Friday, July 11, 2008
dead brain
I think my sleeping habit has gone really bad...It was the 3rd night that I slept after 2 in the morning (or maybe the 4th? can't even remember...) This morning I couldn't even sleep in either cuz there was a lot of noises going on in the building. I think...my brain is going really slow today...and I am just feeling lazy cuz the brain is not awake....
Thursday, July 10, 2008
How do we live?
Cable at our place stopped working this morning. I 1st noticed through the stupid internet which was getting on and off all the time...and then I got more sure of it being dysfunctional through the TV. I was annoyed a little cuz then the only thing I could watch was that annoying China soap opera during lunch. I guess I had my knowledge enhanced just a little more on whatever stupid things can happen in marriages....oh well....
After several hours of not having cable TV and internet...I finally decided to look up all wireless networks we can discover in our building. Apparently most people are smart enough to lock their internet connections like we do, but then there happened to be a nice neighbor who perhaps recently moved in and didn't have time to lock their connection yet....and that becomes the connection I am using right now.
I have to admit I am very thankful for this unknown person to not lock the connection....or else I may very well die of boredom since I was not able to work on anything cuz everything is saved in my e-mail....Our EP design is finally coming to an end...It has a drastically diff. feeling compared to the 1st one. I personally am not too worried about the difference since who knows how long it will take for us to finish yet another EP? and it will always be cool if we come up with something completely diff. when we have the final full album anyway....I just hope with the mailing and printing we will be able to have the 2nd EP at hand at least in Aug. Keeping fingers crossed on that....
I also printed out Amy's song sheets after I got this connection going. It looks like this songbook will be much more work since I will have to type up EVERYTHING from scratch since she did her roughs on a diff. software. I am not even sure if the notebook Tim is gonna lend me will work smoothly with Chinese either...We will have to see about that after I pick it up Fri night. I guess my free time due to absence of students in summer will be spent working on other people's music then...oh well...I just hope the music won't be too boring for me to listen too....sighs...
My sleep ever since beginning of this week had been bad. I was getting frustrated and told Billy just to sleep by himself 1st so I could stay up. He refused and insisted on giving me a massage to see if that would work. I guess he was dead tired that right after he finished the massage he snored next second he put himself down on the bed. I was very amused cuz being dead asleep in one min is certainly not my specialty. I got up, stayed up till 2, and then was actually able to sleep alright through the night. I guess the massage did work after all....To be able to sleep right is certainly a blessing that everyone needs...oh well...
I have been watching the rose Billy gave me which is in a test tube and our wedding vase now. It's amazing how a semi-dead plant tries to maintain its life. It takes water and it tries to open up the flower....even though very slowly because it's technically dead....I wonder if the rose realizes its own death? Something that kinda just reminds me of how we often don't realize what kinda life we are living...We may be dead inside and appear not to be on the outside....or vice versa...Isn't life just interesting? .....yeah....I think no internet certainly would kill me....
After several hours of not having cable TV and internet...I finally decided to look up all wireless networks we can discover in our building. Apparently most people are smart enough to lock their internet connections like we do, but then there happened to be a nice neighbor who perhaps recently moved in and didn't have time to lock their connection yet....and that becomes the connection I am using right now.
I have to admit I am very thankful for this unknown person to not lock the connection....or else I may very well die of boredom since I was not able to work on anything cuz everything is saved in my e-mail....Our EP design is finally coming to an end...It has a drastically diff. feeling compared to the 1st one. I personally am not too worried about the difference since who knows how long it will take for us to finish yet another EP? and it will always be cool if we come up with something completely diff. when we have the final full album anyway....I just hope with the mailing and printing we will be able to have the 2nd EP at hand at least in Aug. Keeping fingers crossed on that....
I also printed out Amy's song sheets after I got this connection going. It looks like this songbook will be much more work since I will have to type up EVERYTHING from scratch since she did her roughs on a diff. software. I am not even sure if the notebook Tim is gonna lend me will work smoothly with Chinese either...We will have to see about that after I pick it up Fri night. I guess my free time due to absence of students in summer will be spent working on other people's music then...oh well...I just hope the music won't be too boring for me to listen too....sighs...
