Sara Bareilles

I’ve been listening to Sara Bareilles’ CD lately, and may I just say: spectacular. Her sound, her lyrics, her chord progressions are everything I’ve been going for in my own music. It’s all so well structured and hits the style perfectly. You’ve probably heard her single on the radio called “Love Song”. Well, the rest of them are amazing as well.

Specifically, I’d recommend listening to

• Vegas
• Bottle It Up
• Come Round Soon
• Morningside
• Love on the Rocks
• Gravity

I’m sitting in my office right now; dancing in my chair. My officemate is smiling to herself because she sees me grooving to some headphones in my ears.

Oh, and P.S., Maroon 5 is in her top 8 on MySpace. Go figure.

Apparently, I’m On First.

Damnit, VG Cats beat me to the punch on this joke.

Link: Wu’s on First

Babble

POEM DAY!

Ok, so I’ve decided that on days that I don’t quite feel like writing anything (like today, because of exams and such) I’ll just post an old poem I’ve written or something similar instead. Here you go!

Babble – by Everest Wu

Everest Wu is a man of great taste,

Who often converses with people in haste,

He spews forth lines of continuous rabble,

That always comes out unintelligible babble.

 

No matter what topic, he always goes on,

And may also choose to burst out in song,

It amuses the masses of students in school,

But he’s under the delusion that he’s actually cool.

 

It may be some syndrome that’s stuck in his head,

It may be he’s not getting sleep in his bed,

But he’ll always go on, that, I’ve no doubt,

We know that his mouth will continue to spout,

 

Endless opinions and random quotations,

He’ll talk, talk, talk, without limitations,

And so ends the story of Everest Wu,

He’s coming this semester to a classroom near you.

My Shiny Car

I wanted to spend today telling you guys about one of the only true loves in my life, and her name is Rhonda. She is a brand new 2008 Civic Coupe and we couldn’t be happier. We met almost 2 months ago in a parking lot, but the moment I saw her, I was in love.

No matter how dark my day is, she can brighten it without even trying. She and I spend every single day together, listening to music, driving around.

Needless to say, I rev her engine pretty well.

Everytime I put my key into her ignition, I can feel such an amazing spark, and I know she feels it to, because she purrs for as long as I keep it in. When I’m inside her, we could go for hours, but since I have such a tight schedule, I can’t use her for as long as I want to. The way she twists and turns is so spectacular that sometimes I have to pinch myself to make sure it’s not all just a dream.

On occasion, we even have to stop at a gas station so I can put a little extra gas in her. Since she can be such a dirty girl; I have to make sure I sponge her whenever I get the chance so she can keep that fresh, young look.

Without a guy like me, she would probably just sit around, wasting her life away, but I make sure she gets her exercise.

Here’s to Rhonda, proof that some men do get to live out their fantasies.

Gaming

Gaming is one of those things in my life that is a constant. I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t playing some sort of RPG – Mario, Zelda, Final Fantasy. I know I’m not alone when I say, “That was my freaking childhood.”

Growing up, it has played a huge role in my character development – as much as anything else in my life. As a kid, I played because it was just really fun and I was easily entertained. When I got older, I shifted more towards online games. I spent many hours playing Yahoo games and MUDs(text-based multiplayer RPGs, but ultimately ended up with a game called Ultima Online, an MMORPG.

This game had everything: lore, Player vs. Player combat, Player-run economy, guild politics, player housing, and the list could go on. This isn’t to say that it was the best game ever, because it’s not; not even close. I did still love the game.

I had never played a game where there was a persistent-state world. It provided me with an escape from my life. I could go from a shy little stereotypical Asian boy to a well-spoken warrior of this imaginary place of awesome. In this world, I didn’t have to do homework. Instead, I fought monsters, battled other players, and when I was done, I could go back to my cozy log cabin. Of course, I was pretty well-respected as a good player/duelist as well. Compare this to the real world, where, at the time, few people paid attention to me other than to say, “Oh look, he got the highest grades in the class again, goddamn asians.”

