sup all. have to get through a little over 2 hours of work... and in less than 24, i'll be back in new york. i'm pretty psyched for this trip, the last time i was in new york it was very brief. this time hopefully i'll have a little more time to wander and get lost a little bit. that's always been the best part about living in new york discovering bizarro streets, buildings, crazy randomness.

so... this could be my last update for a little bit.

hope everyone has a happy and healthy beginning to the new year! who knew i'd get a bunch of new readers? very grateful for each and every one of you all (and your comments). 1000 bonus points for everyone.

this could be an interesting year. gonna need to lineup some cash for tix to asheville, nc... and possibly vegas over the summer. gotta start my research next semester. hopefully line up some people to bike around new york state over the summer. things are on the move... good things are brewing.

catch ya on the flip side...

outs.

so apparently gunmen opened fire on the crowds of people by the eaton centre on yonge st. in TO today. what's up with that? it's boxing day. take your shootings elsewhere. why do it in @ prehaps the most busiest place in all of toronto? if you're going to be stupid and start shooting people, do it somewhere so that at least it doesn't hurt others.

seriously. what's wrong with people?

i hope those injured recover, and i hope that those mourning the loss of life will find comfort during these difficult times.

in addition, i hope everyone enjoyed their holiday weekend.

everyone take care of each other.

good night.

so i've been getting some calls from this kid AB who i used to go to school with... way way way back in high school. i've been busy with work lately so we haven't been able to talk until today.

just so you know... AB is one of those kids who drops off the face of the earth and then will call up when he needs to crash at your place cause he's coming to new york and is only an hour and a half away. or he'll call up because he's at the chinatown bus stop by canal street and doesn't know how to get to brooklyn so he's wondering if you'll schlepp your ass all over new york just to pick his dumb white boy ass up. of course since i'm such a frickin good friend... you know... it's OK that he crashes at my place on such short notice... nevermind that i have to rearrange my frickin schedule (haha). that's AB in a nutshell... good times. so anyways... he recently got engaged and he's back in buffalo for the holidays. so... i've been meaning to post these voicemails he's left for me in the past... just to show you all how great my friends really are (*sarcasm*)... or to perhaps get AB back by showing the pure genius (or lack thereof) of this kid... and just cause i find them funny (i have to try to get these incorporated into the wedding somehow).

this first one is from awhile ago... i think it was pre A & D's wedding this past summer? for the uninitiated... you will notice just how friendly AB is... so considerate right?

the second one is from pre R & S's wedding this summer.

the next three (3, 4, 5) are from this past week. again... just pure classiness. i don't really know why he's complaining about getting my voicemail... when the kid never picks up the phone for anyone at all... ask any and all of the old crew from willie north.

in all seriousness though... we all bust on each other a lot. perhaps AB gets it the most out of all the peeps from north high... but i'm really happy for A & J... and i'm honored that he asked me to be a groomsman (even though he said i was the 12th person on the list). i just hope when i said, "how bout i call you and let you know 30 minutes before the wedding starts." that it was ok =].

yup... not working tomorrow or monday. pretty psyched... gonna sleep in. you know one of the best things about living in the north? sleeping in during the winter. is there a better feeling?

so in bizarro news.

here's a bizarro fish.

why would anyone want to kill a penguin? i mean penguins are cool and everything... and i would surely love one as a pet... but if it refuses to let me feed him/her i'd give it back. here's to hoping that toga is alive and well and being fed.

so... some grades came in. got an a-, b+, and b. one of the classes that i am worried about is biochem. i haven't gotten the grade for it so fingers are still crossed. i guess it's a decent start to grad school but i'm a bit disappointed... cause i know i could've done better if i would've found the balance between everything sooner. oh well... live and learn i suppose... next semester's gonna be better.

night.

seriously... the last 20 minutes @ work has felt like 5 hours.

waiting for a query to run so i can check it....

ahhhhhhh!!! help... so boooooored.

thanks everyone for all the comments so far... you all rock harder than chris murphy rockstar-ing it up doing scissor kicks on stage.