My sleep ever since beginning of this week had been bad. I was getting frustrated and told Billy just to sleep by himself 1st so I could stay up. He refused and insisted on giving me a massage to see if that would work. I guess he was dead tired that right after he finished the massage he snored next second he put himself down on the bed. I was very amused cuz being dead asleep in one min is certainly not my specialty. I got up, stayed up till 2, and then was actually able to sleep alright through the night. I guess the massage did work after all....To be able to sleep right is certainly a blessing that everyone needs...oh well...
I have been watching the rose Billy gave me which is in a test tube and our wedding vase now. It's amazing how a semi-dead plant tries to maintain its life. It takes water and it tries to open up the flower....even though very slowly because it's technically dead....I wonder if the rose realizes its own death? Something that kinda just reminds me of how we often don't realize what kinda life we are living...We may be dead inside and appear not to be on the outside....or vice versa...Isn't life just interesting? .....yeah....I think no internet certainly would kill me....
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Our paper year....
So....it's been a year from our official wedding date....scary...yes...time flies...yes...and I guess nobody knows the future so we can only enjoy it now :) We went celebrate it in Pasadena at Ruth's Chris. I was surprised the place was quite full even on weekdays. Here are the photos for the night then....1 year is called "paper" marriage in Chinese....guess it's still not strong enough yet....oh well...
These are the salad and soup we ordered...yeah...the salad looked kinda weird with all the onion rings on top...and the soup was with rice and seafood...EXTREMELY HOT....
Those are the BIGGEST fries that I have ever seen in my life..Billy had to eat them with knife and fork...lol...and the 2nd pic is with the rib eye steak we ordered...Crab cake on the top, Oscar style....
The waiter took these pictures for us...so I guess that is the reason why the pictures didn't turn out all that bright even with my light picking camera....oh well....
The waiter talked to us into ordering creme brulee...It was only alright to be honest...
I guess it's rare to look at buildings in Pasadena at night...actually I had no idea what building it was...but I suspect it's some sort of government building? The rose...is what I found in the car before we went to dinner...I guess one rose is nice even though I am not into flowers...I do like huge roses though....occasionally...and only when it's not fully open....
These are the salad and soup we ordered...yeah...the salad looked kinda weird with all the onion rings on top...and the soup was with rice and seafood...EXTREMELY HOT....
Those are the BIGGEST fries that I have ever seen in my life..Billy had to eat them with knife and fork...lol...and the 2nd pic is with the rib eye steak we ordered...Crab cake on the top, Oscar style....
The waiter took these pictures for us...so I guess that is the reason why the pictures didn't turn out all that bright even with my light picking camera....oh well....
The waiter talked to us into ordering creme brulee...It was only alright to be honest...
I guess it's rare to look at buildings in Pasadena at night...actually I had no idea what building it was...but I suspect it's some sort of government building? The rose...is what I found in the car before we went to dinner...I guess one rose is nice even though I am not into flowers...I do like huge roses though....occasionally...and only when it's not fully open....
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Talking about keeping resources....
Amy Sand called me last week and asked me if I can do her songbook again. It's just amazing how her ministry has been blessed and they are having the 4th album pretty soon!!!!! I guess a good management with business minded people in a ministry is surely a plus on top of all their works in the kingdom of God. Anyway....since I did two other song books for her before I just said yes without thinking....
So....the situation turned out to be hectic because of the computer system we have at home. Apparently Billy's computer just would not cooperate with the music software I am using and none of the Chinese lyrics would come out right. I started trying diff. versions of the software...didn't work....I installed all the Chinese fonts....didn't work....I tried this and that for the whole day yesterday...and NOTHING worked....
As frustrated as I was....I started calling people and writing e-mails to ask for help. I tried to figure out what systems were installed with each computer I used at work. Of course it's not like HI people would know anything about it....and then I tried to ask overseas with friends who use the software....With all the info gathered I guess the conclusion is my music software will only work on Windows XP "Professional" edition.....