Anyways, time went on and I began playing other games and experimenting with multiple genres of online gaming, but I would always go back to MMORPGs. Well, that, and at one point in there, I began playing a card game called Magic: the Gathering. Over the years, these two things trained my mind a hell of a lot more than any school or class ever did for me. They both involved memorization, organization, and being able to determine the most efficient task in a given situation, which is probably why software programming comes so naturally to me.

Nowadays, I’m playing World of Warcraft, but mostly to talk and play with my best friends in Pittsburgh. I was playing Magic throughout this school year, but my interest in it seems to be waning, mostly because I’m just really tired at the end of each day.

Even when I finally get gray hairs and wrinkles, I’ll probably still be gaming. Even after all these years, I still can’t get enough of it. Dance Dance Revolution, Assassin’s Creed, and Rock Band are steps towards a really amazing future in gaming. I bet Virtual Reality is next, and I can’t wait.

P.S.: Never play an SNES game called Super Ghouls and Ghosts…If you’ve never heard of that game, be glad. It’s evil. No, I’m not even joking. If you decide to ignore my warning, at least get all sharp objects away from the room you’ll be in because I guarantee that there will be uncontrollable urges to stab yourself.

My Kitties

Ever since I was a kid, I had always wanted kittens. Sadly, my mom was really allergic to them, and so I had to resort to playing with neighbors cats’ to get my fix. Get it, fix? Cat? HAHAHA…ok.

I’ve always preferred cats to dogs for 3 reasons:

First, they’re really easy to take care of. You clean their poop straight out of a litter box. There’s no need to go through the hassle of getting a pet door or taking it outside and letting it back in.

Second, they freaking chase EVERYTHING, which, of course, is awesome because I do t…sorry, got distracted.

Third, I just think they are cuter. Plus, they don’t slobber all over you. Have you ever met those people who let their dogs share food with them while they are still eating it? Or better yet, they sort of just let their dog make out with their face…their whole face. Freaks.

Anyways, I’ve been fostering these two very cute kittens for a few months now, and the fostering agency I was fostering them through recently let me adopt them. Originally, I had wanted to adopt some kitties, but as a rule, they don’t adopt to undergraduates because we’re “unstable”. They REALLY want the person/family they let adopt to be able to make a “20 year commitment” to these cats. I’d say that most of them are also something akin to cat fanatics. They’re a crazy bunch of people, but their hearts are in the right place.

Well, months went by, and after they saw how happy the ones I was fostering were, they went ahead and let me adopt them. I named them Acorn(the orange tabby) and Walnut(the tortie). They are brother and sister, respectively.

Yay kitties!

Absolutely Love It

I’m a bit of a fanatic with my physical training, not that you could guess that from my CrossFit post. I’ll start at the beginning for this one.

As a child, I was a very active athlete. I played almost every sport popular during that time, with soccer being my favorite. I absolutely loved soccer. I was commonly the star of the teams I was on – half because the other children would whine about everything, and half because of my ability to learn anything at an unnaturally fast rate.

Well, time went on, and as I gradually shifted away from sports, I moved more towards martial arts. I absolutely loved martial arts. It embodies two very important human characteristics, patience and discipline. The lessons I learned from these classes seeped into every aspect of my life, improving my general well-being both physically and mentally. Without a doubt, I would not be the person I am today without them, and to top it off, I have 3 black belts and an orange belt to show for it.

Then came college. When I came to UNC, I wanted to continue my training, but I came to a dead-end. There were no good teachers, no good locations, and my schedule was more hectic than ever. This is when I turned to the teachings of Bruce Lee. I absolutely loved Bruce Lee. He believed that a martial artist must not only be good at martial arts, but also be in peak physical condition, and so I decided to start going to the gym. I figured that if I can’t train technique, I would at least make sure that the next time I practiced, I would be stronger and faster.

My yearning for physical activities did not simply end at the gym. I also began doing Gymnastics and Parkour(freerunning), both of which are amazing for training awareness of one’s body. Sadly though, I had to give those up because my schedule is pretty full this semester.

