What Wealth Means To Me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9OxtHEYIjE&feature=related

TLDW: Muhammad Ali says he buys nice and expensive things not because he loves wealth, but because wealth is respected. If a modest church that preaches the word of God faithfully goes against a diamond studded church that preaches more poorly, the diamond studded church would get most of the followers. Gives them a cheap way to look wealthy. So when Ali pulls up in his diamond car next to another black man in a diamond car, the black man would respect him when he invites him to his church, rather than immediately dismiss him for lack of wealth.

It all makes sense right? But it really shouldn't. I've seen enough wealthy people with enormous amounts of problems. Wealth is NOT happiness after a certain point, and that certain point is within pretty much anyone's range.

Anyway, I'm trying to wake up early now. Been waking up way too late.

LAziness

I wonder where I lie on the laziness spectrum in terms of the human race.

Laziness being defined as: Not doing things that you know is probably better for you in the long run because you "just don't feel like it".

I don't think mine is that bad on the overall scale, but it could definitely use a ton of improvement and fine-tuning. I'm lazy because I'm spoiled.

Drawing

Ever since I moved in, my plan was to decorate my apartment with pictures I drew/painted.

Then I found out I would have zero time. Today, I finally said "fuck it", and dedicated the night to drawing. So here it is. It's from a manga called Sexy Commando Gaiden.

I bought two India ink pens, one thick and one thin, to do this.

The way manga artists use shadows has always intrigued me. I know it's super basic to a real artist, but yeah. It's hard to make deep shadows in cloth look natural. I chose to do this drawing cause it leaves a TON of room for error. If you fuck up, just slobber more ink all around it and it looks even better.

How to Extend Your Life

Keep meeting new people, doing new things, and exploring new locations.

New things make time go slow.

Don't you want to live long?

6/20/11

9AM-10AM
Breakfast
1. 1 cup oatmeal with fruits 300 calories 12
2. Cheese + Ham Quesadilla 500 calories 15
3. Flax seed oil

Get Rice + Chicken started

10AM-12PM
Tennis + Lunch
Hit only backhands
Lunch:
2 pieces chicken grilled 250 calories 15
Onions and other veggies: 150 calories
Rice: 300 calories 10

700 calories 25 grams protein

12PM-5PM
Hospital
Turn in time sheet



5PM-8PM
Dinner:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Delicious-Ham-and-Potato-Soup/Detail.aspx
Finish one of the AMCAS essays

8PM-10PM
Lift
Check :
bench (50 x 12)
Pullups (20 x 12)
Curl (35 x 12)

Groceries on way home
Ham
Frozen chicken
Frozen fruit
Frozen veggies
Windex + one more cleaning agent
Eggs
Bread
Gloves
sponge
TY cards



Shake

10PM-Sleep
Cut and bag all the potatoes
Stretch (palm floor)
Finish off the AMCAS essay 100%.

Total calories : 2400 + shake and whatever other snacks you eat

Warren Buffett

"I know people who have a lot of money," he says, "and they get testimonial dinners and hospital wings named after them. But the truth is that nobody in the world loves them. When you get to my age, you'll measure your success in life by how many of the people you want to have love you actually do love you. That's the ultimate test of how you've lived your life."

This is wise. I watched Fight Club today. The idea behind the novel/movie speaks volumes about today's society. We kill ourselves trying to impress each other, when we should just be fucking each other.

Life Tip: Frozen Fruits

Here's a new life tip. Buy frozen fruits.
I use them for:
1. Cereal. Just take them out the freezer, plop a few in, and bam. Your cereal stays cold/refreshing, and you have instant fruit. Once you get used to cereal with lots of fruit, just cereal sucks.

2. Shakes. Like fruit shakes or protein shakes. Easy and makes it cold, don't even need icecubes.

Life

It's been twenty days now since I moved in. Thoughts:
1. It's not as lonely as I thought it would be. Or maybe I'm just used to it. No problems with loneliness so far.
2. Cooking and cleaning takes up so much time. Being a housewife is a full ass time job (with kids at least).
3. Need more free time. I was going to decorate the walls myself, but I have no real time to make anything. Walls are just bare, maybe forever. Someone bring me some nice things to put up.
4. Desire to be balling slowly rising, sorta. I look around and all I see is the lowest grade of everything. (Cheapest table possible, cheapest tv possible, cheapest bed possible..etc) But so far still fine with it.

Fact or Fiction?