Now the problem is....not that many people with new computers have XP on their computers....and vista would for sure not work with Encore on Chinese typing. The ones who have XP does not have the professional edition. Most of them have the Home edition like what Billy has. After going around hitting walls for several days...I decided to find out if I can borrow a computer from somewhere just to get the job done. (thinking it would be a big favor to ask cuz I will need to borrow the comp for like 2-3 weeks...)
Lucky enough...one of the people I called was Tim, who was my ex-coworker from YEARS ago back at COG. He not only was willing to lend me a notebook to work with, but can also put in whatever windows system I wanted to use to type up the music and get through the job. I almost thought about bugging my er- ge for this case but then didn't want to since he has too much to take care of...so....now things "may" be solved if I get the notebook this weekend....just keeping my fingers crossed for now...
Moral of the story....It's amazing how people need diff. resources all the time....I am pretty glad I am not the type of person who throws resources away after they are used for once. I am glad I am not the kinda person who has nobody's phone number in their phone books or e-mail address books. I am blessed to stay friends with most people who I worked with before...cuz they can still help me at various weird times like this time around....:)
So....the situation turned out to be hectic because of the computer system we have at home. Apparently Billy's computer just would not cooperate with the music software I am using and none of the Chinese lyrics would come out right. I started trying diff. versions of the software...didn't work....I installed all the Chinese fonts....didn't work....I tried this and that for the whole day yesterday...and NOTHING worked....
As frustrated as I was....I started calling people and writing e-mails to ask for help. I tried to figure out what systems were installed with each computer I used at work. Of course it's not like HI people would know anything about it....and then I tried to ask overseas with friends who use the software....With all the info gathered I guess the conclusion is my music software will only work on Windows XP "Professional" edition.....
Now the problem is....not that many people with new computers have XP on their computers....and vista would for sure not work with Encore on Chinese typing. The ones who have XP does not have the professional edition. Most of them have the Home edition like what Billy has. After going around hitting walls for several days...I decided to find out if I can borrow a computer from somewhere just to get the job done. (thinking it would be a big favor to ask cuz I will need to borrow the comp for like 2-3 weeks...)
Lucky enough...one of the people I called was Tim, who was my ex-coworker from YEARS ago back at COG. He not only was willing to lend me a notebook to work with, but can also put in whatever windows system I wanted to use to type up the music and get through the job. I almost thought about bugging my er- ge for this case but then didn't want to since he has too much to take care of...so....now things "may" be solved if I get the notebook this weekend....just keeping my fingers crossed for now...
Moral of the story....It's amazing how people need diff. resources all the time....I am pretty glad I am not the type of person who throws resources away after they are used for once. I am glad I am not the kinda person who has nobody's phone number in their phone books or e-mail address books. I am blessed to stay friends with most people who I worked with before...cuz they can still help me at various weird times like this time around....:)
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Memory lost?
People who know me for a long time probably know that I don't tend to remember things all the time....and yet sometimes it's not up to me. My brain kinda just filters out stuff without me being able to figure out how the brain does it. I think I just tend to make a very quick decision upon the importance of things when I 1st hear them. For the things which the brain categories as unimportant then down the dump they go. Well....that is just what I "thought"....
A friend back from high school recently got reconnected with me through facebook. I was surprised we can actually carry some conversations through interesting issues... since again I was never that close with him back then (even though I always thought he was a very interesting and brainy guy). I couldn't remember if he was studying in the same studio with me or with another violin teacher at school, so I blamed it on my failing memory when I was mentioning it. Here....is what he said about it...
Milan :
"Hey, when you say you don’t remember things, I was like that for a while! I could not remember things if my life depended on it… People, names, where I knew them from… what happened and when it happened… Years were particularly bad. It turned out at the end that I had a condition called sleep apnea for the past 6-7 years which did not allow me to have a deep sleep (REM – stage 4). That stage is where the brain “reboots” clears out junk we don’t need to remember and forms long-term memories. You not remembering things from the past can very much be some physiological thing with your health now, perhaps a sleep problem of which you are not aware. I would go and see a doctor and talk about it as it can be potentially serious health condition. I would not think that we “did not pay attention to people” back then, no matter what Bushkova says. You not remembering the past can be because of the condition now, not because you were not paying attention. My wife thought the same about me, but it turned out she was wrong -- it was sleep apnea. I now have a machine (CPAP) that helps me breathe at night and I am in turn more rested in the morning, my dreams have returned and so did my memories! Go see a doctor and talk to him/her about it. You can also have a sleep study done and that will tell you if you are resting well. I think it’s not about not paying attention but some physiological change that might need medical attention,… not to scare you but it can be. I don’t fit the pattern for the apnea -- I am thin, good blood pressure, eat healthy, exercise… but it turns out I have it. I also thought my memories were bad, and wondered about it for a long time too. Now they are back, and all because of a good night's rest which I was not getting for a long time."
