Nostalgia and Regrets

It’s funny, that after watching this program on public access tv, I looked back at my life and wondered what would’ve happened if I had chosen a different route. The program was on child musical prodigies; according to pretty much my whole elementary school (about 12 years ago), I had the potential to be like them. Instead I think I took the wrong route – we got a computer, and all I would do is sit in front of it after we got it. I remember those days; as a stereotypical Asian kid, I was forced to play some instrument, and it was the violin. I quickly rose the ranks of the elementary orchestra (as small as it was though) to 1st chair. I even got to play in the county honors orchestra, and play with another youth orchestra that I practiced with once a week as well.

I think I heard one day, when I ran into one of my music teachers, that when the other heard I stopped playing, she started to cry. I felt bad when I heard that, but I was still a kid, and didn’t care to play again. It makes me wonder to this day, where I would’ve been if I had kept playing and playing. Juliard school of music? Playing with some philharmonic orchestra? Who knows. Sort of regret it…but we can’t go backwards, only forwards. I have new goals, and I’m going to reach, and eventually surpass them.

Doubt anyone ever reads this blog anyways, but I will throw out this question to anyone who decides to pass by and read this – is there anything you did earlier in your life that you regret that you stopped doing? Do you wonder where it would’ve taken you? Where would you be this day? Where would you be, and how much would it have differed in contrast to the life you had now? Too bad we don’t have TiVo or something for life, it would be interesting to see how things would’ve been.

Even those “Choose Your Own Adventure” books. Does anyone remember that? I remember when it came to one of those pages where you had to choose what page to go to, I would stick a bookmark there. If it turned out to be a bad ending, I would just go back and go to the page I didn’t choose. If only things were like that. But then…that makes things just too easy.

I am…

I am 21. I’m Filipino. I’m in college, and enjoying it for sure. I like challenges, but I work best under pressure, when deadlines are looming close. I like to plan although there are times I forget to follow them. I have some pretty lofty goals, but I’m trying my best to reach them. I can speak Japanese, yet I can only understand Filipino. I collect stuff, yet I’m not a pack rat. I like to be organized, yet my room is often messy – I guess that gives me the reason why I like to organize, since I constantly have to do it. I like art, especially urban art. I like travelling; I have many places I want to go. I like nature. I like most people. If you mess with me, or try to take advantage of me, I will mess you up even harder. I am determined (most of the time), but I also like to just lounge around a lot. I procrastinate – but that gives me that drive later to work under pressure. I like cooking. I wish I could lose a little weight though. I know there’s more about me – but I just like to let this stream of consciousness flow as it pleases. I’ll add more later as the consciousness pushes out more.

Things I like:

Just a list of stuff that I want to do or like…sometimes I can forget, or have difficulty remembering the things I’ve wanted, or stuff I’ve wanted to do.

Artists I’m interested in:
Audrey Kawasaki
Amy Sol
TADO
Yoskay Yamamoto
Scott Campbell
Ogino Ryuichi
Edwin Ushiro

Stuff I want to collect:
Artwork from some above artists
Yoskay’s Koibitos
Minigods (MG2 + MG3)
RealxHead Fortune Cats
Treesons

Stuff I want to learn:
Japanese
Korean
More cooking

Places to go:
Japan
South Korea
China
Philippines
Australia/New Zealand

I’m sure there’s more…this is just the start of the list of things I’d like to collect, do, or finish someday.

It’s been a while..

Long time since I’ve posted. Wanted to be more frequent, but oh well. School takes precedence. Lets see what’s new:

1. Lots of Ikea – display units, frames, plants, can’t remember what else.
2. Lots of school and studying
3. Still trying to study Japanese, really difficult though, when you’re learning by yourself.
4. Wanting to learn Korean.
5. Football season = fun every weekend, but only when games are played on campus.

A Random Post

I’m looking into new computers, since mine is getting old, and the parents want it.

