Umm I’m Back

Wow I totally suck at this. I guess I got so caught up with a lot of other stuff considering my last post was several months ago. I’m back in Rochester until the end of the week then it’s off to Seattle I go!

The start of the school year has been great to me so far as I’ve met my goals academically but I’m getting anxious about completing my bucket list. I’ve already completed a little more than half of what’s on it but I expect to finish it 100% before the end of the school year. Despite this goal, I’m still going to make myself a 2013 bucket list so stay tuned for that! 

I should probably catch up on my ramblings so keep an eye out for those soon. 🙂 To those going home for the holidays, safe travels and don’t ignite a food fight with your family! (But if you do…make sure you at least whup some butt)

 

Sleepy in Seattle

I’m finally back in Seattle after almost two weeks venturing around the Bay Area with my wonderful girlfriend and spending the last week in Kentucky on separate business. After a few days there, it was off to Louisville for the National Association for the Deaf convention. I was sent there by RIT to participate in NAD’s College Bowl, which was pretty much like an academic bowl where they ask you questions based on categories and each school has a team to answer them for points.  Six schools took part in this year’s College Bowl, instead of the usual three. The University of Minnesota, University of Texas, and Southwest Collegiate Institute for the Deaf were the newcomers to this competition while Gallaudet, RIT, and CSUN were the returning schools. The top three in total points after the preliminaries would advance to the finals, and coincidentally enough RIT/Gallaudet/CSUN landed in the top three, after a mad dash for third place between three different schools.

In the finals, after two rounds it was practically too close to call. Each school took turns commanding the lead before RIT came up on top based on a question asking which city was the former capital city of Egypt before Cairo? Galladuet and CSUN answered Alexandria and Giza, respectively while RIT came up with the correct answer, Memphis. And that’s how my school broke a four game winning streak by Galluadet and won for the first time in ten years. It was still a very great experience and I thoroughly enjoyed my experience at the NAD Conference, despite all the deaf politics that seemed to heat up in the aftermath of the conference.

I’m not one to comment much on deaf politics, as those are highly debatable and often controversial. Don’t want to get into that! Anyways…

So I finally returned home, and got sick almost as soon as I landed. In my first two days back in Seattle, I’ve slept 27 hours, hence the title, Sleepy in Seattle. I’m feeling much better now though and am craving to get back outside! I haven’t driven in over two weeks so I guess I’ll be back on the roads in a few hours! (This is your warning, fellow drivers!)

See you later guys!

Kristin’s Dirty Book on Sign Language

In the deaf community today, there is a controversial issue lurking around. Here’s the Facebook link to an event that is encouraging people to take a deeper look into the situation. Attached to the event’s information are more links to the websites that Kristin has made videos on (Youtube) and contact information.

https://www.facebook.com/events/368801343183225/

Now I’m one and all for freedom of speech but this is closer to a ethical issue and one that tests somebody’s morals. Kristin is legally doing nothing wrong, but the deaf community is aggressively taking action. There’s talk that NAD might do something but I haven’t seen any evidence leading to this.

There’s a lot of anger and hatred already being pointed towards Kristin. I’m not going to join that parade, instead opting for the simpler route. Signing the petition on change.org and explaining my reasons for doing so.

Kristin isn’t an fluent ASL user, and she hasn’t been exposed to enough Deaf culture to get opinions on her actions. She isn’t a bitch or an ugly fucker. She’s just someone who came up with an idea on how to make money and spread sign, even though her ethics and morals were questionable. Her idea wasn’t very good, or well received by the deaf community. Their lashing, however, I will admit was unacceptable on our part. I’m not saying this applies to ALL deaf people, but there were a few who crossed the line. Honestly, the civil thing to do would be to just say we don’t appreciate what she’s doing, and just sign a petition asking her to not publish a book on it because of her standing in the deaf community. She just needs more exposure and understanding of our culture, and she has to appreciate our diversity and values FIRST before being able to make fun of it. American Sign Language is a language. Just like Spanish and French. All ASL users are asking of Kristin is to embrace the language on its own. I don’t think you have any right to make fun of a culture without being able to understand it. This is how stereotypes work. We shouldn’t poke fun of other minorities or even make a dirty book about their words and how to use them inappropriately just for mere profit. If we were already active in their community and culture and had friends within that group, then it would be more likely to be acceptable. I make fun of one of my best friends for being Mexican but I’m not going to make a book about it and profit off it without his permission. I’d probably kick his ass if he made a book poking fun at my Japanese roots if he did so without my permission and understanding too.