New place is great.
But there is a problem.
Patio is infested with flies. Open the door for 3 seconds, two flies come in.
I must get rid of these flies.
Plan is to put up a huge mosquito net along the outside perimeter of the patio. Then it wouldn't really be "outside", but I can't think of a better solution.

I also heard hanging bags of water deters flies, but I don't belive it. This concept is apparently very hotly debated (was even on Mythbusters where it was said to be false), does anyone have experience trying this?

ANYWAY, if you have any advice on making my porch fly-free, let me know.
Fly stickers won't work, too many. Fly traps won't work, don't want thousands of flies coming and getting trapped ad-nauseum.

Hello

So, eventful day.
Osama died, and I moved into my new place.

However, manager says this room needs to be fumigated soon.
How long does that take? Anyone know?

Success

I guess my last post was confusing. It was a quote from the Simpsons.

Anyway, it looks like I'm finally going to be moving out. Found a great apartment that's not shady and cheap and quiet. It was listed on Craiglist two days ago, and today I met the owner. Really nice guy, not shady at all, everything looks good.

One issue though is that it has no refrigerator so I'm going to be buying one. It's crazy that new ones go for 500-1000 dollars, but there are plenty on Craigslist for 100-150 dollars. I don't know if there's anything particularly important about refrigerators that I have to look out for. If anyone knows any insider tips on buying refrigerators, please leave a comment.

I really don't get why people spend money on new cars. Used cars are the way to go people!

KRUSTY

lets just say it moved me...
TO A BIGGER HOUSE!

oh crap

i said the loud part quiet and the quiet part loud

Apartment Hunting

Today I visited a studio apartment that was for subletting for the next three months. 725/month in a semi-ghetto neighborhood. I check out the area/room, and it's almost too good to be true. Quiet, security patrol at night, bomb parking space, etc. There were, however, three things that bothered me.

1. Person drove a very nice Benz.
2. One of the windows was destroyed "by a neighbor".
3. The apartment was checked out by tons of people (according to him, and I believe him after apartment hunting for a couple months), and none of them took it.
4. Upon asking why he was renting it out, he said he was going out of town for a couple months.

Any thoughts?

420

Happy 420. Stay safe.

Ocean

Blogspot is dumb so here's a link to the
BIG PICTUREEEE

Oy

An inescapable feeling of restlessness and shittiness permeates my every day. The only time I don't feel it is when I'm making money or working out. Feels like I wasn't meant to live this way, like there's a path I should be on and I'm not on it.

Going nuts!

FIOS?

Anyone have any experience with FIOS ? Family is sick of the problems with our cable, and I heard it was really good. If you have, a comment would be nice. Thanks.

LOVE

Some Romeo and Juliet shit going on in my room.

entropy

the entire universe is one big chemical reaction
it can be stated as such:

chaos <---> order

The Keq is something like .0000000000000000000000000001, meaning that the equilibrium heavily heavily favors chaos.

But there still exists that sliver of order. We are that order in the highest form (For now).

food

when im older.
i only eat two things for dinner.
switch off every other day.

sushi and korean bbq.

that's it.

Anon is some shit

Best of the night, enjoy if you haven't seen it.

Meaning of Life and other questions and answers.

Meaning of life? To reproduce. Priority 1 is to continue the human race, priority 2 is to continue your blood line.

Aliens exist? Chances are yes. There are probably around 1000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 planets. Of those, maybe 100000000000000 have conditions like Earth (suitable for life as we know it). That doesn't even include the potential for life as we don't know it. Also, these numbers are probably conservative.

What is love? An evolved form of the instinct "care for one's young". Especially necessary in humans, who must invest solely in 1-10 children to continue the bloodline, unlike fish and insects.

What is evolution? Process of elimination.

What happens when I die? Blank.

Not Really

Sorry I haven't been good about updating/checking up on your blogs. Recently broke the 2k/month mark, so I thought, whoo, time to move the fuck out.

Went apartment hunting, found good one, got application, etc.

Told parents. Next morning, they wake me up and tell me I can't. Dad makes conditional: Save up 20,000 and I can move out. At this rate, that means it'll take 10 months.

So I've been wasting away playing Oblivion last few days.

How would I go about moving out anyway? Need to

1. Set up private bank account.

2. Collect all my monthly checks/payroll records to prove to apartment managers I can afford rent without parental help.

3. Collect all my valuables and sneak them out of my house.

4. Profit?

Why the fuck can't my parents just kick me out of the house like every other parent? Is this my punishment for not being a fucking loser slob that the parents can't stand? What the shit is going on here.