PC for home:
Asus Eee box

Laptop for the road
Asus Eee PC 1000H 10″ (larger screen, b/g/n wi-fi)
or…
Acer Aspire One, Windows XP ver. 120gb HDD, 8.9″ (larger HDD, lightweight/very-portable)

What Will We Watch Now?

Now that the Olympics have ended, what will happen now?
I wonder what other people will watch, now that there aren’t any Olympics games for everyone to glue their eyes to.

Sure there’s the regular stuff that we all watch on a weekly/daily basis, and then there are other seasonal sports, but there isn’t anything as amazing as the Olympics. And we’ll have to wait another four years for our Olympic fixes to be satisfied.

The ending ceremonies were just an indescribable and just well-executed masterpiece. For all of the performers to not even get a practice run in the Birds’ Nest, for them to practice off-site, and transplant everything they learned somewhere else, to another location they haven’t practiced in, is an amazing feat.

I’m actually sad that it’s over. On the other hand, this is the last day of summer vacation for me; I need this time away from the television to study. I guess this is a good coincidence that the Olympics end before classes start.

I can’t wait for 2012 in London (and I hope 2016 will be in Tokyo!)
Tokyo already has a lot of banners, posters, and advertising for people to choose them as the 2016 Summer Olympics location. If all goes planned, I’ll be working/studying there by then!

Summer Olympics, we’ll miss you. Four years from now, we’ll see you in London!

All the late nights you kept us awake watching prelims and finals, cheers and sadness…no matter what, it was all exciting, all the way until the last bit of the ending ceremonies!

How’s the Weather?

…How’s the weather, you say? Lets take a look:

It’s this hot. Central Florida area, it can sometimes reach above 100F in some areas. For the majority of these hot summer days, it then rains in the afternoon. And there’s your weather report, and why I don’t like going outside so much. You can tell it’s this bad when it’s hotter inside your car, than it is outside.

When You Want to Learn so Much…

How to focus better
Japanese
Chinese
Korean
Cooking
Swing Dancing
To be more social
To organize time and priorities
Improve on tennis

Are there times when you look at what you want to learn, and that list is so long?
Is there enough time to do it all, especially when you have other things at hand that must be done? Such as work, school, people/children to take care of, etc etc…is it possible?

Some things just come with practice and constant use. Some need lots of dedication. Where do you find all the time to do the things you like, and the things you want to do? In addition to that, the resources you may need to learn things…they can be hard to come by at times. From money, to people, to time…resources can be scarce. It’s all about how well you can manage it all….but there’s so much I want to do.

Consuming and Organizing

Spend spend spend, it’s all that happens a lot these days. I make money by selling off parts of my collection, since they deserve better homes that give them better attention. That money though, goes to other things.

1. Art. Buying prints and framing is expensive; at times, the framing is more expensive than the art. I don’t understand how that works!

2. Organizing everything. Portable hard drives, smaller laptops, filing/organizing drawers – buying all this so that everything can be put in a place it belongs, making it easier to find. A hard drive for music. A hard drive for videos. Trying to do this so I don’t keep so much on the computer, so it doesn’t slow down. A smaller laptop will take up less desk space, so I can have more room to study.

It’s just a personal thing, I like to keep things organized in a fashion that make things easier to find. I also like my room looking decorated, heh. It’s all I’ve been planning today, it feels productive, although very expensive. The price you pay for personal satisfaction.

Just a Saturday

As I look outside my window, it’s pretty windy outside. We do have some severe thunderstorm warning in the county, and it is heading this way (hooray, not really.).

Spending the day watching the Olympic games and lounging around. I was hoping Japan would win their volleyball game, but sadly they didn’t. They put up a good fight, with good blocks and saves. I’ll probably be glued onto the TV for the rest of the day, but I don’t mind – multitasking is easy!

Gotta write some cards, mail stuff out, and clean up around the place. Just an ordinary weekend.