So I ask you, readers, to sign the change.org petition. Not because Kristin is a dumb bitch or an ugly whore. But because she needs to understand her place first and look at her own morals and ethics before making a business decision. This is a simple request of me, just sign it, hope we can slowly make a difference and move on.

http://www.change.org/petitions/st-martin-s-press-do-not-publish-kristin-henson-s-super-smutty-sign-language-book?utm_campaign=autopublish&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=share_petition

I oughta be sleeping soon so see you later guys!

City of Life and Death

Since I’ve been watching movies ever since I got home from break, I thought to myself, why not write up a simple review of a movie I recommend (not gonna mention any stinkers here!) since that’s virtually all I’ve been doing since I got home. In Rochester, there wasn’t much time for movies other than the occasional blockbuster like Harry Potter or The Hunger Games. Here, however, I watch an average of three movies a day because that’s how exciting it is being back home.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not always all on movies. There’s also books. Okay I lied. There’s only been one I’ve read so far, and it was a pretty good one. The Stranger by Albert Camus. But a book is not the primary topic of blogging here, movies are the main topic.

Back to the point…again. After a long long list of movies I’ve seen that ranged from Men in Black 3 to Midnight in Paris to The Grey….there was one movie that really stood out to me. It was a foreign movie that portrayed the gruesome and pretty intense events that occurred during the Rape of Nanking back in 1937

I was scrolling across the movies Comcast offered and one of them was a little known movie that was relatively new, coming out in 2009 in China. City of Life and Death was a title that caught my eye, as I read an intriguing article about the top war movies made in Asia; this one topped the list at #1. After watching the movie, I can see why this got some rave reviews. One could describe it as half Schindler’s List with another half We Were Soldiers. As I turned off the television, thoughts dashed across my mind as I was in disbelief. This story was based on true events of when Japan invaded Nanking, a city in China and raped thousands of women. It followed the struggles of specific characters, ranging from a Chinese head assistant to a very important German figure to a well-known schoolteacher to a young boy. I think this movie had a deeper impact on me because of my Japanese roots, and it was a little hard to grasp that my heritage was the enemy. I could not understand how human beings were reduced to such unjust actions, as this opened my eyes to the cold reality of what happened in Nanking that year.

This movie was very difficult for me to watch, and part of me could barely bear to endure the entire movie. The cinematography and shot selections were very graceful as shot after shot only added more emotion and it had been a while since I’ve watched a movie where I feel like time just flew by. Before I knew it, it was approaching 2 AM (I started at midnight-ish). I was blown away by how real this movie was, and everything was just believable from the acting to the settings. It was almost as if one could watch the whole thing as it really unfolded in a separate reality.

I would absolutely recommend this movie only with a warning that it involves harsh images of war and cringing portrayals of rape. Beyond all that, this was everything one would want to see in a movie as there was a story behind it, supported by character development and an outstanding editing job. I couldn’t hear the movie but I could imagine that the sound effects only added to the emotional context towards the movie. My hat goes off to the directer, Chuan Lu, for gathering the courage and willpower to do a film like this because there aren’t many out there who have the guts to tackle a serious part of history. It’s not everyday that I watch the credits roll up at the end and say to myself, “what just happened here?” I just had to do more research on this, and I found out it wasn’t advertised very much outside of China due to their now-close ties with Japan and America. Some were afraid that the political context revealed would make countries outside China look bad and they didn’t want to hinder any relationships, as one source explained.

City of Life and Death (2009) – Directed by Chuan Lu.

The NBA and Seattle

“I’m cheering for Portland now,” I told my dad as soon as I heard the news that the Seattle Sonics were indeed relocating to Oklahoma City. I was disappointed, as Kevin Durant had just completed his rookie year in Seattle and I was hoping to see more of him in the Sonics uniform. I ended up shifting my attention from the NBA to college ball, pulling for the Huskies and Zags in March for the next few years.

