On Friday night Siew and I went to a food hawker center near our home.
I had pizza, which was not too bad, but thin crust. Siew had fish noodles. She said the fish was good, but the noodles were not very nice.
While I was sitting, waiting for Siew to return after placing her order, I saw a cat run by with a rat in its mouth.
I started smiling. Good cat! I thought to myself.
Some people sitting nearby, with 2 small dogs, made noises of disapproval at the cat.
Later the cat was chasing said rat around the dining area (it's an outdoor dining area) so I thought to myself that the cat was playing with the rat before delivering the coup de grace.
The rat ran under a table, squeaking the whole time, and tried to run up a man's leg! Then it ran off another direction with the cat hot on its trail (almost its tail).
I think the rat got away, unfortunately.
Later, I saw a little kitten sitting near the table with the dogs, begging. The lady who made noises at the cat chasing the rat proceeded to feed the cat scraps of food.
I was thinking WTF to myself because she made noise at the cat chasing a rat, but she is ok with feeding the cats her own food?
She later fed another cat as well.
I love cats, but I won't feed cats like that. All you do is increase their reliance on people, so they won't hunt, they'll still breed and then become even more dependent on humans.
Keeping a cat as a pet is different, but those are not pets. You cannot pet them, and you wouldn't want to since they're not exactly clean anyway.
After they finished eating, that lady and her family got up and walked away, CARRYING their ugly small dogs. I hate people like that, and dogs like that. But it's not the dog's fault that their owners are morons.
August 16, 2009
August 2, 2009
Transformers
When I was a kid my favorite show on T.V. was Transformers.
Recently I have wanted to watch this childhood show again. Many shows, after watching them again when I am older, are terrible. I watched the first episode of Transformers just now on YouTube and I have to say that it is not terrible!
Now I need to acquire the rest of this great show to watch at my leisure!
Go watch it yourself HERE.
Recently I have wanted to watch this childhood show again. Many shows, after watching them again when I am older, are terrible. I watched the first episode of Transformers just now on YouTube and I have to say that it is not terrible!
Now I need to acquire the rest of this great show to watch at my leisure!
Go watch it yourself HERE.
I want this!
I suddenly feel nostalgic. I want to play my Dreamcast again!
There is a problem though. I do not have a T.V. and my Dreamcast is NTSC, not PAL.
There is a solution however!
This beautiful item!
This allows me to connect my Dreamcast to my computer monitor, and run the sound to my pc speakers. No need to worry about format, or buying a rather expensive T.V. that we do not need right now!
Anyone who still has your Dreamcast, buy one of these and you can experience 480p gaming circa 1999 technology. Seriously. This capability was not something anyone knew about in 1999, but here Sega built this into their finest gaming console.
Sega, we miss your home gaming systems! At least you continue to develop arcade systems!
There is a problem though. I do not have a T.V. and my Dreamcast is NTSC, not PAL.
There is a solution however!
This beautiful item!
This allows me to connect my Dreamcast to my computer monitor, and run the sound to my pc speakers. No need to worry about format, or buying a rather expensive T.V. that we do not need right now!
Anyone who still has your Dreamcast, buy one of these and you can experience 480p gaming circa 1999 technology. Seriously. This capability was not something anyone knew about in 1999, but here Sega built this into their finest gaming console.
Sega, we miss your home gaming systems! At least you continue to develop arcade systems!
August 1, 2009
Jumping
I like to tease one of my students a lot.
He is 11 but quite tall. His father, I mentioned him in my last post, told me that his son has a black belt in Tae Kwon Do and in Gum-Do.
When I was younger I tried lots of martial arts, and I am lazy to put links to them all. I also liked doing acrobatics of all sorts and yoga and running and walking a lot and skating long distances as fast as possible and well you get the bloody idea.
I can still do a few of my old tricks. I do not practice much anymore, I'd like to resume some of it in the near future though, it's fun.
So I like to see, because he has 2 black belts according to his father, what this student can do.
