil May Cry. Which was quite good. Just set in the times of ancient Gods. Think Zeus.

Okay, so I'm checking the news now. And it's out. You probably know by now, but Pope John Paul II has passed away. I think he made a major impact in the world, in many ways that people don't realize. That, and he was awesome because he was Polish. His real name was Karol Wojtyla. He became pope right around the time I was born, so he has a bit of a special place in my heart. That, and my parents got a document about my birth and baptism signed by him. Which is cool. But having a different Pope in the world is going to be a very strange thing, probably for a lot of people. I don't think anyone will ever forget John Paul II, though.

Okay, anyway. I can't really follow that up with anything proper, so I'll just go to the standard thing. Kung fu! Yeah, we had class this morning. And Sifu really has gone back to traditional training. We had quite a few senior students there today, including the other Eric and Shannon. Sifu put us through standard warmup stuff, and then rigorous stance training. Two minutes of horse, one minute of each other stance (one minute, each side), then another minute of horse. I think almost everyone collapsed at least once (yes, even Justin). Somehow I managed to stay up. But I sort of cheated. I kept my other stances a TEENSY bit higher. Although the horse was solid and low. And it hurts. Quite a bit. But I love it. It was that, then drills on sparring techniques, and then sparring. I sparred a bit with Eric, and he still throws his fast high kicks. I still rack him when he does. Don't know why he keeps trying it. I got to spar a little with Shannon, too, but it was mostly going through techniques, which was good. It was a good class.

Okay, enough with all of the PRESENT time stuff. China! I'll just load you up with pictures. I took a LOT of pictures. For today, I'll just do the first day.

It began with the trip there. Which began by going to Dallas, then L.A. The airport at LAX is big and nasty. But it's California, which means they DO have a ton of palm trees. Even inside.

Palm tree madness!

So yeah, then we met with the group from L.A., including Sigong Buck Sam Kong. It was through customs, which was nasty enough that I don't want to relive it with photos, and then onto the plane!

It was a big one.

Sixteen or so hours later, we're in Hong Kong! We all get on a big bus to go to our hotel.

The five visible faces: Frank, Julius, Buck, [drawing a blank - to be filled in when I remember], and Andrew.

Gas prices are crazy! Crazy converted!

Exchange is 7.7 Hong Kong to 1 Dollar. And that's per LITER.

We drive, and finally start coming into view of the big city.

It was a nice day, too.

A LOT of people live here, and we were starting to see it.

Packed quite densely.

We get into the city, start seeing shops and people on the streets.

The Lion Pub! Great for women and children!

And we get to the hotel, it turns out to be rather nice. We were happy with it.

Circular stairs. For those who like pain.

Random aside - they do all sorts of construction, being a growing city and all. But for scaffolding, they use bamboo. Which is cool. We could see some from the window in our room (me and Jason) some people working on it.

And in the middle there, a very brave man.

So we unpack, get everything sorted out, then time to hit the town! Woo! And I will tell you, it's a beautiful city.

Look! Foreigners! Oh wait.

We swung by Kowloon Park, which was particularly lovely. A picture's worth a thousand words, so here's a few thousand words for you.

Pretty.


Isn't that sweet?


A view of the city from inside the park.


A group of older men playing mah-jong. Kinda like chess in the park.

We wandered some more, got to a plaza, where they had an interesting display up, most likely still up from the new year. It was rather cool, though.

Roawr! I'm a dragon!


Leisurely loving.

Spent a lot of time wandering, seeing the sights, it was all very good times. And night arrives, so it's time to hit the town!

It's almost brighter at night.

We get the group together and go to get our first taste of authentic Hong Kong styled Chinese food.

Ready to chow down.


Dang, this is making me hungry.

Oh, the food was so good. I need to find a place in town that does it that way, if I can. Or learn how to MAKE food that way. Which would be awesome. We had to get our currency either exchanged or ATM'd. And yes, their money is a lot more colorful than ours. Just like EVERY other country. In the WORLD.

The money's Hong Kong cash.

All very good stuff, and from there, a few of the guys and I went to check out the night market, where you can find all sorts of crazy prices, crazy deals, crazy items, and crazy people. You could bargain with everyone, just keep track of your wallet. It has a tendency to vanish on occasion.

Just one of the MANY bountiful booths arranged at the market.

We finished up our looking around, maybe purchasing a couple of small things (I really don't remember when I bought a lot of the stuff I got), then headed back to the hotel and crashed for the night. We all slept well, I'm sure. It had been a long voyage, and a full day. A very good first day.

Stay tuned for more details on my fantastic voyage! Same place, slightly different time. I hope you liked the pictures. I had to pick a few. Seriously, there's a ton of pictures.

Okay, enough there. Super long blog action! Time for a blog BREAK. So I'll give you a random link. It's not completely random, since it's related a bit to my blog topic. But for those of you interested in learning more, perhaps a language or two, check this out.
- posted by Pootenheimer @ 2:46 PM | 2 comments