Four mere years later after relocating, the Oklahoma City Thunder just finished their 3rd season and they surged throughout the playoffs, defeating perennial powers Lakers and Spurs to cinch the Western Conference. They now open up the NBA Finals against the Miami Heat and this has caused many fans in Seattle, including myself, to have mixed emotions. Do we cheer for the Thunder, formerly our team and watch as Clay Bennett, the Benedict Arnold of Seattle celebrate as they clinch their first title? Or do we pull for the most hated player in the NBA and his Miami Heat? This isn’t the NBA Finals I wanted, although it’s a dream match-up for the rest of America. Not for us in the Pacific Northwest. We’re stuck with this, and it would have been easier if the Boston Celtics had advanced as they had Avery Bradley (a Tacoma native) and fan favorite Ray Allen, who spent a few seasons in Seattle before being dealt.

A lot of people are eagerly awaiting the match-up between Kevin Durant and Lebron James, and many are pulling for the Thunder to win it all. I want them to win it but at the same time I don’t only because of my strong opposition against their owner. The truth is that I’m one of millions in Seattle that have absolutely no idea what to do. Should I just ignore the Finals altogether or suck it up and support Kevin Durant and Nick Collison as they brought us some temporary joy with their play? Or should I hold my grudge against Clay Bennett and support the Miami Heat, the team America hates? I don’t know. And when the Finals go from the opener to Game 7, chances are that I still won’t know.

It’s hard to support the Thunder when Clay Bennett lied to the entire city, and it’s harder to fathom the fact that if they do win, that it COULD have been our city celebrating in downtown. It COULD have been us if our legislators had let us get a new arena. COULD have been if Howard Schultz didn’t pull a bonehead move and sell the team to someone all the way in Oklahoma. Come on, did you really think he would keep the team in Seattle if he lives in Oklahoma? Sell the team to some rich dude who lives in Lake Washington instead or some random rich guy in Japan, because nobody would let him relocate the team to Tokyo or Yokohama. (It worked when the Mariners were owned by the owner of Nintendo in Japan, because he won’t move them). Common sense is apparently something the CEO Starbucks founder lacks. There are so many COULDs that just never happened and I just hope the city of Sacramento doesn’t go though what we went through, because I sure as hell don’t want the Kings in Seattle.

I see articles on rumors and speculation but STILL. Sacramento can keep their team. I see our columnists talking about the Kings moving here like it’s GOING to happen. I don’t want that. We have no reason to steal another city’s team, and if we do that, I give up on David Stern and the NBA. That would only prove my theory that the NBA is full of greedy owners and David Stern who don’t give a flying shit what their fans think (with the exception of owners Mark Cuban and Paul Allen). What I want is an expansion franchise here, one we can proudly call our own and start over from scratch. Let’s see what happens next. I’m done ranting.

I guess I’ll be watching the MLB and College World Series to keep me distracted. See you later!

So You’re In Seattle…Now What?

I finally returned to my favorite gloomy city two weeks ago, and I was welcomed by grey clouds blocking the glorious views of the mountains and a light drizzle. One thing I did miss was the dry air that sent your body chills, as we don’t get that with all the humidity present in Rochester.

My roommate last year and good friend decided to drop by Seattle for a visit, as she had never been to the state of Washington. She decided it would be a good time to visit as she was flying from Rochester to Hong Kong and Seattle was sort of on the way. With six days in the city, I had to figure out how we were gonna do this. Unfortunately for me, she immediately ruled out baseball long before the trip started. It dawned upon me, I don’t even know where to begin when it came to showing her the city I was proud of.

I quickly realized that even with all the travel guides out there to offer you, it’s still difficult to show anybody who’s visiting what Seattle’s all about in six days. I’ll make this a personal guideline for where to take my friends whenever they’re in town. Here’s my list in no order.

Some MUST visit places in Seattle –

Seattle Space Needle (A no-brainer right there!)

Pike Place Market (We throw fish better than we throw footballs, I’m looking at you Tavaris Jackson.)

The infamous and somewhat disgusting Gum Wall underneath Pike Place

Dick’s Drive-In (I don’t care what you Californians say about this in comparison to In and Out, Dick’s is our pride and joy! Our shakes are better than yours anyways!)

Triple XXX (Out in Is-sa-qwah, if you’re up for tasting the best root beer in all of the land, no exaggeration there.)

Places that are pretty awesome but not exactly mandatory visits –

International District (If you’re Asian and you love rice, or more importantly, because you’re Asian.)

Safeco Field (If you wanna visit a crappy team that everyone (including me) still manages to love. Plus we got Ichiro. He’s Asian. Japanese to be more specific.)

CenturyLink Field (formerly called Qwest Field for some Sounders/Seahawks games.)