Strange Things You're Good At

Do any of you have something you're randomly really good at, but you never have a chance to show it cause it's too random/obscure?

I have several of these, but one that I think you'll recognize is SNES Mario Kart.

To me, the SNES Mario Kart is the most legit in the series. The N64 version is good too, but the system is retarded because the characters with the best speed ALSO have the best control. (Peach/Toad I think).

In SNES, Bowser and DK have the best speed and worst control. Thus, noobs like to play Toad/Peach (Bad speed, good control), while veterans use Bowser/DK.

Also, it has the craziest advanced techniques. Not only is there the constant hop/drift technique, but now there are like 10 variations of it, one of which actually requires you to mod your controller.

Anyway, I'm not that hardcore, and frankly, today's world records are just insane, but I have gotten really close to past world records. Anytime I had downtime or felt bored, I would play the game and eventually racing your best ghost gets extremely addicting. One of games I most consistently play on the emulator.

Life Tip

THE FOLLOWING IS NOT BY ME

"I got robbed at gunpoint years ago while working 3rd shift at a gas station. He drug me into the bathroom and pointed the gun at my head, then told me to turn around and face the wall. I had been doing all he asked until then, but at that moment my Aunt's voice came into my head telling me the only thing she ever would say when I asked her about surviving the Holocaust. She told me "Remember that it's easier for someone to shoot you in the back than to shoot you in the face. Never turn around. Make them look you in the eye."
From SomethingAwful

Moving Out

"For now, my blog will chronicle my efforts of moving out of my house."

I haven't done this at all, so I'll do it today.

Today I finally got hired by the hospital I volunteer at. I was suppose to start on March 1st, but only now was able to finalize the paperwork.

Then I found out that the timesheets are for 3/1 to 3/17. So I still get paid for all the work I did since March 1st!

Very happy at this news. Also trying to tutor every single student in the SoCal area. Tutoring can be surprisingly good side-income; I'm averaging about 500/month from tutoring alone.

Now it all comes down to finding a place to live.

Political Correctness

Edit: Sorry, the EMBED is way too big.

White Girl Asian Rant

I'm sure many of you have seen or heard about this video. TLDR: White girl rants about Asians after getting annoyed by them in the library.

This is getting HUGE backlash in the Asian community, and a lot of my friends. I hear she's getting death threats and whatnot.

I feel bad for her. We all say things in the heat of the moment, but we live in a society where recorded media can be scrutinized, distorted, and analyzed over and over. She really doesn't come off as someone that is overtly racist, she was just saying some real shit. I find it annoying that we live in a society that's covered in eggshells. I suppose the opposite would be worse though.

Pets

This is a savannah. It is a hybrid between a Serval (African wild cat) and a domestic cat.

I'm always thinking of cool things I want after I get my own place. A very unique pet is one of these things. I originally wanted a Serval, but from reading about them, they seem like too big of a handful. Then I came across these guys.

Other than looking really cool, their temperament and other qualities sound good. Wiki says that they are loyal like dogs (which I don't entirely believe), very intelligent, and can jump extremely high (8 feet).

This post is a reminder to my future self, more than anything, that a pet such as this exists. Hopefully one day I can own one. They cost thousands of dollars so...time to get to work.

Medical Schools

I'm a pre-med, and it's slowly becoming time to apply to medical schools.

NOW, the first thing to do in the cycle of admissions is to get letters of recommendation. Medical schools insist that you get them from professors you've had, and pre-med advisors from your undergrad.

My problem is, I've never established a wonderful life long relationship with my professors like my fellow crazy pre-meds. I've also been out of school for a year, so it's not like the professors will remember me in any significant way.

DESPITE THIS, I have to go to them and ask for letters. This drives me nuts on so many levels. Does becoming a doctor really mean I had to pretend like I didn't know what the fuck was going on in my classes just to ask my professor a bunch of meaningless questions to get him to know me?

What about people that have been out of school for 5-10 years? Do they also have to come back to their undergrad professors and ask for recommendations and pretend to want to get to know them and what not?

But what bugs me more than anything else, is the professors that don't see this as complete bullshit. The professors that say "nope, sorry, can't write you a great letter because you didn't come to office hours every week and suck my dick/kiss my ass." Can't they just be rational, nice people who understand the b.s. that is Letters of Rec, and just write nice letters based on an interview/resume/grade? I'll gladly pay them a Benjamin each to just cut the crap and do what's required.