i think i'm almost recovered sleep-wise... still a bit off... it took a lot to make it through the 8 hours of my internship today. i really wanted to take a nap @ 1pm.

so JT left this morning @ 7am on her almost 24 hour flight and month long trip to taiwan. you know... i LOVE travelling, but i've always dreaded the flights to asia. how come we don't have faster planes? aren't they due for some kinda big innovation? i don't think we've cut down flight times in decades. what's up with that aerospace engineers?! show some results from your edu-ma-cation! don't be like me! =p.

hmmm... word is that LU's gonna go snowboarding friday with peeps... i need to get cracking on picking up a snowboard. anyone know anything about them? i'm familiar with skiis, but i'm clueless about snowboards. all i know is that i will hurt a lot after the first time out.

i'm very much looking forward to seeing old friends both in buffalo and in new york.

so here's another thing i'm thinking about. the first thing that attracts you to a person is a combination of physical and intellectual attributes, but more skewed towards physical initially i think. for me though... the thing that keeps me interested is a combination of intellectual, some shared interests, and just really getting to know someone... in the sense that i can almost predict their behaviour that i'm so comfortable being around them. i don't know what this has to do with anything... but it's something i've been thinking about.

i think i might go up to TO for boxing day with the fam.

the sabres won tonight.

my eyes hurt, so i'm done.

ps... the 20th thing on my list is from the bizzaro random movie 'mystery men'. i'm disappointed that i didn't get to give out bonus points.

pps... have a good night!

i lied. i haven't gotten any sleep really. after the exam yesterday went to the albright-knox with JT... then we spent some time downtown after grabbing dinner @ just pizza. was gonna go skate @ fountain plaza... but she deemed it a bit too cold (buffalo vs. taiwan is a significant change in weather =])... which was ok cause we were close to spot coffee. sat down for a bit, and my friend DR unexpectedly walks in and tells me he's got a gig there with a band he plays with. so we stick around for the first set, eat a big ol chocolate chip cookie and drink a big ol cup/bowl of hot cocoa. totally nice night out. today we made plans to go to the mall and do some shopping after i finished donating blood. btw... everyone who can... please donate blood if you are able to. the red cross is always looking to have a good supply of blood on hand... just in case it's needed. i know that they are almost always short. it only takes about 45-60 minutes of your time, you get free cookies, juice, and water afterwards. plus you really do help save people's lives... in a very real way. so anyways... i've posted before on how much i hate shopping. i still do =]. i did manage to get some clothes, a gift for my awesome boss who will be on maternity leave soon, and a box of funny holiday cards. if anyone wants a holiday card... email me your address... and i'll try to get one out to you. don't worry... i won't drive over to where you are and start stalking you =].

random observations/thoughts that i find interesting/funny/cute/etc.

-women seriously LOVE chocolate. we were in the godiva store for a good half an hour.

-women take a long time in deciding what they want to buy (in my experience). things get tried on multiple times, and also examined in the mirror multiple times.

-guys have a silent bond with each other while they're sitting on benches with shopping bags surrounding them waiting for people to decide and finish their purchases. i have nothing against it at all... in fact i absolutely don't mind waiting if the person making the purchase comes out happy. i just think it's funny.

-i kinda expect random funny weirdness in any person i end up being in a relationship with. i've found that it's quite hard given the language/culture barrier sometimes for funny things to be funny.

-it's a little hard to to gauge how things are going... because how people interact with each other is a little different from culture to culture, society to society. am i being too forward? not forward enough? i've only visited taiwan and china... i've never lived there so i don't know what's normal and what's not. in general asians are more quiet and slow about how they do things i think.