Dale Chihuly Garden (Just opened right by the Space Needle and Science Center, haven’t seen it but heard great things about this place.)

Seattle Aquarium (This place doesn’t throw fish, correction, this place SHOULDN’T throw fish.)

Woodland Park Zoo (We have animals that aren’t fish.)

Fremont Troll (Half of my friends have said “We have a troll? Under a bridge?” when I asked about this Seattle destination.)

If you’ve run out of places to show around and don’t want to sit around the house watching Jerry Springer or watching the dog bark at everyone who walks by your house –

Ballard Locks

Red Mill Burgers (featured on Man vs Food once again)

Museum of Flight

Seattle Public Library (it has this unique look to it)

Experience Music Project (not exactly the biggest fan of this one)

Ferry through Puget Sound (one of the best ferry systems in the world you have options on which island to embark towards)

Hope all of these options help if you’re ever in Seattle or have friends/family coming to visit you in Seattle!

Summer Nights Yet to Come

It’s now May, and this only means one thing for a poor college student like myself. Summer break is coming soon. I’m going home at the end of the month, and it’ll be surreal, being separated from many of my friends who I’ve developed a bond with throughout my years here. It’s always a weird feeling going home, as I’m reunited with childhood friends but I won’t be around those I spent a majority of my time with. But at the same time, home is where I’ve been made into the person I am today.

This time, I go back home with a heart that’s already taken and a new outlook at my personal goals. I’ve joined a fraternity, I’ve met a special somebody, and my goals are almost as high as the sky itself. I want to visit as many baseball parks as possible, with AT&T/Fenway Park on my sights this summer. After school, I’m hoping to make a pit stop in Boston before my flight back home to Seattle and take in the sights along with a Red Sox game. Later in the summer, there’s a softball tournament in Fremont and that’s where AT&T Park comes in the picture when I fly south to the Bay Area.

Honestly, I’m excited for the summer. For the late nights at Dick’s Drive Through with my friends, the endless hours chilling at Triple XXX enjoying a frosty root beer in the summer heat, and then there’s going to be all the traveling. I’m hoping to mend some ends that I left untouched when I left for Rochester, and open some new gates along the way. Things have changed since I left, and people have grown up and gone their own ways. Every time I return, it’s one more realization how close I am to the real world, and how unready I feel.

I’ll also be heading to Louisville, Kentucky for the NAD Conference, as a member of the RIT College Bowl team. That’s something I’m eagerly anticipating, but I should brush up on my trivia. Maybe I can ask my sister to help me out with this, as she could use the practice for her high school academic bowl competition too. This summer’s going to be great. If it’s not, I’ll make it great.

I gotta email my parents now so see you later guys!

My Bucket List

This is a list of things I want to do before the year is over. Consider it my personal bucket list and feel free to steal some from here. Some of them are personal to me and so they may not make any sense to you but it is up to you on how you want to interpret this. There isn’t really a right or wrong on this list. Enjoy!

The 2012 bucket list:

Get a tattoo

Touch a new country

Reunite with an old friend

Stay close to your friends

Ride a party bus

Donate blood

Visit two baseball stadiums

Experience an unforgettable night

Skydive

Take a leap of faith

Start using my Twitter

Read a book

Go out and do an all nighters’ just because

Watch five more Best Picture movies

Take more pictures

Make a short film

Make a music video

Let it go

Host a party

MC for the ADC Banquet

Develop a talent

Play a game of tennis

Visit Niagara Falls

Keep in touch with people better, text more

Learn something new each day

Go up the Space Needle

Hit up a bar in Canada

Drink less pop

Have a spring break somewhere warm

Surprise my family

Bring more of that West Coast swag back East

Say no more often

Fire a gun

Start a blog

Try octopus

Road trip

Go to a NCAA Bowl Game

Go to a Syracuse basketball game

Go out on a formal date

Help a stranger out

Watch 2012 one more time

Meet an idol/celebrated figure

Laugh when it becomes Dec 22, 2012

Hit a home run

Dine at the Black and Blue

Make the Dean’s List

Cliff jumping

Eat at Sticky Lips

Become a better person

Be a champion

A (Poor) College Student’s Spring Break

First of all, I have no idea why my school decided on a spring break this early but last year it was in February. So it could have been worse. At least I finally got to head somewhere warm for a change as I opted for Washington DC the last two years. Last year was only because my family was there at the same time so I wanted to spend some time with them.