I first tried to get him to do bouncing ball push ups. After that I tried to see if he can do a kip-up. Then, I tried to see if he can sit on the floor with his legs straight out front and push his body up, keeping his legs stiff and straight, off the ground. I do not know what that's called maybe I'll get Siew to take a picture of me doing it and post it.
I spent a lot of time doing crazy or stupid stuff like that when I was young. I taught myself how to do cartwheels when I was 7. I learned more later, mostly on my own.
For me these kinds of things are common. Apparently, even for a double black belt holder, they are not.
In a class with this student we were reading about some firefighters who were inside of one of the World Trade Centers when it collapsed on September 11, 2001.
One lady in the story had descended 59 flights of stairs and was exhausted. I asked them if they thought they could go so many stairs without getting tired. Of course they couldn't, but they had joked about it, hence the question.
I then, because of the one student, said that even if I go down the fastest way I can I'd still be really tired. I said that I can descend a set of stairs all at once. They didn't believe me.
After class, when I was leaving, I warned the kids, "If I show you, you can NEVER try to copy me." They happened to be standing at the door when I was going out, and no adults were watching. So I showed them.
For most normal flights of stairs, if you fall forward, grab the handrail midway down and let your feet swing forward it is easy to descend in a "jump." It was harder here because there is only 1 rail. I put my hand on the wall on the left to hold myself as though it was a rail.
The boys shouted when they saw me do that. They didn't believe me, but I don't lie to my students.
I talked with Siew about it later. She said that it's uncommon here, people focus more on studying.
Thinking back on it, not many people I know can do those things either. Those who can, can't do it as well as I can for the most part.
I trained myself a lot, because I thought it was fun. Now there are things like Parkour that I would have LOVED to do when I was younger, and still wouldn't mind but my knees wouldn't last.
He is 11 but quite tall. His father, I mentioned him in my last post, told me that his son has a black belt in Tae Kwon Do and in Gum-Do.
When I was younger I tried lots of martial arts, and I am lazy to put links to them all. I also liked doing acrobatics of all sorts and yoga and running and walking a lot and skating long distances as fast as possible and well you get the bloody idea.
I can still do a few of my old tricks. I do not practice much anymore, I'd like to resume some of it in the near future though, it's fun.
So I like to see, because he has 2 black belts according to his father, what this student can do.
I first tried to get him to do bouncing ball push ups. After that I tried to see if he can do a kip-up. Then, I tried to see if he can sit on the floor with his legs straight out front and push his body up, keeping his legs stiff and straight, off the ground. I do not know what that's called maybe I'll get Siew to take a picture of me doing it and post it.
I spent a lot of time doing crazy or stupid stuff like that when I was young. I taught myself how to do cartwheels when I was 7. I learned more later, mostly on my own.
For me these kinds of things are common. Apparently, even for a double black belt holder, they are not.
In a class with this student we were reading about some firefighters who were inside of one of the World Trade Centers when it collapsed on September 11, 2001.
One lady in the story had descended 59 flights of stairs and was exhausted. I asked them if they thought they could go so many stairs without getting tired. Of course they couldn't, but they had joked about it, hence the question.
I then, because of the one student, said that even if I go down the fastest way I can I'd still be really tired. I said that I can descend a set of stairs all at once. They didn't believe me.
After class, when I was leaving, I warned the kids, "If I show you, you can NEVER try to copy me." They happened to be standing at the door when I was going out, and no adults were watching. So I showed them.
For most normal flights of stairs, if you fall forward, grab the handrail midway down and let your feet swing forward it is easy to descend in a "jump." It was harder here because there is only 1 rail. I put my hand on the wall on the left to hold myself as though it was a rail.
The boys shouted when they saw me do that. They didn't believe me, but I don't lie to my students.
I talked with Siew about it later. She said that it's uncommon here, people focus more on studying.
Thinking back on it, not many people I know can do those things either. Those who can, can't do it as well as I can for the most part.
I trained myself a lot, because I thought it was fun. Now there are things like Parkour that I would have LOVED to do when I was younger, and still wouldn't mind but my knees wouldn't last.
WTF?!