-in successful relationships... have most people felt a connection fairly quickly or does it kinda build up to a feeling where there's just a comfortability factor involved. i don't think i've ever been in one where a connection was felt quickly. i have friends who give up extremely quickly, and some who don't.

these are just thoughts... it's been fun with JT so far... but like with everything... i have lots of questions and very few answers... only this time... there seems to be a little more in terms of the questions. i think the whole cultural difference in how we grew up is playing a significant factor. i'm not trying to discount how much growth can happen on both sides, but asian-asian culture is very different from asian-american culture.

ok... i'm really tired now.

hope you're all doing extremely well.

did you ever have those times in school when you're in the midst of chaos and you just want to slit your wrists and call it a day? i've been there for the past 2 and a half weeks. fun stuff eh?

in a little over 12 hours i will be done with this semester. i'm looking forward to it... and i'm not. i know i haven't done as well as i would've liked. i took too big of a course load and started out the semester working too much. didn't find the right balance until a month and a half in... by that time... just too behind. the course that did me in... biochem. one exam every two weeks... just never let me catch up with my other courses. next semester i'm dropping down to 14 credit hours, start out the semester working 1 job instead of 3. it should help right?

ok... have 9 good hours of studying left.

take care... see you when i wake up from my 4 or so days of slumber/hibernation =p.

not going to the game tonight... kinda sad. gave the tix to my parents. kinda fitting that it's a dallas-buffalo game, since the first city they lived in in the US was dallas, and now they live in buffalo. the stars and the sabres are the two hot teams in the league now. stu's gonna be in the arena... albeit for the other team. that guy was a great captain while he was on the sabres and we were playing for the cup. i'm not gonna get into the whole dallas-buffalo cup fiasco of 1999. plus bill clinton's here!

quite cold today. clear skies, no cloud cover. sunset was nice. took a pic with my phone... i'll have to see if it comes out ok on the computer. maybe i'll have a nice pic to post.

ok. time to study.

thanks to the good/kind people in charge @ the permanent title currently under construction blog, i'm taking a break from studying... cause i know you all want to know these 20 things about me... no? not really? shhhhh...

1) i came to the US on a row boat when i was 3 years old. we were found by the US coast guard, and my parents declared political assylum. one of the coast guard officers asked me what my name was and i started talking to him in chinese. obviously he couldn't understand what i was saying, so he wrote down a couple names he liked... and asked me to pick one i liked. of course i didn't know what he was talking about... so i randomly selected jason. so... that's how i got my name. i've always secretly hated it... maybe one day i'll change it when i stop being so lazy. actually... that's all a lie. i was born in dallas, texas... i'm ashamed to admit.

2) i am a big fan of food. i'm always up for trying new cuisine, new restaurants, etc. i go through phases where i eat something for a month and then switch it up the next month. i'm currently on a middle eastern kick... so couscous has been a staple recently.

3) i'm actually a bad cook i think... but just about the only thing i can make decently is my version of cheese cake.

4) i think smoothies are the best... even when it's single digits outside.

5) i secretly want to be a vegetarian... but i just can't bring myself to give up the wings.

jeez... maybe i should stop with the food for a bit...

6) i am absolutely in love with canadian accents and all things canada. i guess that's what happens when you grow up on a border city, where toronto is the destination to travel to for any big city culture.

7) i think february birthdays are the best. cause february is the only weirdo random month out there. 28 days except for leap year which comes every 4 years? what the hell kind of rule is that? plus... my birthday is feb 28th, so i just made it in.

8) i'm a fan of the environment, camping, and all that... but i have a bad habit sometimes of just going out for a drive to nowhere... which wastes gas... which turns out to be a bad thing, and i feel bad about it afterwards. i guess it's a good thing i don't do it often.

9) man... i'm only on 9? i really don't talk a lot... and i don't think it's cause i don't like to talk... i just would much rather listen and observe... and file everything in my mind for future blackmail purposes... hahaha...

10) i have been to taiwan 3 times in my life... but the last time i was there was about 16 years ago. almost all of my extended family (first cousins etc.) lives there so it's been awhile since i've seen my aunts, uncles, grandparents (on my mom's side), and cousins. i may go this summer if my lab research goes well and i have time.

11) another thing i am hopefully going to do this summer is to bike across new york from buffalo to albany... on the new york state greenway ride along the erie canal.

12) i'm actually a person hired by sloan to secretly spread their music throughout all the land.

13) even though i shouldn't judge people... i judge a person by their taste in music. or maybe i should say a person's taste in music has a lot of weight in my book. yeah... that sounds better.

