Goodbye Alice in Wonderland

It's 4 in the afternoon
I'm on a flight leaving LA
Trying to figure out my life
And my youth
Scattered along the highway
Hotel rooms and headlights
I've made a living with a song
Guitar as my companion
Wanting desperately to belong
Fame is filled with spoiled children
We grow fat on fantasy
And I guess that's why I'm leaving
I crave reality

So goodbye Alice in Wonderland
Goodbye yellow brick road
There is a difference
Between dreaming and pretending
I did not find paradise
It was only a reflection
Of my lonely mind wanting
What's been missing in my life

I'm embarrassed to say
The rest is rock n roll clichè [sic]
I hit the bottom
When I reached the top
But I never knew it was you
Who was breaking my heart
I thought you had to love me
But you did not
Yes a heart can hallucinate
If it's completely starved for love
It can even turn monsters
Into angels from above

You forged my love just like a weapon
You turned it against me like a knife
You broke my last heart string
But you opened up my eyes

So goodbye Alice in Wonderland
Goodbye yellow brick road
There is a difference
Between dreaming and pretending
That was not love in your eyes
It was only a refelction of my lonely mind searching
For what's been missing in my life

Growing up is not the absence of dreaming
It's being able to understand the difference between
The ones you can hold and the ones that you've been sold
Dreaming is a good thing cause [sic] it brings new things to life
But pretending is an ending that perpetuates a lie
Forgetting what you are seeing for what you've been told

Truth is stranger than fiction
This is my chance to get it right
Life is much better
Without all those pretty lies

So goodbye Alice in Wonderland
You can keep your yellow brick road
There is a difference
Between dreaming and pretending
These are not tears in my eyes
They are only a reflection of my lonely mind finding
They are only a reflection of my lonely mind finding
I found what's missing in my life

And, wheeeeee~~~!

Um, I mean, Wii. And by that, I mean Nintendo's Wii. Man, if that was spoken out loud, it would sound pretty weird right now.

"Wii" is Nintendo's upcoming, next generation gaming system. Originally codenamed "Nintendo Revolution," it is set to compete with Microsoft's X-Box 360 and Sony's Playstation 3. The big thing about Wii is not so much the gaming system, but its new, remote-like controller.

It is important to note that, according to Tycho of Penny Arcade (and as I have already suspected), who got to test-play the Wii-mote at E3, you do not need to move so dramatically and with such fervor to use the controller. Or, in his words:

"every video of people playing this system shows them utilizing gross motor movements and generally behaving like spazmoids, and you have a scenario where their own promotional materials have taught every person to play it wrong."

Most of the gameplay look very interesting, and I would love to get some hands-on experience to see how it works. However...

"Orchestra conductor" game? That's quite possibly the most boring game ever conceived.

Teriyaki chicken... Flavorwave revisited

I haven't been using the Flavorwave oven for a while, and last week decided to use it for some of the things I typically only make when I barbecue. I guess it started when I had a craving for corn-on-the-cob. I know that these days, my mom usually uses the microwave when she wants corn-on-the-cob, but I wanted something more similar to the barbecue taste. I wrapped the corn in tin foil, with some butter and ground black peppers. It turned out pretty well, so I wanted to try the same with teriyaki chicken.

This is after one side had been sitting in the convection oven for about 9 minutes, at 400°F. I simply placed two pieces of skinless, boneless chicken thighs inside the oven, and brushed on some thick teriyaki sauce, mixed with a little bit of pepper sauce.

After ten minutes (the Flavorwave has a built-in timer), I turned the chicken over.

Next, slather this side of the chicken with the same sauce. Set for another 10 minutes. It probably doesn't need to be this long, as supposedly the convection method of this oven cooks the meat more evenly and faster than a traditional oven, but this added time caramelizes the teriyaki sauce quite well, for a much better taste.

Ten minutes later--the chicken looks nice and golden brown. I should see if they sell boneless chicken thighs with skin, since I don't have to worry about undercooking or over-charring the skin, it should be even better.

Chop chicken thighs with a meat cleaver (just like they do at Yoshinoya and Spike's), and it's ready to serve.

Darth Vader is a whiney bitch

"What the hell is an aluminum falcon?!"

This is from the Cartoon Network's "Adult Swim" show, Robot Chicken. The 24 inner-office ringtone is a nice touch.