So....I guess my lack of good sleep throughout the years did contribute to my memory lost....
A friend back from high school recently got reconnected with me through facebook. I was surprised we can actually carry some conversations through interesting issues... since again I was never that close with him back then (even though I always thought he was a very interesting and brainy guy). I couldn't remember if he was studying in the same studio with me or with another violin teacher at school, so I blamed it on my failing memory when I was mentioning it. Here....is what he said about it...
Milan :
"Hey, when you say you don’t remember things, I was like that for a while! I could not remember things if my life depended on it… People, names, where I knew them from… what happened and when it happened… Years were particularly bad. It turned out at the end that I had a condition called sleep apnea for the past 6-7 years which did not allow me to have a deep sleep (REM – stage 4). That stage is where the brain “reboots” clears out junk we don’t need to remember and forms long-term memories. You not remembering things from the past can very much be some physiological thing with your health now, perhaps a sleep problem of which you are not aware. I would go and see a doctor and talk about it as it can be potentially serious health condition. I would not think that we “did not pay attention to people” back then, no matter what Bushkova says. You not remembering the past can be because of the condition now, not because you were not paying attention. My wife thought the same about me, but it turned out she was wrong -- it was sleep apnea. I now have a machine (CPAP) that helps me breathe at night and I am in turn more rested in the morning, my dreams have returned and so did my memories! Go see a doctor and talk to him/her about it. You can also have a sleep study done and that will tell you if you are resting well. I think it’s not about not paying attention but some physiological change that might need medical attention,… not to scare you but it can be. I don’t fit the pattern for the apnea -- I am thin, good blood pressure, eat healthy, exercise… but it turns out I have it. I also thought my memories were bad, and wondered about it for a long time too. Now they are back, and all because of a good night's rest which I was not getting for a long time."
So....I guess my lack of good sleep throughout the years did contribute to my memory lost....
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Chicago Day 3
Since I have nothing to say much recently....I guess I would just finish the last day of our Chicago trip for my writing quota...lol
Last day of our Chicago trip we decided to just sleep in and eat lunch at our hotel before we go to the airport. The hotel restaurant looks really cool...and I especially liked the light tree...Billy took a photo of me with the cool chair and said I looked like I was in the asylum...orz...
We decided to go with the buffet, and those are the food I got. I think they looked quite healthy, yeah?
We tried to take pictures with the chairs next to the restaurant....please pay attention to how much Billy looks like a frog with his arms hanging there....
Billy was trying to look like Lincoln with imitation of Lincoln's sitting posture from Grant Park.....
The elevator entrance...
Cool chair right next to the bar in hotel lobby.
I am very much into minimalism art.....and I think the hotel uses a lot of minimalism elements in its designs....
This is the famous Chicago hot dog which Billy finally found in the airport before we flew back to LA. You would think it would be easy to find since it's famous...but we really didn't see it in Chicago...odd...anyway...the hot dog is weird in a way that there isn't any mayonnaise in it...kinda dry I thought....The 2nd photo is the famous Chicago deep-dish pizza that we also found in the airport...yeah...interesting place to find something you couldn't find in the city which it represents....and this picture...would conclude the Chicago trip :)
Last day of our Chicago trip we decided to just sleep in and eat lunch at our hotel before we go to the airport. The hotel restaurant looks really cool...and I especially liked the light tree...Billy took a photo of me with the cool chair and said I looked like I was in the asylum...orz...
We decided to go with the buffet, and those are the food I got. I think they looked quite healthy, yeah?
We tried to take pictures with the chairs next to the restaurant....please pay attention to how much Billy looks like a frog with his arms hanging there....