14) i'm really interested in finding a progressive christian community that opposes the religious right... and cares about social justice issues, fixing inequalities, and inequities. i don't believe religion is a set of rules you follow (ie. following rules when your heart's not in it does not make a one a good christian). religion is about faith... it's about meeting people where they are at to make things better. the underlying basis of any religion i think is to make oneself a better person... and make their surroundings and society better. although i've found a good church since i've moved back here... i don't think i've found one that fits me exactly yet... so that's a little frustrating.

15) there are really only two locations which i would give an arm and leg to go skiing at. whistler/blackcomb, and the resorts out in banff national park.

16) this one time when i was small (i think i was 5 or 6 maybe)... i was @ a wedding and i had too much spiked punch (i thought it was just some really good juice). my parents found me outside on the curb @ the church the thing was @ passed out.

17) i turn asian red when i drink, and i don't drink anymore cause i get sick when i do. the last time i had more than a sip (and by sip i mean half a mouthful maybe) of alcohol was probably 3 new years ago.

18) my younger brother jon has fulfilled the asian "obligation" a son or daughter has to their parents... by going to med school. i guess that takes me off the hook somewhat... haha.

19) the last couple people i have been in a relationship with/been interested in/been out with... have all been aquarians... aquariis... aquariuses... what's the plural? so does that mean... me and aquarians don't get along and i just don't learn from the past?

20) bonus points make me happy... so... if you can identify the movie this quote is from... you get bonus points.

My name!

It's Phoenix.

Phoenix Dark.

Dirk. Phoenix--Darkdirk.

I was christened Dirk Steele,
and I changed it to Phoenix.

that was harder than i thought, but i liked reading all your random weirdness... so i guess i had to contribute @ somepoint right? hope you liked it.

hmmm... i'm gonna tag TC... cause he hasn't posted in a long time, figcookies, and maybe ML... if she'll let me link up to her super secret blog!

catch you foos later.

they are a total embarrassment. when did we get this bad? just a couple years ago... drew bledsoe was having a yooooge season, and every year after that we just got worse and worse. i'd been checkin in on the game in between studying today... and losman had something like 2 completions on 15 attempts or something. just checked the final stats... we only had 14 yards total rushing! wtf? am i supposed to be happy we didn't get shut out? i said to LU a little while ago that i'd rather have a team that perennially lost the superbowl (as painful as that'd be), than to have a team with absolutely NO chance whatsoever year after year.

i miss living in a big city... cause fun things like this happen. that's a pic from santacon 05. a couple friends also did midnight madness this year too.

hmmm... you learn something new everyday.

gotta cram some more info into my head so i can forget it all by tomorrow afternoon after the exam's over =]. i can't even tell you how much i'm looking forward to this friday. exams will be over, gonna hitup the albright-knox and go skating @ fountain plaza with JT, see her off @ the airport, sit around for a week and a half and go to new york.

just gotta keep breathing and get through this.

breathe, moist

save
save me from this
wandered around the town
all the thousand things
i might miss

and you
think we'll suffer much
think we'll close our eyes
just to see the light
pass us by

with tomorrow coming
hope that i don't
let you down again
said i'm so glad to be here
does it mean a thing
if only i could breathe
what you breathe
if only i could see what you see

sit
we'll take our time
watching the flowers grow
all the friends we've known say
goodbye

and you
did you suffer much
did you close your eyes
just to see the night
rush on by

gathered all around you
hope that we don't
let you down again
i said i'm so glad to be here
does it mean a thing
if only i could breathe
what you breathe
if only i could see what you see

said i'm so glad to be here
does it mean a thing

if only i could breathe
what you breathe
if only i could see what you see
if only i could just believe a thing

so the peace bridge design selection jury (after input from citizens on both the US and canadian side) has selected a design, recommending a design by christian menn. for those of you not familiar with the the history... there's a whole big long drawn out backstory... which i won't repeat now cause i'm too tired. i am happy that the whole process is moving forward with a great design though. i think the new bridge next to the older bridge will provide a nice contrast and merging of old industrial buffalo and new life sciences focused buffalo. this combined with the big news on the recent niagara power authority settlement with the city of buffalo... and it looks like our waterfront will be getting BIG boosts. have we really turned the corner? will there finally be some real action? the new peace bridge, waterfront development, a new mayor (and the first african-american one) for the city, lots of residential conversions of old industrial buildings downtown... i don't think this much change has happened here since 1901 when mckinley was assasinated.

