Fish Recovery and the Best TV Show of All-Time

Gunnery Sergeant Uranus had been sick for almost 2 weeks. This morning, however, he greeted me with warm flaps of his pectoral fins. I haven't seen him swim so peacefully since his sickness. It made me happily go to work too.

A while back, I finished watching what I consider to be the best drama TV show of all-time. It's actually a Korean drama (with English subtitles) called Giant, which talked about how a boy overcame the deaths of his parents, the loss of his brothers and sister, the hardships of being a homeless person, the joy of being accepted into a good family, the joy of being educated, the pain of being accused for murder, the triumph of being the leader of the prisoners, the joy of starting his own construction company, and the hardships of keeping his company afloat. This TV show changed the way I see things. If any of you aren't certain about where life leads, then this show is for you. 60 episodes is much less than the 192 of 24.

http://www.mysoju.com/korean-drama/giant/

Shipping Container Home

Saw the movie Tron: Legacy on DVD yesterday. And I thought the main character's home is worth mentioning. Apparently, the home is made with two 40' shipping containers and two smaller 20' ones on the lower floor. Normally, it would look quite bad, but the spacing is placed just right to make it look cool (bottom floorspace a little narrower than the top).

Impossible Is Nothing

Personally, I think Adidas could've come up with a better slogan, but this fits with my recent accomplishment of mastering the riffle shuffle quite well. I had always been bad at shuffling cards and that frustrated me when playing cards with friends.

So I bought a new pack of cards and followed the expert advice from ExpertVillage.com. And now I'm proud to say that after 4 days, I finally mastered the on-the-table riffle shuffle. What an accomplishment! Now all I got to do is to wait for the next time we play cards. Hope I won't forget how to shuffle by then.

AKB48

After working 20+ hours straight for some crazy work proposal (on a Sunday!), I arrived home at around 8am. My television was pointed at the J2 channel. That was when I saw the amazing music video featuring beautiful Japanese girls in macho military uniforms. The song was good too, but that's secondary. I didn't know the name of the song but I remembered hearing River River River. So after I slept a couple of hours and woke up at 5pm, I tried searching for it on Google and Youtube.

Somehow, as I was watching this video for the second time, I realized something. AKB48 stands for 48 girls in the band, I assume. That is a huge number for a group. I also assume that this band will soon shrink in size to a more manageable number like 12, because 48 is just too much supply. That means 36 of the girls will be packing home and going off to find a new career path. But I'm sure that out of these 36 girls, none of them will regret for their time spent as singers/dancers. Even though initially they may be upset that their performing careers have ended so fast, they will still treasure the moment because it means something to them.

Then I thought about my life, with the good times and the bad. I always wanted to erase my bad memories, somehow. But, after watching this video, I realize that I should treasure them instead. The bad times have made me stronger and turned me to the man I am today.

Uranus and 24

Last week, I bought a new Siamese fighting fish. This one is a little different from the past 4 I had as they were all plakats, with short fins. This one is the most common and dominant breed, called the veiltail, which has long fins. My logic is that since they're the dominant breed, they should be better at surviving and live longer as a result. I hope that Gunnery Sergeant Uranus can surpass 3 years.

I also just finished watching all 8 seasons of 24. What an accomplishment! I learned a lot from the movie, including some gun models, military strategies, political agendas, and much more. But what was probably the most important were 2 quotes. They are "Do what makes you happy," and if that's not possible, "Try to make choices that you can live with."

Lazy Gym Instructor

A week ago, I asked a gym instructor for advice on doing the deadlift. He was so lazy that he came up with 3 innovative excuses to avoid getting out of his seat. Excuse #1: "I don't use the machines here, so you'll probably be more familiar with them than me." Excuse #2: "Why don't you show me how you would do it without actually lifting the barbell?" Excuse #3: "I want to talk with the other gym regulars instead." What a disgrace to other fitness instructors.

By the way, I just realized that I have written on this blog for 1 year. What a milestone. Perhaps what's more remarkable was that I averaged 11 posts a month in the beginning... and now it's around 2. As for the TV show 24, I already finished watching seasons 1-5 and 8.