Billy was trying to look like Lincoln with imitation of Lincoln's sitting posture from Grant Park.....
The elevator entrance...
Cool chair right next to the bar in hotel lobby.
I am very much into minimalism art.....and I think the hotel uses a lot of minimalism elements in its designs....
This is the famous Chicago hot dog which Billy finally found in the airport before we flew back to LA. You would think it would be easy to find since it's famous...but we really didn't see it in Chicago...odd...anyway...the hot dog is weird in a way that there isn't any mayonnaise in it...kinda dry I thought....The 2nd photo is the famous Chicago deep-dish pizza that we also found in the airport...yeah...interesting place to find something you couldn't find in the city which it represents....and this picture...would conclude the Chicago trip :)
dream on...
I had yet another weird dream this morning. It's very strange that ever since we moved to another room to sleep in our apartment I have not been sleeping well AT ALL. We have tried to change the directions and sides of us on the bed and still it does not seem to be working. I guess we should probably move back to my original room tonight. I used to have weird dreams, but now quite an amount of them are nightmares. I don't think I can handle too many of them....
Anyway...so...the dream...I was finding whole bunch of bugs in the bed I was sleeping on. There were two kinds of bugs. The small kind is about 1/3 the size of a regular ant. The bigger one is shaped and sized like a soy bean but in black. Both of them were very clingy so it was super hard to get them off things. For some reason we had layers of sheets and blankets on the bed and I had to open each layer just to find bugs hiding and crawling everywhere. Interestingly enough I was patient and spent the whole night cleaning up the bed. I put all of them on this huge blanket and wanted to brush them off to a dumpster. I was planning to wash the blank with super hot water after that, but didn't see myself doing it in the dream.
Mom, clement, and Ivan were also in the dream. Last part of the dream was that we were heading out to shop after all my hard work cleaning up the bugs. Clement was like "why don't you girls go...I will just stay home." Ivan was all excited about going to shop he didn't notice his brother counted him as a girl....yeah...weird details that I noticed...I also noticed all the bed sheets we were using were the "Tommy Hilfiger" brand. I usually don't buy anything Tommy cuz I heard the designer is racist and doesn't like selling his stuff to people other than those with white skin. I remember thinking "heck with that...you are not getting a cent of my yellow skin money then" at the time....lol...anyway....just some really strange details...
I have no idea what my dream meant but I think it's tiring to have dreams, especially the weird ones that you actually remember....just a diverted note here....another elementary classmate of mine is getting married again....and yeah...another guy classmate. I really don't know why all the guys in the class marry earlier than the girls. I guess smart girls are not that interested to get married?
Anyway...so...the dream...I was finding whole bunch of bugs in the bed I was sleeping on. There were two kinds of bugs. The small kind is about 1/3 the size of a regular ant. The bigger one is shaped and sized like a soy bean but in black. Both of them were very clingy so it was super hard to get them off things. For some reason we had layers of sheets and blankets on the bed and I had to open each layer just to find bugs hiding and crawling everywhere. Interestingly enough I was patient and spent the whole night cleaning up the bed. I put all of them on this huge blanket and wanted to brush them off to a dumpster. I was planning to wash the blank with super hot water after that, but didn't see myself doing it in the dream.
Mom, clement, and Ivan were also in the dream. Last part of the dream was that we were heading out to shop after all my hard work cleaning up the bugs. Clement was like "why don't you girls go...I will just stay home." Ivan was all excited about going to shop he didn't notice his brother counted him as a girl....yeah...weird details that I noticed...I also noticed all the bed sheets we were using were the "Tommy Hilfiger" brand. I usually don't buy anything Tommy cuz I heard the designer is racist and doesn't like selling his stuff to people other than those with white skin. I remember thinking "heck with that...you are not getting a cent of my yellow skin money then" at the time....lol...anyway....just some really strange details...
I have no idea what my dream meant but I think it's tiring to have dreams, especially the weird ones that you actually remember....just a diverted note here....another elementary classmate of mine is getting married again....and yeah...another guy classmate. I really don't know why all the guys in the class marry earlier than the girls. I guess smart girls are not that interested to get married?
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