bill clinton will be in town @ the sabres-stars game on wed with tom golisano! i'm a big clinton fan (both hillary and bill). i have tix to the game... but i might not be able to go... cause i might have to do some more studying for that last final i have on fri =[. hopefully my studying will go well up until wed. i can't believe i'm even thinking about passing up an opportunity to see a sabres stars matchup when we're the hottest team in the nhl right now 10-1-1 in the last 12 games! i'd like to add that chris drury rocks.

you hear so much about hong kong... but what's up with macau? are they having the same sorts of problems as hong kong after portugal transferred the territory back to china? i think though, as long as hong kong continues to be a pain for china as they try to reconcile the two systems of government... it will be good for a future truly democratic china. speaking of hong kong... i could go for some dim sum in hong kong right now. if you ever go... go on an empty stomach. i've found out that new york is not the city that never sleeps... that designation should belong to hong kong. it's crazy how late people stay up there (i think mainly cause everyone there seems to work i-banking hours... even if they're not i-bankers). they get out of work late... and they party late. while we're on the topic of finance and china... there's increasing pressure on china to move toward floating their currency. it might be a good investment to buy up some chinese yuan at a low price... so that when it does eventually float and is worth more (which will have to be sooner than later if china's economy keeps up with its huge growth)... you can sell it for your home currency and pocket the profit.

pre-schoolers need more sleep? what? they're the ones who are always running around! we really should start the whole siesta thing here. i could use some extra sleep every day.

remember prodigy? i didn't even know it was around. i thought it died a long time ago... apparently not. what other old pre-dot-com/dot-com internet sites/services do you remember that may or may not be around anymore?

i came across a blog, and was very moved by the most recent post/painting titled louisiana storm.

and i think that's it for now. have a good night.

hello my four-five readers. sorry i've been away. been busy cramming for exams.

i'm kinda tired now... but hopefully i'll be more awake a little later to post a real entry with some links i've saved up.

hope you're all doing well!

Long December, Counting Crows

A long December
and there's reason to believe
Maybe this year
will be better than the last
I can't remember
the last thing that you said
as you were leavin'
Now the days go by so fast
And it's one more day up in the canyons
And it's one more night in Hollywood
If you think that I could be forgiven...
I wish you would
The smell of hospitals in winter
And the feeling that it's all a lot of oysters,
but no pearls
All at once you look across a crowded room
To see the way that light attaches to a girl
And it's one more day up in the canyons
And it's one more night in Hollywood
If you think you might come to California...
I think you should
Drove up to Hillside Manor
sometime after two a.m.
And talked a little while about the year
I guess the winter makes you laugh a little slower,
Makes you talk a little lower
about the things you could not show her
And it's been a long December
and there's reason to believe
Maybe this year will be better than the last
I can't remember all the times
I tried to tell my myself To hold on to these moments
as they pass
And it's one more day up in the canyon
And it's one more night in Hollywood
It's been so long since I've seen the ocean...
I guess I should

now you (or i) can own a piece of tim horton's (the absolute best coffee/donut place in all the land).

here's something that's free to do here (ie good for student budgets)... go skating @ fountain plaza. now all we need are some colder temps.

is there anything better than old school peanuts/charlie brown specials? i think not. the only thing i would add to the movies list is 'a christmas story'. that movie ALWAYS cracks me up. fra-gee-lay.

so i guess there's nothing wrong with me? i dunno about that... =]

i don't know what's been up with the power situation this year... but there have been multiple occassions when i've been driving to south campus and the traffic lights are all out along millersport. then just a couple days ago... this happens along main st. it was kinda like the blackout of 2003 but not as cool.

so... tomorrow i'm going to see harry potter with JT... i've never really been interested in an asian before. kinda weird. i should be studying for my last exams... but whatever.

night.