This year I finally chose Florida. It wasn’t the best idea in my mind at the time but so far, so good. When my friends said Florida, I envisioned Orlando with Disney World and Universal Studios but nope. I ended up in Port Charlotte, which unfortunately is hours away from all the major cities such as Tampa, Orlando, and Miami. I also expected more teenagers in the area but instead got a lot of retired senior citizens. Totally not what I’d ask for nor expect in a spring break.

I’m not complaining, because I found out it’s also where the Tampa Bay Rays train before the MLB season opens. As a passionate fan of baseball, I jumped at this chance and told everyone I have to go to a game here. My wish’s about to be granted come tomorrow afternoon. Rays versus the Twins, because two of the girls here I’m with are from the Twin Cities so it’s only fitting that we go to this game.

I’m eagerly awaiting tomorrow, and the sun that I’m counting as a bonus. The group I’m with is really…interesting and diverse to say the least. At least they don’t bore me although going with your best friend of the opposite gender can be kind of bizarre. She and I are close but we’re not attracted to each other at all, contrary to popular belief. But she’s more like one of those psycho mothers who nags you a little more than everyone else and you have that small urge to just sock her. It’s not exactly an advantage…most of the time but it’s nice being with someone I know pretty well.

Spring break isn’t what everyone imagines when it comes to college spring breaks. The outside world thinks of booze, sex, and beaches. What they’re leaving out are the extremely high and alarming bills that come along with it (who said booze was cheap), and being stuck with the same people for a week 24/7. You really can learn a lot about people’s true personalities this way. I’m going to enjoy the rest of this spring break here with all the sun I suppose that’s all I’ll put up for now! See you later guys!

Three year olds are smarter than you think.

I went to a small private school for the deaf in Shoreline when I was in elementary and middle school. The school was a day school, not like one of the state residential schools so I’d have to endure an hour long trek everyday along with other deaf students in my district. I was under the Issaquah (Is-sa-qwah) School District, and the hourly commute one way was my opportunity to socialize with these two or three students. We’d play with Hot Wheels and race them down the aisle when the bus was about to go uphill. We’d also play with marbles and literally find every single way to piss off our bus driver. Some of them hated us, but others loved us no matter what we did. They were mostly mean drivers from what I can remember as a kid. There was this one sweet driver always had a “candy day” every Monday as she’d give each pieces of candies after school for some reason I cannot recall right now.

As we pulled up into the school every morning, we’d see other students in their buses and we’d always pull down the windows and sign to each other until the drivers let us off. Our school was very small, having up to maybe 60 students at the most in a year. The classroom only consisted of six students and two teachers, on average. Pretty small ratio compared to public schools.

There have been so so so many weird and hilarious situations that have happened here. I’ve heard stories, some of them hilarious as I cried at the end of these. I’ll probably tell some of them occasionally on here.

Let me start one off with pre-school. I have a few friends with whom I still remain fairly close to this day. I’m still in touch with nearly the entire class back them, with one or two exceptions. There was one “bad” boy in our class, Eli, he wasn’t a bully but he was overly assertive and teachers were always keeping an eye on him since he was quite…mean back then. There’s another kid, Cal, who was supposed to go to RIT in New York with me but he actually got a really good job and decided to stay behind. He’s not the brightest but he’s pretty smart, sneaky even. Especially in this case. Cal and Eli fought often, as did all students in pre-school over toys and not sharing. Cal was well aware of Eli’s reputation as he was getting in trouble all the time but one time, Cal, reached in front of his desk and grabbed the whole thing. And threw himself down to the ground, taking his desk and chair with him right when Eli walked by. All this made a huge crashing sound, as the teachers and students turned their heads to see Cal on the ground with his desk and chair down and Eli standing there.

You can only imagine what happened next, right? The teachers went crazy over it and sentenced Eli to a few minutes of solitaire in the corner, ignoring the pleas that he didn’t do it. They had heard it before, only this time he wasn’t lying.

Years later, we were talking during lunch and Eli brought it up. We laughed so hard that we were literally crying as Eli still could not understand how a three year old kid had enough smarts to pull that stunt on purpose to get him in trouble. The funny thing is that Cal doesn’t even remember it. These good old school days, where kids outsmart each other. Think that’s funny? Wait til you hear the peanut story. But that’s another story for another time. See you later!