Anyway, countdown until this post comes back to haunt me and prevent me from ever practicing medicine. Haha. Also, to all the people out there who go to office hours and ask meaningless questions that everyone knows the answer to just so you can demonstrate to the professor you're so ENTHUSIASTIC and INTERESTED in the class material- FUCK YOU.

Minecraft

Minecraft is a fun game. I love it because it's the epitome of a game where you create your own fun. Today's games are more movies than games; almost every blockbuster game I've recently played holds your hand through a series of triggers and cutscenes.

With Minecraft, however, you never know what you're going to get. Personally, I don't do a lot of construction in the game, I mostly spend my time spelunking. The cave networks in this game are ridiculous, and there's no end to dark and expansive passageways that you can explore and fight through.

Of course building shit is fun too, albeit a ton of work. Unfortunately I don't have any amazing buildings to show off.

Music/Sad

"I was literally told for 'The Show Goes On' that I shouldn't rap too deep," he said. "I shouldn't be too lyrical. It just needs to be something easy on the eyes. Like a record company telling Picasso that we don't need these abstract interpretations of life, where people have to sit down and look at it and break it down. It was better to paint the Upper West Side lady and her poodle so everyone could look at it right away and understand what was going on. I felt like I was painting poodles."

Lately all my favorite hip-hop artists have become like this. Eminem, with his disgustingly robotic/commercial Recovery album. Jay-Z, every album since Black album. Lil Wayne, every album since Carter 2. All shit shit shit.

It greatly saddens me when I not only see people judge these artists by their commercial albums, but they actually think the shit is dope, or that the artist is complete trash. In fact, I'm sure many of you are reading this and thinking I have horrible taste.

Imagine watching Michael Jordan when he's 22. He's dunking from the freethrow line, averaging 38 points per game, and dunking on 7 footers everywhere. You become a fan for life. Fast forward 15 years, and Jordan is still playing at 37. He can hardly dunk anymore, primarily shoots jumpers, and can hardly play defense. You see your little cousins wonder what's so great about him, while watching casual fans get excited simply because he's Jordan, paying no attention to his skills.

Hip hop is full of 37 year old Jordans. Being a true fan of hip-hop has been tragic the past ten years, and more and more fans are having to rely on underground/indie music to get their fix of songs that, you know, actually require thinking and mental processing. Unfortunately, underground artists lack the charisma and relevance for me to give them more than a couple dozen listens.

Add Lupe Fiasco to the list. Personally, the most tragic of all, as his second album, The Cool, is the smartest, most well put-together rap album I've heard since the 90s. His new album, Lasers, is boring and played out, and clearly assembled by the record companies, not designed by Lupe.

I feel like I'm living my life through my memories, and a lot of it has to do with music. I must be an idiot to keep looking for fulfillment in places that have long since dried up.

Courage Wolf

I don't know why, but I really like these memes. Dragonite Dad is my favorite, but today is Courage Wolf.

Reinvention

The following is NOT about Arnold. I just read a story about an American guy who was a pretty big nerd, low self-esteem, etc. One day he decided to "re-invent" himself as a normal kid from Australia, and started lifting weights, liking sports, and..talking in an Australian accent. With a new life in tow, he meets a girl, and they begin dating. The problem is, this entire time she believes he's Australian, and he starts freaking when she insists to meet his family.

Thought #1: Concept of re-invention. I'm sure many of you have, or have seen people who have, gone through a drastic re-up. Maybe some of you fantasize about it. I'm already remembering a handful of girls who have completely changed themselves, especially when it comes to attracting boys. It's funny that when I see someone who has gone through a major change, there is that subtle underlying idea of "I remember what you were like before this". I think its cool that we are able to do this, as I also would like to project myself socially in a completely new way should I ever move out of this city. It's just too awkward to do it when everyone already knows you.

Thought #2: Accents. Are accents just good conversation starters, or are people really that drawn to accents? I gotta admit, a strong accent is fun to talk to.

51 hours left to live

So, this was on Reddit today. Some of you probably already read this.

The user Lucidending posted:

On Tuesday I'll finally end my battle with cancer thanks to Oregon's Death with dignity act. As part of my preparations I've ended my pain medication and am trying to regain what little dignity and clarity I can.

Who I was doesn't matter. I'm in pain, I'm tired and I'm finally being granted a small shred of respect. Feel free to AMA if you're so inclined.