Bugatti Veyron

So Tom Cruise drove a Bugatti Veyron to the premiere of Mission: Impossible III, and it turned out that trying to get the passenger door open proved to be a bit of a Mission: Impossible, too. I guess they didn't bother to put power door locks in the supercar.

As you can plainly see, they looped the video a bit for dramatic effect.

The Hilton... in Paris

I tried to upload my own version, but it was rejected by YouTube. They probably filtered the filename for anything to do with SNL. Who knows how long this one will get to stay online before they yank it.

Allen Wrench of Doom

Ever since I got my car back from AAMCO, I've noticed that the tire on my front passenger side is running a bit flat. After checking the pressure of my tires several times (and pumping in air after each check), I was certain that it's got a leak. The tire on the rear driver side also seemed to be leaking, albeit not as much as the one in the front.

So, on Monday, I went to Firestone (closest shop near work) on my lunch break, and had them check and patch my tires. As it turned out, three of my tires had been punctured in four places. Two in the front passenger tire (hence the reason it was leaking faster than the rear), and one each in the rear. The one in the rear passenger tire was near the sidewall, and could not be repaired, but as it wasn't leaking and the thread was nearing the end of its life, I'll simply replace it in a short while.

A few minutes after they started working on my tires, they pulled out an Allen wrench from one of the tires. The only place I can think of that I've been to, that would have an Allen wrench lying on the ground, would be AAMCO. Hmm.

Beware the Grim Reaper

I wonder if I'd be freaked out if I saw this in real life...

Jack is a good artist

So my sister sent me this YouTube link to a fake "Titanic 2" trailer, which is pretty funny. And obviously made up of scenes from many, many different movies, as well as some stuff that were added through CG. So I decided to post it to Club3G, and found the above video in the process.

As for the fake trailer, I noticed scenes from Titanic (obviously), Ghost Ship, Demolition Man, What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Forever Young, The Man in the Iron Mask, Hulk, Con Air, Catch Me If You Can, The Aviator, and Romeo + Juliet. I'm sure there are others that I missed, since there are several scenes which I do not recognize.


Might as well include the fake trailer in here:

Shower phone

Ben's girlfriend, Peilin (not to be confused with my cousin, who is also named Peilin), emailed this video to me about a month ago, but I haven't watched it until now. As I didn't find the same video on YouTube, I figured I might as well upload it.

OK, Smarty, go to a party

And there was this girl...

The hits just keep on coming

There's a Chinese idiom that says, "一波未平，一波又起" (one wave has not yet subsided, another wave has started), which can be used to describe my situation today.


I got my car back from AAMCO today. Transmission overhaul, and three of the four engine mounts were replaced (one was replaced shortly after my accident, so I assume that's the one that's still holding up). I'm supposed to bring it back in about 10 days for a final check, to make sure that everything is in proper working order.

After driving a Dodge Neon for a week, the difference is definitely noticeable--the ride is smoother, and quieter, the steering wheel is lighter, and it is more comfortable overall. Virtually all of the problems I've been noticing with the car before taking the car in are now gone.


However, in just going from AAMCO to my workplace, with a distance of only a mile, I noticed something very disturbing--the engine temperature, or at least, what's showing on the temperature gauge. As I approached my office, the temperature crept up to near the redline.

During my lunch break, I stopped by Autozone and picked up a bottle of Redline Water Wetter, but the coolant reservoir in my car was extremely full, so I was not able to use any of it. I guess AAMCO probably added some coolant, which changed the mix ratio, and resulted in what I'm currently seeing. At least, I hope that's what happened. The alternative is either that my thermostat is broken, or that my radiator is shot again, and I've got to replace more stuff.

Eerie coincidence

As I was on my way to work this morning (technically, yesterday morning), driving down the 10 freeway in my rental car (my car's in the shop for a transmission overhaul, plus a few other part replacements, the sum of which will cost me 4G's), I switched to the "number one lane."

Numbering the lanes. This is what I learned from my accident on the freeway three years ago. If I still remember correctly, the innermost, high speed lane, is number one. As you extend out, you have number two, number three, etc. This particular stretch of the 10 that I was driving on had four lanes, plus an "utility lane" (carpool lane, officially known as "HOV"). So the slowest lane, the one you'd be at if you just merged onto the freeway, would be the number four lane.

