013107
man, i've been in a really great fucking mood lately.

the pessimist in me tells me that this will all soon come to its crushing end.

012807


012807
ryu vs. scorpion:


012707

"ten people who speak make more noise than ten thousand who are silent."

- napoleon bonaparte

got this comment from someone on stumbleupon today:

right now, people are sleeping, and get mad when people makes noises that threatens to wake them up! thanks for shouting...

i love it. :)

012607
can't say that i didn't see this one coming.

from the honolulu advertiser:

some maui residents are objecting to the latest mtv reality show, "maui fever," saying its sexual content and all-white cast give viewers a skewed impression of their island. objections stem from how the show fails to represent the ethnic and cultural makeup of maui. the show's seven main stars—two women and five men—are all caucasian. according to the 2000 census, maui county is 31 percent asian, 10 percent native hawaiian or pacific islander, and 22 percent mixed-race. caucasians account for 33 percent of the county, which includes lana'i and moloka'i along with maui. series creator morgan j. freeman told the honolulu advertiser that casting was a challenge because of the need to find a group of people who already were friends and who didn't mind getting intimate on television. "you can only film people who are willing to be filmed, and a lot of the people we wanted (for a more diverse cast) didn't want to be filmed. you can't control that," freeman said. he added that some of the supporting characters are nonwhite.

012507
spent practically the whole day talking to marie. the more i get to know her, the more i see that the girl's heart is made of gold.

i'm always here to listen, even if it's only to hear you vent. :)

012407
the put down of the day, delt to ernesto, who is from las vegas, and delt by chris, who is from argentina:

ernesto: don't cry for me, argentina.
chris: be quiet, vegas boy.
ernesto: hey, whatever happens in vegas, stays in vegas.
chris: um, so why didn't you stay in vegas?

OH, SNAP!

012307


012307
from reuters:

a chinese thief has returned a mobile phone and thousands of yuan he stole from a woman after she sent him 21 touching text messages, xinhua news agency said on monday. pan aiying, a teacher in the eastern province of shandong, had her bag containing her mobile phone, bank cards and 4,900 yuan ($630) snatched by a man riding a motorcycle as she cycled home on friday, xinhua said, citing the qilu evening news. pan first thought of calling the police but she decided to try to persuade the young man to return her bag. she called her lost phone with her colleague's cell phone but was disconnected. then she began sending text messages. "i'm pan aiying, a teacher from wutou middle school. you must be going through a difficult time. if so, i will not blame you," wrote pan in her first text message which did not get a response. "keep the 4,900 yuan if you really need it, but please return the other things to me. you are still young. to err is human. correcting your mistakes is more important than anything," pan wrote. she gave up hope of seeing her possessions again after sending 21 text messages without a reply. but on her way out on sunday morning, she stumbled over a package that had been left in her courtyard only to discover it was her stolen bag. nothing had been taken. "dear pan: i'm sorry. i made a mistake. please forgive me," a letter inside said. "you are so tolerant even though i stole from you. i'll correct my ways and be an upright person."

012207
what an interesting day. ernesto has surprisingly been tolerable today. also, marie has apparently assigned me a nickname: "monkey" (for whatever reason). after the third time, i had to ask her why she kept calling me that. i think i love it.

rose took me aside today and asked me if i would be willing to take the position of lead operator for the incoming night shift.

i get the feeling that i will eventually regret this, but i said yes.

everyone's who's been here long enough has to eventually go through this, at least once—i just happen to be the next one in line.

a slight pay increase is involved in this (and by slight, i mean slight). not to mention how good this would look on my resume, also.

but it would also mean that i am going to be working from 5 to 1... for the next three or so months. which also means that i won't be able to me my co-workers during that period of time.

marie seemed disappointed and slightly upset at me when i told her the news. i told her that it's a really great opportunity for me, and i just couldn't turn it down.

part of me feels like this is a blessing in disguise. i think it would do me good to remove myself from her presence, at least for the time being. hopefully, three months away from her will be enough time for me to get over this little crush i have on her. it's obviously hard to do that when i see her all the time. i know that i will miss her immensely, but i think this is something that just has to be done. this is not an attempt to remove her from my life. far from it. i value her friendship greatly. in fact, i'm sure that the next three months without her will be hell for me. but i just need some time away to get my feelings sorted out.

bring on the hurt.

some of my co-workers have already tried winding me up by calling me "supervisor."

"hey, mark, can i put on down as my reference?" ernesto asked.

"no."

012207

"you have a class of young strong men and women, and they want to give their lives to something. advertising has these people chasing cars and clothes they don't need. generations have been working in jobs they hate, just so they can buy what they don't really need. "we don't have a great war in our generation, or a great depression, but we do, we have a great war of the spirit. we have a great revolution against the culture. the great depression is our lives. we have a spiritual depression. "we have to show these men and women freedom by enslaving them, and show them courage by frightening them. "napoleon bragged that he could train men to sacrifice their lives for a scrap of ribbon. "imagine, when we call a strike and everyone refuses to work until we redistribute the wealth of the world."

- fight club

011607
photos of the year - 2006 (from bbc, globeandmail, msnbc, new york times, reuters, time):



darfur



panmunjeom



kashmir



beirut



nickel mines, united states



qom, iran



kandahar



west bank



shanghai



democratic republic of congo



northern israel



beirut



tyre, lebanon



baghdad



sapulpa, united states



baghdad



ellsworth, united states



tyre, lebanon



tawilla, sudan



ramadi



qana, lebanon



israel-lebanon border



qana, lebanon



ainata, lebanon



oaxaca, mexico



afghanistan



west bank



venezuela



edison, united states



manhattan

011507

"our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."

- dr. martin luther king, jr.

011107
i've heard the rumors, but i would have never guessed that beckham would actually sign with an m.l.s. club—but then again, i would have never guessed that $250 million would be involved in this, either.

by the way, i think that los angeles "galaxy" is a silly name for a football club. it doesn't quite have that ring as, say, manchester united or real madrid, ya know?

011107
i made a banner for my stumbleupon profile:



011107
my workday was great until it went completely downhill—all thanks to that douchbag, ernesto.

i wish he could just not talk to me. i mean, like, forever.

fuck this—i need beer.

here's to the upcoming three-day weekend.

011007
awkward moment of the day:

while having lunch with my co-worker, i was asked if i would ever consider dating a black girl.

sure, why the fuck not?

imagine my surprise and confusion when my response was met with his laughter.

*shrug*

010807
hXc dance lesson:


010107
happy new year! may the new year bring you lots and lots of aloha.

love, solidarity, revolution.

- megook