He (Lucidending) had some poignant comments to make.

Lucidending [S]
That nothing we have is worth hurting anyone else for. It's all fleeting people. Stop seeing race, color, sex, religion, etc.... Theyre all just people, and if you try to love them you won't lose anything.
----------------------------------------
scaredamerican88:

You'll be in my thoughts.

A lot of people oppose death with dignity, labeling them "doctor assisted suicide". Do you have any words that might convince people who oppose it why you chose this option?

Thanks for taking some of your last moments to talk to us.

Lucidending:

Yes, I do. Why do they oppose peoples right to not suffer? It takes numerous doctors to get here ensuring no one uses this option recklessly. My care is a huge burden to my loved ones, and it's not fair to position your suspicions over their realities.

And yes, religion is at best a suspicion. None of us knows...
---------------------------------------

Elseone:

Are you scared of dieing? Are you scared of being dead?


Lucidending :

Terrified, but I won't ever tell my family that. I hope it doesn't hurt
----------------------------------------
jethonis:

Do you believe in an afterlife? Either way did it effect you decision?

Lucidending:

No and no. Pain and fear drove this decision. I've lost my ability to walk, travel, love.... There's no future but pain, so why not?

Ripped the quotes from a SA.com thread by MisterRoboto. Let's stay grateful.

Life as a Pariah

Rousseau

Recently came across another blogger's post called "The Secret of Happiness". Basically the idea is

"You are much happier when you assume that everyone likes you."

I used to live like this up to about 7th-8th grade. I easily made friends with everyone, and truly felt there was nothing wrong with me when it came to interactions with other people. Then some unfortunate social events gradually changed me to someone that assumes everyone doesn't like me. There are pros and cons to both attitudes, but I think it's obvious that I've been rarely happy since the change.

Ignorance can truly be bliss. Living in a world where I genuinely believed everyone liked me created some haters, but I dismissively shrugged them off and stayed with those who loved me. When I discovered that I wasn't hot shit, I felt incredibly naive and stupid, and began a much more careful and apprehensive approach to social situations.

While this attitude was great in keeping good terms with everybody around me, I was never secure or happy with myself as a person. Unnatural behavior took over, and I've always felt a little awkward since. Today, I feel I must be perfect, or live unhappy/lonely forever. It's a lot of unhappiness, but at the same time, I guess I enjoy it in a twisted, be-the-best-that-you-can-be way.

Source:http://chelseabellebryant.blogspot.com/2011/03/secret-to-happiness.html

Laziness

Laziness, a concept that unifies the ID and EGO. You know humans are fucked up when we are constantly at war with ourselves to do more work, and expend more energy, than our immediate needs tell us is necessary.

I feel like a lot of what people call "success" is a result of overcoming this feeling of laziness, or should I say, doing a lot of shit that has no immediate bearing on your life. I guess that's what makes humans so powerful.

Writing about laziness actually convinced me to stop being lazy and go work out, so I'm off to the gym. Thanks for all the comments/follows!

Cat and Dog

Here's a picture of my cat. I've owned her for a year now , and would like to share my thoughts.

My cat is the ultimate "logical" creature. She is, for the most part, void of attachment. If she's hungry or wants something, she will whine and beg you, knowing you are compassionate. When she doesn't need anything, she couldn't care less about you, and most often just wants to be left alone. She is highly intelligent, but smart enough to know she doesn't need to learn my stupid pet tricks. She understands she's found a form of "paradise" (unlimited food, free healthcare, free expansive shelter).

My dog is the polar opposite. Even if I treated her like crap (which I don't), she would love and adore me. Even if she's asleep, the moment I approach her she wakes up and greets me. She has dutifully learned every stupid pet trick I've taught her, despite being a little slow.

What is more loveable? What is more pitiful?

Hello World

I've been so good about updating my two niche-specific blogs, that I've decided to create a general-life blog for myself. I'll post things/thoughts that I find interesting, and hopefully you find them interesting also.

For now, my blog will chronicle my efforts of moving out of my house. I am a pre-med student finished with his courses, just waiting for the admissions process to start. Having recently finished my MCATs, it's now time to turn mygoal towards getting out of this house.

My goal for now is to make 2000 dollars a month.This should be enough to move out with, albeit with roommates. The difficulty is that I can't work fulltime due to volunteer/pre-med activities, but I have a lot of little ideas that I'll talk about. It can't be that hard, right?