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October 31, 2004

A Most Random Occurence Of Events

I had promised several parties of people that I would grace them with my presence, but alas, some people are just going to have to reschedule an appointment with Char Char Binks. Looking to scare myself silly after catching The Grudge in the theater last week, we went to the UW haunted house for some free frightening fun.

A few hours later. Marty Pants' par-tay was a total blast; yet another grand event worthy of the Cavalier-What? Club name. He converted his entire place into a dark haunted forest, complete with dead leaves and overhanging branches. I felt kinda lame for not wearing a costume as practically almost everyone had some totally amazing outfits on (Jon was particularly comical as a 9-foot tall Wonder Woman), but whatever. People kept pestering me when Cynthia would arrive; it started to get really annoying, especially when they started doing so every five minutes. Argh.

Another few hours laters. Instead of going to ComeBack at Chop Suey like everyone else, we decided to go party hopping. The boss of Erik's friend Young's friend James was throwing a house party in the CD. We arrived to a crowded house packed full of shirtless sweaty queens dancing the night away to Madonna. It was kind of a hilarious sight considering everyone was drunk off their ass. The house was way too hot and was starting to smell of pot, so for most of the time we were outside on the front lawn warming ourselves by the fire kiln that had been set up in the front lawn with some other Asian cast-offs.

Several hours later. I'm full from a plate of mash potatoes and tired off my ass. The farting drag queens that I'm with are finally starting to get on my sober nerves, and I have to go home to PowerBook. While this Halloween wasn't as invigorating as last year's romp fest at Rebar or as rowdy as Emy's party, it was certainly as memorable as they come.

Posted by Charlie at 09:49 PM | Comments (0)

October 30, 2004

まごついた

誰が私に道を教えて

Posted by Charlie at 04:37 PM | Comments (0)

October 28, 2004

Lucas Niraj Ruchirat

Yesterday, under the peak of the full lunar eclipse, my cousin's girlfriend gave birth to a healthy baby boy, Lucas Niraj Ruchirat. Congratulations! More pictures of the baby can be found here.

Posted by Charlie at 09:23 AM | Comments (0)

October 26, 2004

Apple U2 iPod

Apple today announced a U2-branded edition of the 4G ipod along with the iPod Photo that comes with color screen and larger hard drive. Sweeetness! Now if they start churning out limited-edition Murakami Takashi models I will be contentedly happy.

Posted by Charlie at 12:54 PM | Comments (0)

October 25, 2004

Caffiene Makes Me Horny

Well, not really. I just had a huge cup of almond tea and I'm feeling really jittery.

Anyway. Car woes impending, Sue Jean offered to come pick me up last Saturday for Karen's wedding. There was a gridlock situation all through out the 5, and so it took Sue Jean an hour to get to my house. We had twenty minutes to get to a chapel that was a forty minute drive away, but with Sue Jean behind the wheel going 85-90 mph we were able to make it in fifteen.

I'm not someone you would want to invite to a wedding. I am cynical at these gatherings. If you remember that iconic moment in Sex And The City when the four girls let the flower bouquet tossed by the bride fall to their feet you get the general idea. At the last wedding I was invited to I took full advantage of the open bar and made a total ass out of myself at the reception. Anyway. As far as infomal weddings go, Karen and Jeremy's was very informal and... unique, to say the least. The bridesmaids literally skipped down the aisle in colorful dresses and flip-flops; the groomsmen line danced in corresponding colors. All of this to country music. Wow. I was speechless. Karen was very lovely in her white dress, and as she came down the aisle to some Brad Paisley (don't ask me how I know this) song, Jeremy can be seen choking back tears of joy (or was it relief?). Oh man I'm so going to hell.

But the weirdest part of the ceremony by far was when the couple had to light a candle to symbolize the unionizing of their souls. This part was again choreographed to more country music, and although it only took 30 seconds for the amorous couple to light the candle, the song itself was about six minutes long. So for five minutes after lighting the candle they held hands and stared into each other's eyes. This was very uncomfortable to watch, because obviously they were having mind sex with each other. You should've seen the intensity in their facial expressions as they stared at each other. Gross. Who wants to watch a so-called virginal couple having mind sex for five minutes? I certainly don't. I also noticed quite a number of people shifting uncomfortably in their seats as well. Sue Jean looked like she wanted to vomit. Oh man I'm so burning in hell right now.

The dessert reception immediately following the ceremony was kinda nice. Karen had baked all sorts of sweet goodies for consumption, and they were all very delicious. We stuffed our faces quite a bit - I had initially thought that dinner would be provided - and stood in our usual corner. I felt like a sore thumb around all these born-agains, and being the good friend that I am, kept pestering Sue Jean for us to leave.

It still amazes me, the timeline of their relationship. These people met around March, on that fateful day I helped Sue Jean move her stuff into her new place. They started dating, got engaged sometime in July, and now, several months later, a married couple. Although I can never question their love for each other, I will never be able to understand why they got married at such a young age, and so soon into their relationship. They don't have their professional careers cemented; Jeremy doesn't even go to school. And now they're looking at settling down and raising a family. I don't get it. My sister's friends are all engaged and ready to settle even though they only just graduated college a few months ago.