24 and Workout

Lately, I've been extremely addicted to watching the reruns of the TV show, 24, on the internet. I originally wanted to just watch the episodes I missed during the last season. However, I soon made an unwise decision to watch the first season too. And that led to watching the second season, and third. I watched between five and six episodes every night and that was because the website only allowed 72 minutes of viewing time before I had to wait 54 minutes to watch another session. I won't reveal the website address, although it can be searched on Google. Jack Bauer is amazing, able to fight so good and to use innovative methods to torture suspects. I would be a lot better off if I had a quarter of his skills.

I also bought a book last week called "The New Rules of Lifting", which taught me all I needed to know about weight training. I realized that I had wasted my previous 5 years by "doing the machines". After I finished my first real workout on Wednesday, I realized how painful muscle building really is. But there's no turning back now. The world can look forward to another Rocky very soon.

Seaside Toilet Between Wakayama and Osaka

To your right is a seemingly regular roadside toilet, located somewhere between Wakayama and Osaka, Japan. However, upon walking inside, you'll find that it is much, much more. I've actually been there once, but it was almost 2 years ago. Why do I write about it now? Because I have this habit of daydreaming about good things from time-to-time.

I'm not sure about the women's side, but if you enter the male toilet, as you're urinating on the wall, you'll be looking at a 180 degree view of a stunning seashore. It is so stunning that I don't even have a photo of it. You really have to be there to experience it. Showing you a photo will only cheapen the experience. So if any of you plan to go to Osaka sometime soon, try not to miss this toilet. Because even though Osaka may not be as good of a tourist spot as Tokyo or Sapporo, this toilet definitely makes up for it.

And if you really arrive there, please take a photo, showing both the toilet interior and seaside view, to show to me later. To be honest, I actually forgot to take the photo ^O^ Thanks.

Skullcandy TiTAN

Well, let's see, I haven't been too active on this blog lately. So even though I don't have much to talk about, I'll write this lame entry on Skullcandy TiTAN in-ear headphones. I'm also going to write more on this blog so that scouts from magazines can "discover" me, like scouts "discover" models in a shopping mall.

So back to topic now. A while ago, I researched on some in-ear headphones because I suspected that my old ones weren't high quality enough. At first, I wanted to buy the Monster Turbine with Control Talk because the design is just so cool. The reviews were good, the jack connection was gold-plated and L-shaped, the wires were handsomely arranged using wire organizers, and I heard that the audio quality is great, especially the bass. Unfortunately, the hefty price tag of $1480 at HMV really made me think for some time.

It made me think for so long that one day, I bought the Skullcandy TiTAN instead. I thought, what the hell, why do I need to buy the best headphone, when a not so shabby $299 one may do just fine. Considering that my old earphones were only $79, $299 is already a considerable upgrade. And, as you can see from the picture, wearing this out on the streets is already well above average amongst the iPhone earphones. The only thing that bothered me were the aluminum-braided cables because they just keep on tangling up, like koalas hugging onto each other. At one point I wanted to exchange it, but after finding out I can't, I gave in. Besides the cable, the audio quality is pretty good. The bass is good. With these earbuds, I can hear a lot more "hidden" sounds that my old Sony's could not pick up.

 

So, that's my review. Hope you enjoyed it and I'll see you guys next time!

Drop-Dead Gorgeous Dance Instructor

Today, I attended an audition for Disney Character Performers. After the signup procedures, the candidates headed up to another floor for height measurement. I was happy to fit under the height requirement of Chip 'n Dale, my favorite Disney duo. Then we went into a large dance room. All the candidates stood along the edge of the room, anxious to know what's to come. A lone female was reading a book at corner of the room, not saying a word. She wore a conservative black blazer and black pants. For a minute, I thought she was actually a secretary. That all changed, when the other Disney staff came into the room. Suddenly, she stood up, faced the audience, and took off her blazer gently. She had a white tanktop, which could barely cover her perky bosoms. They were literally saying hello to the candidates. Teamed up with her gorgeous face, the visual image caused a chain reaction inside of me. My God, life is good.