The other day I was talking to a guy who comes to the center I work at.
He has 3 kids who have tuition there. I teach 2 of the 3 kids.
What started the conversation off is that I was sitting on the floor with my legs crossed, resting my elbows on the ground and my chin in my palms. I was not trying to stretch, I was just sitting.
He saw me doing that and seemed shocked. So he tried to do it himself. He could not put his elbows on the ground. Jessica told him that I do yoga and he was like "Oh!"
I went and talked to him a little. I mentioned that I used to practice a lot of martial arts, acrobatics, running long-distance, yoga, etc. I then told him that I do not run anymore because my knees were injured.
He was shocked that I was in the military. He asked me how long I was in the military. So I told him. (I was in the National Guard for 5 years) He was extremely shocked. He said "But, you look like a woman."
I REALLY hope that he meant that I look soft, not feminine.His English is not that good, so it is possible that is what he was trying to say.
He then said that Timm, another teacher there who is from the U.S.A., looks more like someone who would have been in the military.
Timm is 28 and as never been in the military. In fact he is a conscientious objector!
He told me that South Korea has mandatory military service, so he served 30 months in the South Korean Armed Forces.
I joked with this parent, I do not know his name, about exercising in the military. I asked him about push ups. We talked about what I call "bouncing ball push ups."
I can't find images of what I am talking about, to show you. Normal clap push ups are a push up that you press your upper body off the ground and clap your hands before finishing the push up.
Bouncing ball push ups are similar, but you jump with your whole body, feet and hands going into the air, before clapping, landing and repeating.
He was able to do these push ups. I think he was trying to do double clap, clap your hands twice while in the air, but that is hard to do with bouncing ball push ups.
I think I changed his mind about me being "soft."
Part of that perception may be from my expressions. I do not show much emotion, good or bad. I am, however, surrounded by kids all day, so I can't scowl. Hell, the paperwork from my boss says that I have to smile as much as I can, so it's part of my job.
These things coupled with the fact that I'm patient with most people made him think this.
It is amusing to think that people all over the world judge on appearances so easily.
He has 3 kids who have tuition there. I teach 2 of the 3 kids.
What started the conversation off is that I was sitting on the floor with my legs crossed, resting my elbows on the ground and my chin in my palms. I was not trying to stretch, I was just sitting.
He saw me doing that and seemed shocked. So he tried to do it himself. He could not put his elbows on the ground. Jessica told him that I do yoga and he was like "Oh!"
I went and talked to him a little. I mentioned that I used to practice a lot of martial arts, acrobatics, running long-distance, yoga, etc. I then told him that I do not run anymore because my knees were injured.
He was shocked that I was in the military. He asked me how long I was in the military. So I told him. (I was in the National Guard for 5 years) He was extremely shocked. He said "But, you look like a woman."
I REALLY hope that he meant that I look soft, not feminine.His English is not that good, so it is possible that is what he was trying to say.
He then said that Timm, another teacher there who is from the U.S.A., looks more like someone who would have been in the military.
Timm is 28 and as never been in the military. In fact he is a conscientious objector!
He told me that South Korea has mandatory military service, so he served 30 months in the South Korean Armed Forces.
I joked with this parent, I do not know his name, about exercising in the military. I asked him about push ups. We talked about what I call "bouncing ball push ups."
I can't find images of what I am talking about, to show you. Normal clap push ups are a push up that you press your upper body off the ground and clap your hands before finishing the push up.
Bouncing ball push ups are similar, but you jump with your whole body, feet and hands going into the air, before clapping, landing and repeating.
He was able to do these push ups. I think he was trying to do double clap, clap your hands twice while in the air, but that is hard to do with bouncing ball push ups.
I think I changed his mind about me being "soft."
Part of that perception may be from my expressions. I do not show much emotion, good or bad. I am, however, surrounded by kids all day, so I can't scowl. Hell, the paperwork from my boss says that I have to smile as much as I can, so it's part of my job.
These things coupled with the fact that I'm patient with most people made him think this.
It is amusing to think that people all over the world judge on appearances so easily.
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