I look at my cousins, those who didn't settle until their mid-thirties, and they seem to be living the kind of life that I want. They're financially secure, happy, and raising these wonderfully bright and intelligent kids. They told me that the older you get the more you become to appreciate children and thus become better parents, and I have to agree. At this point in my life I don't have the resources/courage/love/time to be responsible for another life. But that's just me. I'm sure Karen and Jeremy will be different from the stereotype. Let's hope.

Posted by Charlie at 02:05 PM | Comments (0)

October 23, 2004

Just A Little Peeved

My car has broken down and I have to take it to the shop this weekend, which totally sucks because I have to go to Karen's wedding and run other necessary errands. I am not missing this wedding for the world, even if it means taking a 2-hour bus ride all the way to Shoreline to catch the ceremony.

Posted by Charlie at 01:08 AM | Comments (0)

October 22, 2004

Jassi's Halloween Costume

Using Microsoft’s cool White Board utility tool, Elizabeth and I created a wonderfully tasteful costume for Jassi. I think she looks even more beautiful than ever, don’t you think?

Posted by Charlie at 02:34 PM | Comments (1)

October 21, 2004

エリックへ

Posted by Charlie at 10:28 PM

A Social Cul-de-Sac

Except for hanging out with Erik and the occasional happy hour sessions with Booga, my social life has come to a standstill. And I love it. I've been spending my nights lately with my new best friend, my PowerBook. Sometimes I would work on it, but mostly I've just been staring at it and admiring its beauty.

My social life is about to pick up speed soon with the upcoming Halloween weekend, however. Karen's wedding is this Saturday, and I literally had to beg Sue Jean to have me be her date. While I really do wish happiness for the pair, I cannot help but snicker at the proposed theme of the wedding: Rainbow Colors. All the bridesmaids and groomsmen are to wear different colored attire, each representing one color of the rainbow. The wedding cake itself is an astonishing sever-layer cake - again, each layer representing one color of the rainbow. I feel like I'm going to a Castro wedding, and it feels so ironic because Karen is a devout born-again. I'm trying to block out any visuals concerning their wedding night.

Marty Pants' birthday celebration is coming up, which means that ONCE AGAIN I'm going to be the last person to leave the party. I'm pretty frustrated right now because I want to get his project up and running as soon as possible, but with my lost data waiting for me at the shop I won't be able to retrieve it until this Saturday at the earliest... sigh.

I've been thinking about going to Freak Night. It's been two years since I've gone to anything remotely rave-related, and even though raving is sooo 1990's, I want to go fulfill my nostalgic urges and have a huge farewell sendoff to my younger self. I need to close that chapter of my life officially.

But until then, I'm gonna be here, in front of this lovely computer, spending my Saturday nights adoring its lovely aluminum casing...

Posted by Charlie at 07:14 PM | Comments (0)

October 17, 2004

Wet Dreams

May I just say, you know you really like someone when you take a forty-minute bus ride at 9 at night through the torrential Seattle rain and cold to meet up for a cute supper and movie. That's all I had to say. He looks a bit like Andrew, but I can totally get past that.

Posted by Charlie at 01:27 AM | Comments (1)

October 16, 2004

The Chapel Bar

Some coworkers and I went to Chapel yesterday to celebrate my boss' birthday. I have no idea what made me get drunk in front of my coworkers, but it was hard to get past the happy hour $4 martinis. What really made the night complete was when my boss, drunk off his ass at this point, gave Elizabeth and I a story about when his wife was in labor and how her hemorrhoid shot off her ass and smacked against the mirror across the hospital room. That is a visual that will stick with me for a long time. I was going to catch a taxi home, but for some reason - and I'm still unsure why this is so - I wandered around downtown for several hours before finally catching the bus home.

Posted by Charlie at 04:30 PM | Comments (2)

October 11, 2004

iSight

Apple's iSight is a wonderful toy housed in a beautifully designed package. Too bad I can't do much with it though; my network is behind several firewalls thus rendering my webcam useless unless I decide to conference at some cafe somewhere. Oh well. I've been having fun just taking pictures of myself.

Posted by Charlie at 11:47 PM | Comments (0)

October 10, 2004

Ghost In The Shell 2: Innocence

We caught a showing of Mamoru Oshii's Ghost In The Shell 2: Innocence last night. It was a beautifully animated movie that tried ardently to instill philosophical and religious debate among its intended audience, but more likely ended with more questions than answers. In a world where most of humankind has uploaded "virtual" copies of their memories and personalities into a vast network governed by bytes, the line defining what is organic and what is synthetic has become infinitely blurred. People have become "dolls," their bodies nothing more than plastic cavities bound by wire. Gynoids, robots whose primary function is that of sexual pleasure, have begun killing off their owners and thus sparking a possible politcal scandal that the two detective protagonists must look into. Batou, the more austere of the pair, begins to question the definition of his humanity. His body is entirely synthetic; the only organic traces left in his body are bits of his original brain.