Or was it the other way around? Maybe I had the numbers reversed...

I think I have it right. Anyway, as I was thinking about this after performing the lane change, I recalled the night of my accident--I was driving on the number two lane. Despite the time being around midnight, there was still quite a bit of traffic on the eastbound 10, but it wasn't bad. There were many cars, but it was still possible to drive at a brisk pace (average speed was around 70 mph). I noticed from my rear view mirror another car driving quite a bit faster than the flow of traffic, in the number three lane. As it passed me, I recognized it as a Mitsubishi 3000 GT. There was another car not too far ahead of him in the same lane (let's call this "Car C"), so he switched to the number four lane.

Watching him, you knew that he would have to switch back to the number three lane, since the number four lane was also occupied. He would either have to speed up to pass the car in the number three lane, or slow down to get back behind it. Obviously, at his speed, he would choose the former.

At the same time, another car ahead of me in the number two lane (let's call him "Car D") also decided to switch lanes, to lane three. Ahead of Car C. He completed his lane change just as the 3000 GT was beginning his back to lane three. As the 3000 GT enters the lane, its driver noticed that Car D had settled in, and if he moved his 3000 GT in, he would crash. He slammed on his brakes, and attempted to swerve back to lane four. Instead, he lost control of his car. It began to spin.

Hoping to bypass this out-of-control 3000 GT, I switched to the number one lane. But it was too late. It had made its way across the freeway, and hit me right on the front passenger side. My airbags deployed. The car spun counter-clockwise, the rear bumper taps the cement center guard of the freeway just beyond the utility lane, and stops facing west on the eastbound freeway, right between the utility lane and the number one lane. Just one unlucky sap who got sideswiped by an unsafe driver.

The incident is long to describe, but a few scant seconds to play out and recall.


Then, it happened. We come up to another congestion on the freeway right after we passed the 605. About five cars ahead of me, I see a black car desperately trying not to rear-end the car in front of him--he had swerved slightly to the right, smoke was coming out of his tires. I gently begin tapping on my brakes. He crosses over to the number two lane, the car now facing north on a westbound freeway. Then it looks as if it's stopped, facing north east, on the number three lane. Brake lights light up in front of me. One particular set of brake lights catches everyone's attention--the big-rig truck in the number three lane. My car has come to a complete stop. I only pray that the big-rig would be able to do the same.

No such luck. The extra weight pulls its momentum forward, and the big-rig crashes into the front of the black car. Pieces of broken metal fly up in the air, and the black car slides backwards across the freeway. Through lanes two and one, and into the utility lane. My eyes follow its movement, as if in a trance. It crashes into a minivan that was still moving forward. I'm not sure if it had crashed into other cars along the way, my view being obstructed by the cars ahead of me.

All the cars are stopped on the freeway. As a pathway clears, most drive on through to their destinations, thanking the stars that they were not the ones invovled in this accident.



What a way to start a birthday.

Ah... new phone

My new Sony Ericsson Z520a arrived yesterday.

Nice, colored-external screen. It's kind of like a thumbnail of the screen inside, once you flip it open. The color screen fades away to display the time in monochrome after a few seconds. It will also show a picture of the person calling you (if you've got that person in your phone book, and associated a picutre with it), which, IMO, makes much more sense for a flip phone. As most flip phones are set to answer a call immediately after you flip it open, you're not going to see the picture of the person calling you...

Flipped open, sitting next to my Bluetooth headset. The Z520a is slight smaller and lighter than my previous phone, the Motorola V551.

And the best part? I can finally keep my Bluetooth headset "attached" and not be forced to have to hear the same, boring ringtone when I receive a call! Gee, what a novel idea. Stupid Motorola phones.

The Sony Ericsson phone has a better phone book management, too. No longer do I have to keep multiple entries with the same name simply because I have multiple numbers for the same person. The Samsung phone I had before I got the Motorola could do this, too. However, the Samsung was lacking in that I was not able to assign individual ringtones. Instead, I had to assign people to different groups, and assign ringtones to each group. So the Ericsson has the best of both worlds, in terms of phone book ability.

So far, the phone's been doing quite well. I don't expect that the battery will last very long, since it's got two color screens, plus I'm keeping my Bluetooth headset connected at all times. We'll see.

End Women's Suffrage!

While you're at it, get rid of that pesky dihydrogen monoxide thing.