Movie Reviews

40 Year Old Virgin with Steve Carrell and Paul Rudd

Funny, funny shit.


The Dukes of Hazzard with Johnny Knoxville, Sean William Scott, and Jessica Simpson

It sucked.

Book Review

Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom

A real heartwearming, tearjerking, smile-to-your-face-while-you're-crying kinda book. It was okay. If you like to get slapped in the face with meaning of life shit. I like stories with a bit more subtlety. If you ask me face-to-face how the book was, I'll throw it at you and say "did you like that? If you did, you might like the book."

Inadequate

I was reading the Cypress Mountain website and there is a shitload of snow up there. It just keeps snowing. Then I read: "good mountain tires are required". Oh crap. I don't have good summer tires! Can someone please drive me to Cypress Mountain?

It's Nice to be Home

While I was in the Philippines, I realized that I was spending a lot of time with my parents. Since I moved (almost 4 years ago), this was the most I've seen them at one time. Three weeks of mom and dad. Nice at times, but frustrating at the same time. Am I a bad kid?

What's a 4-Letter Word You Say When You're Frustrated?

I'm addicted to crossword puzzles. I used to cut them out of newspapers (or rip the page out of papers I find a Starbucks) but now I just go online and print them off. During my 14 hour flight to the Philippines I had a stack of about 30 of them. When I came home I only had about 3 or 4 left. My goal is to finish them, but I usually have a handfull of squares left. I always hate the ones where you're only missing one letter but you still can't seem to fill it in. Argh!

Sex and the City

I watch this show whenever its on TV and have been for the past 5 months. Its not really my idea to do this. Celia makes me. I don't know why she asks me what I want to watch, cuz I know what we're going to watch. I've seen just about every episode and I know almost all the stories. I actually find the show funny and it has some pretty damn witty jokes. If you've never seen the show, here's a quick rundown:

Samantha: the slut. she'll sleep with anyone.
Miranda: the "liberated" powerful lawyer. she is, however, a little insecure.
Charlotte: the smart but ditzy romantic. she's the spoiled rich girl.
Carrie: she's the one that keeps them all together.

If you watch the uncensored shows, you'll see everyone's boobs except Carrie's. Strange that I thought of that...

All Self-Centered Dorks Raise Your Hand

Okay, I'm a nosy geek. I added a sitemeter at the bottom of my blog to see how many hits I get. Right now I'm at about 3500 since the end of June. Sure, it helps my ego and all, but it also lets me see who is reading my blog at any given time. I don't mean that I know who exactly is reading it (ie, your name and address - but I do know that about some people). I mean I can see that someone from Konglungen, Akershus, Norway was reading my blog on January 14th at 6:14pm, using Internet Explorer 6.0 on Windows XP at a resolution of 1024x768 and their ISP was NextGenTel AS. I can tell they were reading and didn't just accidentally click on it and then leave because they spent 8 minutes on my blogpage. Creepy, huh? I'm just the kind of freak that would look at this information too.

I'm always amazed when I find out someone reads my blog. My friend at work (hi Rene and no, I don't care about your anonymity) mentioned something to me about something I had written in my blog recently. I knew she read it, but I had forgotten so when she said it I was thinking, "How the hell did you know that?" Then my ego kinda got all inflated and shit cuz I then I thought I was the most interesting guy in the world. God, I'm a dork.

Movie & Book Review

This is my first combo review.

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden &
Memoirs of a Geisha with Ziyi Zhang, Michelle Yeoh and Gong Li

The book is always better but the movie was pretty good too. The 3 main actors are hot. I read the book while I was on vacation. I didn't care that the movie didn't have Japanese actors. Good read, good movie.

Things I've Learned in Life

1. I don't know about you, but when you're swimming in the ocean when you're totally drunk, it really helps sober you up.
2. Save all your change. Then, after a couple of years, roll it up and take it to the bank. I did that and I bought 2 iPod minis with extended warranties.
3. Always drink Tequila at the end of the night. That way, when you're throwing up, you don't blame the beer.
4. A good keyboard and mouse makes the difference between "just a computer" and a "cool-looking computer" (I'm a nerd).
5. Coke is better than Pepsi. Jeff might disagree, but the entire population of the Philippines will back me up.
6. Smoking, apparently, is bad for you.
7. If you walk around the house naked, you should close your blinds. Its just polite. Unless you're a woman, then its okay.

Pros and Cons

One good thing about a long haul flight is that the drinks are free and you can watch 4 or 5 movies in a row. The bad thing is that sometimes the movies suck and there's always a lineup for the crappy bathrooms. Then there's always the risk of developing a DVT if you don't get up from your seat. Of course if you have enough to drink, you're up peeing all the time anyway. Maybe I should fly business class instead of economy.

That's Just What You Do on Vacation

I'm not really a big drinker. I'll have one or two but that's usually it. When I was in the Phils, there were more than a couple of nights when I had a little more than one or two drinks. I think I averaged about 6 or 7. On my last night in Boracay I think I had 7 beers (good old San Mig Light) and 2 double shots of tequila. Then we all went swimming in the ocean fully dressed (just shorts and t-shirts anyway). That night ended at about 6:30am. On my last night there, we went out and I "only" had 5 drinks but we were out until 4:30am. I was going to get picked up to go to the airport at 6am. Good think I already packed.

Congratulations

Congratulations to my cousin. He got married on January 7th. It was beautiful outdoor reception in the Philippines.

First Thoughts

Getting off the plane in Manila, I was bombarded with quite a few sensations. The first one is always "it smells like the Philippines." I guess its the smog. Then its "its hot." Well, it is a tropical country after all. Driving to my relatives' house, I get the "it looks dirty and poor". With almost 80million people, any third world country would look that way. I really enjoy going back to the Philippines and I think I always will.

Home is Where the Heart Is

I actually discovered this the last couple of times I was in the Philippines but I've often wondered where I "belong". Here in Canada I'm a visible minority (maybe not so much here in Vancouver, but you know what I mean). I'm not white, I have cultural differences that make themselves evident in weddings, funerals, home life, and personal values, and my family speaks a foreign language. Growing up in a predominantly white society in the prairies, I never really felt like I fit in. Then, when I was 26 I went to the Philippines. My parents still call it "going home" and I tell people that it's "where I'm from". However, when I'm there I still don't quite fit in. I may not stand out in a crowd, but the locals can still tell that I'm not from there, I don't speak the language, and I don't fully understand some cultural idiosyncracies. So "going home" wasn't an experience that was familiar to me. Over the past few years, I've come to the realization that home isn't necessarily where you were born or where your family originated from. It also may not be where you currently live. Home, as they say, is where the heart is, and today I came home.

Home Sweet Home

After a 1.5hr flight from Manila to Hong Kong and an 11hr flight from Hong Kong to Vancouver, I'm home! I have so much to say about the Philippines but I won't write one big entry about it. No one likes to read long paragraphs about stuff like that. You'll just have to put up with me talking about it for a long time. Have fun.