While I do appreciate Oshii's attempt at tackling such intriguing subject manner, I felt that his vision was muddled somewhat by the pretentious chitter-chatter of the two protagonists. They are constantly throwing at each other quotes from Plato, Confucius, Milton, and the Old Testament, among others, setting up so much pseudo-intellectual dialogue that detracted from the main storyline and idea.

Cultural paradigms may have also been lost upon importation into the States. Americans, for one, are not as culturally obsessed with dolls as the Japanese are. There are national holidays like Hina Matsuriwhere dolls are laid out to bring good luck to girls. AIBO and Tamagotchi are household names in Japan, little robotic pets that receive that same amount of love and affection as their natural counterparts. Some children, despaired over the loss of a pet Tamagotchi, have reportedly commited suicide. Clearly dolls and electronic toys have a higher state of consciousness in Japanese pop culture than in the States.

Well, I'm not a pop psychologist nor a philosopher, so I think I'll stop before I have both feet in my mouth.

One aspect that everyone will agree on for sure is the absolute amount of effort it took to make this movie breathtakingly beautiful. From the reflections of the marble floor in the syndicate's house to industrial aftermath ruins of Shenzhen, every frame in Ghost In The Shell 2: Innocence is pure visual bliss. There are some very obvious references to Bladerunner and not so obvious references to Sherlock Holmes and Van Gogh. The basset hound clearly stole the show, however. It is the most realistically realized animation of a dog that I've ever seen on screen. Japanese anime has come a long way since the days of Astro Boy, and I'm glad to see that they're still not abandoning the traditional hand drawn technique anytime soon.

I love this movie, and it was an experience worth remembering. But not for the obvious reasons.

Posted by Charlie at 10:48 PM | Comments (0)

October 08, 2004

My PowerBook

Okay, so I officially made the Switch to Apple yesterday. Countless hours of researching, comparing specs, and consulting friends has led me to believe that buying an Apple as my next computer is going to be a worthwhile investment. I considered pairing together an iMac G5 with an iBook as getting the two of them together would cost less than getting a 15" PowerBook by itself; my dad was really gung-ho about doing this. But the iMacs weren't in stock - there's a two-week waiting period for them - and I needed something powerful that I could take anywhere with me. So I opted in the end to purchase a nice PowerBook.

And I love it! I'm never looking back.

Posted by Charlie at 05:01 PM | Comments (0)

October 06, 2004

My Cum Story

I just got back from dinner with Jeremy. The food was amazing, but for some strange reason the entire restaurant smelled like cum. It was as if the entire restaurant crew took a masturbation break in the middle of the day to recoat the walls... or something. I don't know. It smelled oddly fresh and not at all appetizing. Of course I had to open my big mouth and inform Jeremy of this, and thus began a ten minute conversation of all things cum.

Growing up we had honeysuckle vines growing around the front railing of our house. I've always dreaded the springtime when honeysuckle flowers bloomed, because I've always thought that they smelled like cum. Sometimes my mom would cut a few vines and bring them into the house; that was the worst, when your entire house smelled like cum. Man, it felt like everyday guys were jerking off all over me... or something.

Luckily we finally got rid of the vines. In order to thrive the honeysuckle need constant sunlight, a task Seattle couldn't live up to. But it was too late; I had already been scarred. Anything cum-smelling except the real stuff has since become my mortal enemy: honeysuckle, certain varieties of pho, raw egg whites, you name it. I stay away from the stuff.

And that, my friends, is my cum story. The End.

Posted by Charlie at 10:42 PM | Comments (1)

October 04, 2004

The Theme Is Community

The MAVIN photoshoot was last weekend. I don't even know why I was invited to participate in the shoot, as I'm not mixed ("But oh Charlie, you're 'multi,'" says Andrew), but was flattered nonetheless when asked to be in the picture. The shoot took early Saturday morning on the Seattle pier. The skies were clear and the air salty; a very lovely morning in Seattle. My hair looked like shit but I overcompensated by wearing 3 scarfs. The theme for the next issue is 'Community,' and for that about 25 people of all ages and ethnicities were brought together to participate in this semi-historical moment. I dragged Kenny out of his morning slumber to the shoot and he ended up literally in front of the camera lens, the closest person to the camera in this 25-person composition shot. Booga and I somehow were placed together and ordered to act like we were a loving couple; naturally I pulled on her hair as she punched me in the stomach.

Posted by Charlie at 11:33 PM | Comments (0)

Laptop Woes

The hardrive on my laptop is dead. Kaput. Muerto. Guasto. Mort. Luckily I was able to backup most of my data on DVD before further hinderance was placed on the situation. But silly me; I didn't backup my digital photos. Argh. I'm going to go to a professional data recovery specialist and spend $400 to try to get most of my data back in one piece, but in the meantime I'm kept afloat with my backup laptop. I think I'm going to hold out getting a Powerbook until Apple introduces the dual-G4 models that are rumored to be coming out. I'm still torn between sticking with this Toshiba or leaping into the unknown with an Apple. Time will tell - the day Steve Jobs introduces a Powerbook that has higher resolution specs and a bigger L2 cache will be the day I finally convert.

Posted by Charlie at 10:57 PM | Comments (1)