Oh, and there’s also one other physical activity that I’ll just leave unmentioned, but here’s a hint, I absolutely love it.

About Me

I’ve decided that the next few blog posts will revolve around describing me, my quirks, and my hobbies.

The person that you all know is not the same person from a year ago, or even less. Whether or not you all see it, I am consciously changing a part of my lifestyle or personality in an attempt to conform to an image of myself that I strive to be.

For example, 8 months ago, I decided that I wanted to lead a more work-oriented life, so I got a single part-time job working about 10 hours a week as a programmer. As time went on, I got a second part-time job, working about 15-20 hours a week as a programmer for one and a public relations/advertising agent for another. Now, I have 2 jobs, both as programmers, working 20-25 hours a week, and also have about 7 additional coding/computer-related projects that I’m either doing on my own or with partners.

These changes that I make usually stem from some sort of unhappiness. In this example it’s because (and as I verbally broadcast on a daily basis) I despise school. Yes yes, stereotypical student attitude, and I’ll explain myself in a later post because I’ll probably end up ranting for a few pages, so moving on…

I despise school. I despised it so much that I decided I wanted to get a taste of the real world and see if I’m on the right track or not. Rather than quit school completely, I opted for a more gradual route, and it’s been one of the best decisions in my life.

I love working. Absolutely love it. I make $15/hour working on either a nuclear test environment or an investment advisor’s data analysis. I sit in front of a computer in a large, air-conditioned office and do what I love to do for 3-6 hours everyday.

But yes, before I give myself a joygasm describing a good chunk of my day, I’ll end on this note: If you’re unhappy about something in your life, change it. It’s not a quick process, and it’s not always easy, but it is always worth it.

CrossFit

It wasn’t until August, the beginning of this school year, that I began doing CrossFit training. I had inadvertently heard of it through Ryan B a year or two prior, but it didn’t stick until I met Mitchell O, my other half. Throughout the semester, he and I ventured together to the SRC almost daily, where he explained and demonstrated the fundamentals of CrossFit . I was immediately entranced by the idea of it.

I had only started seriously going to the gym during the previous summer, but in those few months, I learned much about the proper forms and lifting techniques. My fervor was so great that I actually went to the gym twice a day, 7 days a week. At one point, I was wearing 5 lb. leg weights on each leg everywhere I went, even to class. Yes, I got strange looks, but the weights really were effective. It helped to give me more control over my stride and improved my physicality overall. It was not long after that I discovered CrossFit . It helped to funnel the scattered idea of what it was I wanted from the physical aspect of my life.

Few people know this, mostly because the topic rarely comes up during conversation, but my entire life’s philosophy is based on self-improvement. This applies to all aspects of my life: academics, music, physical fitness, gaming, programming, martial arts, etc. No matter what I do or how I do, I strive to do better. It’s what keeps me going in life; my reason to live. CrossFit aids me in the category of fitness, because no matter how hard I work, I can always push myself harder. This is because each workout is timed. You’re not trying to beat other people, but of course, you can make that your goal, but I don’t believe it’s the right one. Your goal should be trying to push yourself to the point of collapse; to train your mind to be able to truly take the pain, because I guarantee that your body is only half of what stops you during the workout. Anyone in CrossFit will attest to that.

To give a brief idea of what CrossFit is like, imagine your typical cardio workout, more specifically, imagine that you’ve done so much cardio that you don’t want to/can’t stand anymore. Now take this feeling, multiply it by 5, and that’s what you’ll feel like during a CrossFit workout. It is hell. Most people would not last doing this for a week, let alone even a few days. It’s really no wonder why Navy Seals, law enforcement, and the Spartans from 300 use this for training.

I don’t believe it’s a masochistic thing either. Well, maybe it is for me, but it actually works. Within a couple weeks, you’ll probably feel stronger and healthier than you’ve ever felt in your life. For the people that know me, they understand that I don’t give praise like this lightly. I urge everyone to at least try it. Who knows, maybe you’ll discover that you enjoy pain as much as I do.